Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
As long as people insist on having lush green lawns in the desert climates instead of xeriscaping, as well as swimming pools which evaporate like crazy constantly, water supplies will be a problem. It's insane.
Lush green lawns in the desert! "Desert" and "green lawns" just don't belong in the same sentence! Just like other finite natural resources, someone's ox is going to get gored and and the entity with the deepest pockets will take home all the marbles!
The problems that we face are not insurmountable, however they do require that we begin to do something NOW. As I am moving to New Mexico soon, the water problem has become an issue. Not that it was'nt before, we have plenty here in the New England area, but they say it is contaminated, so I either purify it or boil it. When I get to NM I plan to learn xeriscaping and not use water excessivly. We should all consider what effects we are having on our planet.
Plan now or pay later! The cost to the environment in Dollars and cents will be outweighed by the chaos that will be experienced when the pipe runs dry! Most of the municipal tap water in NE PA is undrinkable and smells like it just came out of a heavily chlorinated swimming pool! Fifty years ago, everyone drank tap water; today few people drink tap water without some type of filtration system attached to the water supply. Here in Wilkes-Barre, I buy purified municipal drinking water at a local grocery store for 50 cents per gallon (my container). I frequently need to cut a shower short because the liberated chlorine gas is causing me to be lightheaded! I accept that situation in PA, I would not accept that same situation in NM!
2007 - The Year of Water was declared by the world last year. In Nov. the New Mexico Water Resources Institute hosted a conference “Beyond the Year of Water: Living within Our Water Limitations”. If you really want to know what is happening in New Mexico, ( http://wrri.nmsu.edu/ ) this link is a good start and from there you will end up all other the place to find your answers. The result of this conference has not been published online yet. I have requested it because it will have a big impact on New Mexico, especially South East New Mexico and affect the legislation session's allocations this year.
Wonderul news for the Western States, and I am hopeful that with cooperation across all those states involved, the precious little water will run for a long time to come.
Perhaps we might even see more than a trickle in some of the Rio!
> When I get to NM I plan to learn xeriscaping and not use water excessivly.
> We should all consider what effects we are having on our planet.
Water use isn't much of a planetary issue. It's more of a local and regional issue. It's local in that it effects the local climate by making the desert weather we moved here for more towards tropical. It's regional in that areas hundreds of miles away impact places what were once lush and are now barren.
It would be easy to stop people from wasting it by charging more.
I could probably turn on my hose and run it down the street for hours a day and hardly notice the difference in the bill.
I have no idea what golf courses have to pay. They justify their use by saying it's reclaimed waste water, but if that water were 'treated' a little more, it would be clean enough to put back into the Rio Grande.
ontheroad added:
> Perhaps we might even see more than a trickle in some of the Rio!
I'll take the public control of natural resources such as water over capitalism any day. I have very little use for private exploitation driven by greed.
The worst thing that is happening to water in Southeast New Mexico is the State Government's careless land management (non-existent). There is no 'pride in ownership' within any government agency. There needs to be a blend of socialism and capitalism, not one or the other. Pecos Valley Biomass Coop. is a good example of private ownership doing the right thing for the environment (and yes, making a buck also) while keeping the EPA's nose out of the picture. Be real careful with any government program. Their intention might be good, but their implementation have a lot to be desired. Water rights in Southeast NM is a huge political issue and it should be in Northen NM also, where there is limited water for all the uncontrolled growth over the years. Growth should be balance with the resources of the environment. We currently have water balance in SENM, but the State is hell bent on changing that. Sorry, needed to rant a little this morning, this last day of 2007. Thank God and Thank you.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Beyond the Year of Water
