Strategies to Keep Major Cities from Running Dry

Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting” – attributed to Mark Twain

Fighting over water was once seen as a titanic struggle between ranchers and farmers on our western frontier. But this tension is now playing out globally among thirsty cities, agrarian communities, industrial factories, and energy producers.

In fact, the World Economic Forum has identified water crises as one of the most-likely and highest-impact economic threats over the next 10 years. We have already seen the effects through migrants from the Middle East perilously crossing the Mediterranean Sea to find a better life in Europe. The exodus was driven in part by drought, which led to famine and massive social instability, triggering the Syrian Civil War and the global cascade of disruptions that continue to this day.

Water crises particularly cause risks for vulnerable populations. Waterborne disease, for example, remains one of the largest preventable killers of children in the world. The United Nations has responded by declaring water a human right, and made it the focus of the global Sustainable Development Goals. But that’s small solace to the 4 billion people who lack secure water supplies today. 

Of course, nearly every sector of our economy requires water: Mining. Manufacturing. Energy. Transportation. Trade. This is true everywhere. 

The production of power represents the largest primary water withdrawal in the U.S. In addition to hydropower, nearly all thermoelectric power plants require water – regardless of their fuel source. Analysis by the U.S. Advanced Manufacturing Office indicates that many key manufacturing sectors, from metals to paper to chemicals, are at risk of disruption from the lack of water. 

Risks in our own country result not only from a limited supply of water within our borders, but also from disrupted supplies beyond our borders. The social and economic instability that droughts, flooding, and polluted water can create around the world impact U.S. businesses that participate in the global economy.

Syria is the most prominent example of this kind of instability, but water insecurity threatens many of our key trading partners, including nations like Australia. Inadequate water supplies, along with their mismanagement, pose environmental hazards and the potential to disrupt global economic growth. 

The key to water security

So water security is a serious problem at home, across the U.S., and abroad. What can be done? 

Resilience is essential. Resilience means having water supply systems that can withstand disasters, accommodate changes in demand, and resist perturbations so they can yield sufficient water on an ongoing basis.

Resilience is essential. Resilience means having water supply systems that can withstand disasters, accommodate changes in demand, and resist perturbations so they can yield sufficient water on an ongoing basis.

Recent droughts in California, Australia, and the Middle East, and present threats to public water supply in large cities like Cape Town and Mexico City, dramatically demonstrate the need for improved water supply resilience. So do harmful waterborne constituents such as lead and governance failures like those in Flint, Michigan.

Bottled water distribution in downtown Flint, Michigan, in 2016. (Linda Parton / Shutterstock)

The essential components of a resilience strategy include new and refurbished water infrastructure, improved water management, and forward-looking planning. Encouragingly, new technologies, such as desalination, may soon be available in more modular and flexible configurations. They can provide local water treatment at the point of use, and fit the specific purpose.

But all of that is still not enough. Technology alone can’t guarantee water security. Human water systems are intimately connected with natural systems. We don’t make water – we only move it, purify it, and degrade it. The water that you drank in your coffee, tea, or juice this morning is ancient — as old as the Earth. 

But all of that is still not enough. Technology alone can’t guarantee water security. Human water systems are intimately connected with natural systems.

Water security isn’t only a matter of having enough water. It is also about having enough water of sufficient quality for all of the myriad ways we use water — to drink, bathe, clean, produce energy, build things, and make food. And that includes growing the food, processing it, transporting it, cleaning it, and cooking it. All of those require reliable and safe water supplies.

Strategies for the future

To ensure that we have water security in the future — and we’re talking about the near future here: next month, next summer, and over the next few years — we need to prevent disturbances like floods, land development, or industrial contamination from making our water unsafe, untreatable, or otherwise unusable.

This challenge links water security to ecosystems, which are intimately connected to water. All ecosystems require water, but many of them also store and protect water. Unfortunately, the degradation of ecosystems often impairs water supplies. For example, the massive harmful algal blooms that occur in Lake Erie, which are caused by nutrient runoff, once rendered Toledo’s water supply unsafe to drink. They still represent a substantial risk every year.

Algal bloom over western Lake Erie (via National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

We also need harmonious solutions. And by harmonious, I mean solutions that contribute to the balance among water supply resilience, ecosystem resilience, and long-term sustainability. True security requires all three elements.

We also need harmonious solutions. And by harmonious, I mean solutions that contribute to the balance among water supply resilience, ecosystem resilience, and long-term sustainability.

One promising harmonious economic strategy is urban green infrastructure. Parks, open spaces, and swales are among the ways cities can use green infrastructure to store water, reduce floods, and at the same time benefit residents through greater biodiversity and recreational opportunities.

Water funds offer opportunities for cities to protect their water sources. They provide a way for water users to pool resources together to protect the source of a water supply. This concept may sound new and exotic, but conserving and protecting the source of a water supply is a classic strategy. It was even essential to the development of New York City. The city’s source of water in the Croton River watershed has been protected since 1842 and in the Cascades since 1915.

One more strategy we need globally and locally is more information about the human impact of water insecurity. The connections between food insecurity, inadequate nutrition, and poor health are well established. But water resources are managed by states, regions, and countries. As a result, we know water supplies in aggregate, not at the level of households, families, and children.

Fortunately, efforts are underway to develop tools that assess the human impact of water insecurity. They can help communities take actions to improve their water security. This level of detail can help close the usually massive disconnection between municipal and regional water infrastructure and the day-to-day needs and threats that individuals and communities face. 

Water levels in reservoirs and mountain snow packs are easy to see, but most people do not know the effort required to deliver clean, safe water on demand. In fact, most of us take reliable clean water supply for granted.  But it’s not a given. Secure, resilient water supplies require vigilance to ensure that our essential resources remain safe and sufficient. 

In fact, most of us take reliable clean water supply for granted.  But it’s not a given. Secure, resilient water supplies require vigilance to ensure that our essential resources remain safe and sufficient.

We need a much more holistic approach than is used today. Achieving national and global water security will demand integrating the protection of water resources, ecosystem conservation, sustainable development, and technological innovation.