I’m
in San Diego, CA this week, attending the AWWA’s annual Conference and
Exposition (ACE 09). Interestingly enough, the conference program includes a
welcome letter from California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who heads a state
all too familiar with the challenges and hardships associated with ever
increasing demand in the face of diminishing water supplies.
Schwarzenegger
is not the only governor dealing with water resource management issues and
concerns. This Sunday, the three-day Western Governors Conference began in Park
City, UT. The governors plan to focus on key issues that affect the western part
of the country, including climate change, energy, and water use. But the
governors are not the only concerned parties in attendance—the conference
includes representative of President Obama’s administration, along with
participants from around the world.
And
what the attendees are focusing on could serve as a “to do list” for any water
conservation professional: Water Conservation, new technologies, and a
rethinking of supply and demand. Additionally, the participants will discuss the
diminished water supplies threatening not just the west, but communities in all
parts of the world. On Sunday, for example, the conference’s main discussion
included experts from Canada, the Middle East, and Australia talking about water
resource management under the influence of climate change.
As
I stated in my last blog—manmade or not, climate change is a very real threat to
our regional water supplies. As access to potable water is limited due to
environmental changes and ecosystem collapse, there is a greater chance that
communities will find themselves at odds over who gets what and how much. In
order to avoid violent water disputes, communities need to first conserve and
protect their current resources, although it couldn’t hurt to explore other
options—including water reclamation and reuse, rainwater harvesting, and maybe
even desalination.
Ultimately,
I think the best advice can be found in the comments of Montana Governor Brian
Schweitzer—incoming Western Governors’ Association (WGA) chairman—who is quoted
in the Associated Press for saying that water should be measured accurately and
used efficiently while being conserved on a large scale. I think those three
tactics would serve any water purveyor well.
For
more information on the WGA: www.westgov.org
To
read the Associated Press account of the WGA conference, click here.