How to solve America's water problems (hint: come to MI!) (Saginaw: residence, university)

[kaypurdue]

I really liked this article on Salon.com and wanted to share it:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/20...ater_problems/

Some of the blog reactions (link at the bottom) are pretty interesting too.

Enjoy!

[Driller1]

The groundwater IS dropping! The DEQ has ordered geological studies to install any well pumping over 70GPM. City water contains very high levels of coliform, that is why it tastes like bleach. Then it will test in an "acceptable" range. Watch you newspapers. They print the facts on what you are drinking. Very successfully buried.

[kaypurdue]

That's why it's almost a scary thought to have people coming back to live here for the water. I guess either way, they will figure out how to drain it - whether they do it here or build a pipeline.

Though I'm sure if we had more people living here, we would have the tax money available to clean up the water and keep it at the proper levels.

Rock and a hard place, I tell ya.

[Driller1]

Originally Posted by kaypurdue

That's why it's almost a scary thought to have people coming back to live here for the water. I guess either way, they will figure out how to drain it - whether they do it here or build a pipeline.

Though I'm sure if we had more people living here, we would have the tax money available to clean up the water and keep it at the proper levels.

Rock and a hard place, I tell ya.

The only way to clean water is thousands of years being pushed though water bearing sand. The rest is treating it.

[tuebor]

That was a good read. I just might buy that guy's book.

I liked that quote from Rep. Vernon Ehlers (of GR) about threatening to call up the militia to defend our water. I've said before on this forum that water diversion could turn law-abiding ordinary folks here into ecoterrorists.

[AngelfaceAZ]

Don't worry about folks moving from the Southwest...there's a bad drought going on here but you'd never know it from watching people's (and the cities) water habits. Just about everyone I know has at least one small patch of grass in their yards and most of them have pools too, not to mention all the GREEN golf courses we have...and then you have my city which just agreed to build the worlds largest water park...in the middle of the freaking desert!

Yeah, the Colorado River is drying up somewhere in Mexico before it actually reaches the Pacific ocean and the politicians are still fighting over the amounts each state draws from the river...but if you didn't watch the news you wouldn't be able to tell from the way people act out here that water is a precious commodity....god, I hate living among idiots!!!

[baystater]

At a University of Georgia football game, bathroom signs reminded fans,
"If it's yellow, let it mellow."

Now that's the quote of the week.

The author of this article basically put forth what I been thinking for the past 3 years. Everybody was all excited about moving south. Actually they still are except the focus in now on North and South Carolina instead of Florida. They just jumped at the chance to move south and be in the nice warm weather and didn't bother looking into the underlying infrastructure and natural resources of the cities in the Sunbelt. Now these snowbirds are finding the grass is becoming brown on the otherside of the hill. And the more the the snowbirds move there the worse the problem get. Now to be fair I understand why they did move. Growing up in New England and now living in the Tristate area. There were/are many morning during the winter that I'm swearing up and down, scraping off my car, shoveling my driveway or when avoiding getting hit in may car by some A-hole in an SUV that think their impervious to skidding out. But I know that where I live/lived is a solid place with plenty of natural resources and good infrastructure. The same can be said for most of the Great Lake States. Especially Michigan. Michigan has ample water, good infrastructure, Plenty to do for outdoorsy types and plenty of space for living. Michigan is a Gem of Gems when it comes to the state when you take a long term view at this country. Yeah right now in part of the state there are problems economically. But I think most rational people realize if Michigan starts to put the blocks in place for future businesses and finds a balance between what the government spends and what it taxes now, 10-20 years down the line Michigan will probably get back to it peak and then some.

One other thing guys. OK so I take from the article your not big on sharing your water. OK that's fair. But let me throw this idea at you anyways. Would you guys be willing to bottle and sell your water that comes from spring to other states if this bottled water company was state run and all proceeds would be divide up and shared with all residence of the state? Now let say also that the yearly output of that water is capped off yearly. And how much is allow out of the state is decided by a voting from local governments around the state.
Actually let me take it one step further. Let say all the Great Lake States and Canada get Together and form a OPEC type organization except with water. You could bottle water from both springs and the Great Lakes.

Like I said it only an idea. But I think it's a good one.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by AngelfaceAZ

Don't worry about folks moving from the Southwest...there's a bad drought going on here but you'd never know it from watching people's (and the cities) water habits. Just about everyone I know has at least one small patch of grass in their yards and most of them have pools too, not to mention all the GREEN golf courses we have...and then you have my city which just agreed to build the worlds largest water park...in the middle of the freaking desert!

Yeah, the Colorado River is drying up somewhere in Mexico before it actually reaches the Pacific ocean and the politicians are still fighting over the amounts each state draws from the river...but if you didn't watch the news you wouldn't be able to tell from the way people act out here that water is a precious commodity....god, I hate living among idiots!!!

Actually, the Southwest I think has been a better steward of water resources because of the perception that water is scarce. It's in the Southeastern mountain states that people seem to think that water is abundant.

I haven't checked this in a while, but it doesn't seem to have changed much since last Fall when Georgia's dufus governor was praying for rain (instead of adopting policies to control water usage):



US Drought Monitor

[Driller1]

That is one of the reasons for the DEQ 70GPM rule. They are marketing bottled water from Evart Mi. Local wells were going dry. The same thing with irrigation wells in Saginaw county.

Welcome to the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation Web Site!

[tuebor]

Sorry, baystater, I don't think that will fly. I think most Michiganders would rather keep the water in the watershed than get paid to pipe it elsewhere. Like the article says, if folks want our water, they can move here, and if they do, we'll welcome them. But try and pipe it down south or out west--forget it!

This thread has more on this topic;
http://www.city-data.com/forum/michi...n-s-other.html