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

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

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

In this week’s water-related news we find Boston preparing for rising sea levels, ideas from Singapore on managing water stores that are always 40 percent short, how Indians plan their weddings based on venues with clean, ample water supplies, and an editorial by Chevy Chase on the state of our oceans.

preparing for rising seas

The city planners in Boston are looking ahead to a future where rising ocean levels flood significant portions of the city. While Boston has benefited from the ocean, throughout its history Beantown has added to its footprint with landfill, leaving much of the city just above sea level. City leaders are considering a variety of ideas such as changing the entrances to the underground subway and newly built freeways, moving electrical equipment out of downtown basements and onto the roofs, updating zoning laws to discourage construction in high-risk areas, even building massive gates in the bay. And Boston isn’t the only city beginning to this about rising seas. Venice is building sea gates to hold back the tides already.

singapore: a model for water management

Water expert Dr. Peter Gleick takes readers to Singapore for a look at how this small country with 4.5 million people manages its water. For years Singapore has purchased about 40 percent of the water it needs from Malaysia. While the monetary cost of the water hasn’t been a burden, the political and security situation has been. To address the situation and reduce reliance on imported water, Singapore has been working for the last few years to increase conservation, eliminate waste, increase local fresh water capture, and recycle or desalinate water. The country is a model of efficiency; an average citizen of Singapore uses around 40 gallons each day. For comparison, the average Californian uses 130 gallons per day. On the supply side, they are heavily investing in wastewater treatment and recycling plants which could supply as much as 30 percent of their needs. Clearly, the U.S. and other countries could learn a lot from Singapore’s model.

water-caused wedding woes

Wedding-venue wish lists usually include features such as: has a great view, beautiful gardens, or is eco-friendly. Rarely have our readers had to worry if the hall would have enough clean drinking water for the joyous occasion. But this is just what’s happening in some parts of India where water shortages have become all too common. Families in central India are going halls to villages miles away just to ensure there’s plenty of water. According to the Times of India, the family of the groom will specifically ask for a venue that has ample water. And you thought your family had tough requests.

the ocean needs your attention

This past Tuesday was World Oceans Day. Of course, we’re all pretty darn focused on what’s happening with the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, so this year people were actually talking about the state of the oceans already. Chevy and Jayni Chase have been educating themselves and others about the perils facing the oceans for a lot longer than the 50 plus days since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20. This week on CNN.com, the Chases wrote an editorial spelling out the issue quite plainly: “Our lack of attention is killing the oceans.” Chevy and Jayni point out that we often don’t consider where our fish come from, what happens when trash makes its way to the open water, or the simple fact that we know more about the moon than we do about the depths of the oceans. They encourage you to take the time and give some of your attention to the oceans. After all, they oceans account for more than 71 percent of the surface of the planet.

Which stories caught your eye this week? Please share them in our comments below.

Each day more than a billion people cannot just go to the tap and get a drink of water. They can’t toss a load of dirty clothes into the washer and walk away. Two billion people don’t even have access to a toilet. According to the United Nations, water scarcity is a daily nightmare for one in five people on the planet.

The crazy thing is, that this is a problem the world can solve. While there are no shortage of organizations working to bring safe drinking water and sanitation to everyone, we have a very long way to go. Even now, in 2010, every 15 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease.

A group we’d like you to know about is the British non-governmental organization (NGO) WaterAid. Since 1981, the organization works on both a local level, in areas without clean water or sanitation, and on legislative issues in the U.K.. WaterAid’s vision “is a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation.” Throughout the years, they’ve had some influential help. During the 1990s, Prince Charles became WaterAid’s first president and he continues to support their work today. In 2008/09 they raised about $62.7 million dollars (£43.8 million).

This year they are working on raising awareness of the upcoming world-wide summit reviewing the progress of the Millennium Development Goals. WaterAid want to keep the pressure on international leaders to make real and significant improvements for water quality and sanitation. So, they launched a contest for young filmmakers in association with Cannes Lions and YouTube. Entrants had 48 hours to create a one minute ad to show people why it is important for the Millennium Development Goals to be achieved. The films had to be specifically about water and sanitation.

The winning ad will be announced on May 31, and the lucky filmmakers will win a trip to Cannes. Here is our favorite from the over 500 submissions:

We can’t even imagine a life without clean, abundant water. What do you think it will take to see the Millennium Development Goals make progress? Will we ever have a world where everyone has access to clean water and good sanitation? Post your thoughts below. Oh, and if you thought one of the other videos from the Cannes Lion / YouTube selection is better than our pick, share the link with us in the comments.