Learning how one’s behavior impacts water resources within these larger systems is the first step in learning to value water and developing a water ethic. But household virtual water use-that is, the indirect water use that results from their consumption of food, goods, and services-has substantially greater impacts that extend far beyond their immediate vicinity. Households do impact local water supplies, watersheds, and basins through direct water use. #Kids foot print to scale driver#Our analyses suggest that domestic water savings advocacy and incentive programs will fail the majority of the time in the United States because domestic water use is not the dominant driver of water stress, and available household savings measures are not sufficient to transition the majority of counties out of water stress during a drought. (2020) observe as much in a recent study: A focus on residential and other, smaller users is unlikely to offer the richest source of water savings. Residential and commercial use came in third. Geological Survey estimates, the top two water-withdrawing sectors in 2015 were thermoelectric power generation and agricultural irrigation. Residential and small-scale commercial use makes up only a fraction of the total water use in the United States. This residential focus makes sense for a number of reasons, including the obligation of water utilities and providers to sustain their supply for customers and the capacity to curtail outdoor water use during acute drought.īut the picture is bigger-much bigger. Most education and outreach campaigns that focus on drought attempt to address threats of water scarcity at the level of household use. Drought, for example, is a common, public-facing water risk. In short, we need a water ethic-a guide to right conduct in the face of complex decisions about natural systems that we do not and cannot fully understand.īecause the public tends to take water for granted, building a water ethic must begin with education. What is needed is a set of guidelines and principles that stops us from chipping away at natural systems until nothing is left of their life-sustaining functions, which the marketplace fails to value adequately, if at all. It is a set of values and guiding principles that help communities sustainably negotiate the risky world of water. What is a water ethic? And how does learning about our water footprint help build one? The term “water ethic” was coined by Sandra Postel, the 2021 Stockholm Water Prize winner. To build more resilient, pro-water constituencies, policy makers and planners need to foster a water ethic by promoting a “water footprint” education. But if we cannot direct public attention to water risks during the good times, we cannot prepare for the bad. The public is largely unfamiliar with where their water comes from, how it is used, and where it goes when they are finished with it. It is another thing altogether for public officials, water managers, scientists, CEOs, and other leaders to gain public support for implementing specific infrastructure and policy goals. In a general sense, the public support to address these problems already exists. To top it off, climate change brings on increasingly extreme weather events and exacerbates these risks.įor public policy to proactively address these water risks, a willing constituency is required. As populations swell and economic activity intensifies, polluted drinking water, flooding, and water scarcity are increasingly critical threats. While the consequences of these water-related disasters are still being assessed, this much is clear: systemic resilience to water-related risk is needed at both local and global levels.ĭroughts, floods, pollution, and failing infrastructure do not occur in a vacuum. mid-Atlantic as well as of punishing droughts in Brazil, Madagascar, and the western United States. Just look at the past year: economists are still taking stock of the costs of devastating floods in China, Germany, and the U.S. Water risk is at the forefront of contemporary environmental concerns-but it can also have far-reaching socioeconomic impacts. Originally published in Water Resources IMPACT Magazine’s January/February 2022 edition. Learning about water footprints can be an important, if overlooked, first step in managing water risk for the public.
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