This month the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) published a report which clearly shows extreme water shortages are likely to occur by mid-century in the United States. The report finds that every state in the lower 48 is at risk for water scarcity and the Great Plains and Southwest are likely to face extremely high water shortages.

Researchers at Tetra Tech, a consulting firm used by the federal government and many major corporations, took a look at projected water demands along with renewable water supplies. They calculated what would happen to water supplies under 16 different leading climate models. What they found is that water supplies will dwindle and demand for fresh water will increase.

On the supply side, climate models forecast that many parts of the country will not only have less rainfall, but more of what does make it to the ground from snow or rain will be lost to evapotranspiration (water lost to evaporation and vegetation transpiration). As temperatures rise due to climate change, east Texas, the California Central Valley and the Southeastern states could see five fewer inches of available precipitation each year–what’s left after evapotranspiration. Leaving them even drier than they have been in recent years.

While we’re seeing less water enter the system, we’ll be taking more water withdrawals from aquifers, dams, rivers, and lakes. According to the study, water use in the U.S. is expected to increase by 12.3 percent between 2000 and 2050. The primary uses of fresh water are for agriculture, power plant cooling, and domestic use.

The regions expecting the worst water shortages are already using more water than they receive in rainfall each year. For example, California, the Southwest, and Texas already have water withdrawals over 100 percent of annual rainfall. This means those states use more water than they have.

Another point that needs to be made is that the hardest hit states are also where we grow much of the nation’s fruit, vegetables, and cotton. On the map below, you can see by the dark red colors the counties most at risk for extreme water shortages. The white dots show where the majority of the cotton is grown in the U.S.

While American cotton farmers are methods that put cotton’s water consumption in line with other crops, we may have to choose one day that it’s more important to have food than cotton (as there are other choices for textile fibers). But we won’t be able to rely on other countries to take up the slack and grow our cotton for us.

The top five cotton-producing nations are: China, U.S., India, Pakistan, and Brazil. Together these countries produce almost 84 percent of the global cotton crops. And, with the exception of Brazil, these same nations are also looking at severe water shortages in the short and long term.

Clearly much needs to be done to ensure we’re using water wisely. Conservation methods need to improve, legislation to slow down and reverse climate change is required, and we may have to decide if we want to grow cotton for t-shirts, or food for our tables.

What do you make of the new study and do you think we’ll have to face the day when cotton jeans, linens, and t-shirts are only for the wealthy? Post your thoughts below; we’re interested in what you have to say on this subject.

image credit: Google Earth / NRDC

The July/August edition of Coco Eco Magazine puts the spotlight on the intertwined world of water pollution and fashion. And we’re proud to say that AirDye® technology is front and center in Coco Eco when it comes to making the textile industry eco-friendly.

In one article, “Making Ripples,” author Amy DuFault explores the devastating affect the fashion industry has on the world’s water quality. DuFault interviews our own Paul Raybin, chief sustainability and marketing officer, and learns that there are solutions, such as AirDye’s waterless dye technology not only has major environmental benefits, but can make a difference to the bottom line for fashion designers in other ways too. As Raybin explains:

As we try to get more companies to adopt the technology, we try explaining to them that not only are there positive beneficial impacts for their brand, they actually reduce a lot of inventory risks. The environmental benefits are just the icing on the cake.

And just in case you’re wondering, all those great Costello Tagliapietra designs pictured in the article use AirDye fabrics.

In “Plastacular Recycled Polyester Fashion Comes of Age,” Aysia Wright adds plastic bottles to the mix of fashion and water. AirDye licensee A Lot To Say is mentioned for their fashion-forward, t-shirts, umbrellas, scarves, and other items which are all made from recycled PET and AirDye technology. A great example of how brands can combine sustainable products and technology to create fashionable and eco-friendly clothing.

Coco Eco is offering our readers a free one-year subscription. Just use promo code cocomraz. Nice!

Intel is using its new 3D gaming system as a way to see what people in the Rio Grande area of New Mexico might do during times of prolonged water scarcity. The game, Water Wars, was created with the help of Sandia National Labs.

Water Wars is not intended to go toe-to-toe with Call of Duty; instead Intel is asking farmers, developers, environmentalists, policy makers and others who will need to address water shortages to play the game.

The goal is to educate the users about water consumption and hopes they will all work together to create water policy that benefits everyone.

In the game, when faced with water shortages a farmer, for example, can decide to grow fewer crops, collaborate with others, buy more water, or choose to steal it. But we do wonder if people will let their true nature come out in order to see how their choices have real and lasting effects on the area’s water supply.

What’s your feeling, do you think this will help form better policy? What do you think is the best way to get people with widely varying views on the subject to work collaboratively for real solutions?

More on the game over at Treehugger.

photo credit: Intel

For more than 40 years clean water advocates have called for the elimination of phosphates from American products. While phosphates could have been banned years ago when the 1972 Clean Water Act was first made law, lobbyists fought hard to keep the chemical out of the regulations insisting phosphates were an essential ingredient. But, as of July 1, we’ll have one less phosphate-laden product on the shelves. The American Cleaning Institute (formerly the Soap and Detergent Association), a manufacturer’s trade group representing most detergent companies, announced they will voluntarily no longer include phosphates in their dishwasher detergents.

“Industry’s announcement on phosphates in dishwasher detergents is welcome news, indeed, if somewhat overdue,” said Jonathan Scott, a spokesman for Clean Water Action, founded in the early 1970′s to fight for clean, safe water. “Even small amounts of phosphates can wreak havoc when they get into our water,” Scott says, “so it’s the last thing you want as an ingredient in detergents, which are specifically designed to end up in the water by way of household appliances and drain pipes.”

We think Scott sums up the situation best:

Good news is all too scarce these days, when it comes to our water. Between the BP Gulf oil disaster, and a host of other problems, it is clear that the nation’s commitment to clean and safe water has faltered.

There are other reasons to be encouraged by this new development, too. First is the immediate benefit to water consumers and ratepayers. It costs money to remove phosphates from water in the treatment process, and now, finally, a significant source of phosphates is being eliminated.

Second, while a mandatory ban–enacted decades earlier–would have been even better, this kind of approach holds great promise for the future. With so many water problems out there, we should do everything possible to stop pollution from entering the water in the first place. Besides detergents, how many other “designed for the drain” consumer products are out there with ingredients that can pollute our water?

Meanwhile, this small change could mean that more attention can now be paid to some of the bigger remaining problems, starting with phosphates and other nutrient pollution from industrial-intensive agriculture, over-fertilization of lawns and gardens, and outdated water systems that flush the pollution from farms and communities into our waterways.

why did it take so long?

Pollution from phosphates, an essential nutrient in minute quantities, can easily overwhelm waterways, causing algae blooms that decay and leave the water without oxygen and unable to sustain life.

Many people might have thought that phosphate use was banned already in dishwasher detergents. But that’s not the case. In fact, phosphates may constitute as much as 24 percent of a product’s formula. Dishwasher detergents contain levels of phosphorus as high as 8 percent, which translates to a phosphate level of 24 percent.

While industry lobbyists were able to fight federal-level regulations, state and local governments have been banning phosphate use. The cleaning products industry did bend to the local bans growing consumer pressure by voluntarily eliminating phosphates in laundry detergents in the 1990s. But the industry claimed that our dishes wouldn’t come clean with out phosphates.

Of course, companies such as Seventh Generation, Earth Friendly Products and scores of other eco-friendly cleaning brands successfully brought phosphate-free detergents to the American consumer. The big detergent companies could no longer insist that phosphates were essential to their products.

As clean water advocates ourselves, we’re pleased that another industry is taking steps to improve their impact on the water supply. Of course, this voluntary ban doesn’t mean that another company won’t continue to add phosphates to their detergents. Not to mention the many other sources of phosphates that still need to be addressed. In fact, we wish everyone would follow the motto of Martin Wolf, Seventh Generation’s Scienceman and a leading authority on the environmental impact of household cleaning products:

If a negative environmental impact can be lessened or avoided, both industry and consumers have a responsibility to do so.

photo credit: Dublin City University

Water-related news from around the world delivered right to you. Two stories about drinking water–one in the USA and the other in Iraq, Australia’s continued efforts to conserve their already scarce water supply, Coke’s success in cutting it’s carbon footprint, and lastly, a laundry in Seattle is saving water and money with a bit of ingenuity. Naturally, if you’ve noticed any other water-related stories this week, don’t keep them a secret, share them by posting a comment below.

time for stricter drinking water standards?

The quality, or lack thereof, of drinking water in America has been put front and center with media coverage such as the New York Time’s Toxic Waters series. Fortunately, the government is listening and today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it’s planning on stepping up drinking water system monitoring and action when a problem is found. The revised rule should reduce the amount of waterborne pathogens that make their way into the fresh water supply causing a variety of ailments from abdominal discomfort to kidney failure to hepatitis. There’s a 60 day pubic comment period, so if you’re concerned about the quality of your water, perhaps you should let the EPA know you support stronger regulations.

the quest for clean drinking water

Now consider for a moment, the plight of the Iraqi people. Despite fact that America has poured billions into the country, Reuter’s Aseel Kami explains that for 7.5 million Iraqis there is no safe, clean drinking water, and it’s certainly not coming out of the kitchen sink. The fact is that the infrastructure is just not there and what is there is broken or heavily damaged. The International Red Cross delivers hundreds of thousands of liters of water each day. Some neighborhoods were even built without being connected to the city’s water system. While the Baghdad government says they’ll end water scarcity in two years, many aren’t so sure.

learning from australia’s never-ending drought

It’s safe to say that Australia’s 12-year drought is one of the worst in the world right now. Lakes have dried up, rivers are always at least 40 percent lower than before, crops are failing, and the forecasts are not optimistic. Water scarcity is now a way of life for folks Down Under. Of course, it’s not like the country is going to pick up and move, so they’re finding ways to manage their water resources. In New South Wales, the most populous state in Australia, they’re investing in water recycling projects. For example, they plan to increase recycled water use in agricultural irrigation. And it’s not like the Aussies aren’t well ahead of other developed nations, they already use 27 billion liters of recycled water for farming, industrial, and households. As water scarcity effects more and more regions, no doubt governments will be looking to Australia to see what’s worked.

coke’s reducing water, using recycled plastic and getting greener

Last year Coca-Cola announced it was making a commitment to reducing its carbon footprint. As one of the largest multinational corporations, and one which often operates in water-scarce areas, Coke’s improvements stand to have a significant impact. This week, Coke has issued an update. Via the company’s Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CRS) Report, Coke shows advances in reducing energy use, water use, increased recycling, and an overall drop in the company’s carbon footprint. Of course, we’re always looking at water management, and it now takes 1.67 liters of water to produce a single liter of soda (or any other of their products). That’s down 3.5 percent over two years ago. In addition to their own improved efficiencies, Coke invested invested $12.7 million in a global partnership with U.S. Agency for International Development to support water scarcity and quality in Africa.

keeping linens clean with less water

The Bellingham Herald shares a story of a small business in Washington state used to use 50,000 gallons of water each day to clean and sterilize hospital linens. But Sterile Surgical Systems President Greg Gicewicz wanted to save water and money. Gicewicz installed a $115,000 water treatment and recycling system the company installed in November and recently added a rainwater capture system to his roof. Now, the business only needs 15,000 gallons a day. On top of all the water he’s not paying for, the company’s sewer bills are also lower. Gicewicz expects the systems to pay for itself in only a year. Well done, Sterile Surgical Systems!

photo credits: dirty tap water Jenny Lee Silver/Flickr, dry Murray River Shovelling Son/Flickr