Peter Gleick asks: Is the U.S. Reaching Peak Water? To that end the Pacific Institue also employs water footprint assessment.

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from the article by Peter Gleick (9 July 2013, Forbes):

"The specter of "peak oil"—a peaking and then decline in oil production—has long been predicted and debated, and peak U.S. oil production occurred forty years ago.

But the concept of "peak water" and its implications for the U.S. economy are less well explored and understood."

To find out more, visit:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/petergleick/2011/09/07/is-the-u-s-reaching-peak-water/

Peter Gleick states that new thinking about water management (and indeed, the management of resources overall) could further strengthen the U.S. economy without increasing our impacts on the environment or our costs for resource extraction and use. Along those lines Peter Gleick's group at the Pacific Institue has worked out an Assessment of California's Water Footprint, which provides additional information regarding freshwater appropriation and aids in devising strategies for sustainable, efficient and equitable freshwater management:
The Pacific Institute has (a while ago) released the first comprehensive assessment of California's water footprint, providing an important perspective on the interconnections between everyday activities and impacts to water resources - both at home and around the world.

California's total water footprint is an estimated 64 million acre-feet of water. That's more than double the amount of water that flows down both of the state's two largest rivers, the Sacramento and San Joaquin, in an average year. An estimated 38 million acre-feet of water is used to produce goods and services within California. Half of that water is used for goods that are then exported and consumed outside the state. The remainder - about 19 million acre-feet of water - is used to produce goods that are consumed in California. An additional 44 million acre-feet of water is required to produce the goods and services that are imported into California and consumed here, making California a net importer of virtual water.

"Most of California's water footprint is external, meaning that Californians are more dependent on water resources from other places than in-state."

"Evaluating the water footprint can be valuable for water managers, policymakers, and for concerned members of the public," said Heather Cooley, co-director of the Pacific Institute Water Program. "It can highlight new leverage points for reducing water impacts and creating a more sustainable society - for example, with policies that consider the environmental implications of various trade regimes, or educational programs to help individuals and institutions make better decisions about their consumption habits. It can also help companies evaluate their vulnerability to water resource concerns throughout their supply chain. Ongoing water footprint work will provide more contextualized information for citizens, businesses, government, and other stakeholders in California's water future."

To find out more and to read the full report, visit
http://www.pacinst.org/reports/ca_water_footprint/

1 Answer

  1. Interesting article by Lester Brown related to the subject: Peak Water: What Happens When the Wells Go Dry? Plan B Updates July 09, 2013 Peak Water: What Happens When the Wells Go Dry? Adapted from ‘The real threat to our future is peak water’ by Lester R. Brown, published in the Observer on July 6, 2013. Lester R. Brown is president of the Earth Policy Institute and author of Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity (W.W. Norton, 2012). a text piece from the article: " Peak oil has generated headlines in recent years, but the real threat to our future is peak water. There are substitutes for oil, but not for water. We can produce food without oil, but not without water. We drink on average four liters of water per day, in one form or another, but the food we eat each day requires 2,000 liters of water to produce, or 500 times as much. Getting enough water to drink is relatively easy, but finding enough to produce the ever-growing quantities of grain the world consumes is another matter. Grain consumed directly supplies nearly half of our calories. That consumed indirectly as meat, milk, and eggs supplies a large part of the remainder. Today roughly 40 percent of the world grain harvest comes from irrigated land. It thus comes as no surprise that irrigation expansion has played a central role in tripling the world grain harvest over the last six decades. During the last half of the twentieth century, the world’s irrigated area expanded from close to 250 million acres (100 million hectares) in 1950 to roughly 700 million in 2000. This near tripling of world irrigation within 50 years was historically unique. But since then the growth in irrigation has come to a near standstill, expanding only 10 percent between 2000 and 2010. In looking at water and our future, we face many questions and few answers. Could the world be facing peak water? Or has it already peaked?" To access the full interesing article, visit: http://www.earth-policy.org/plan_b_updates/2013/update115