I’ve just returned from a trip to Spain, a country that’s
certainly seen its share of water woes.
Spain
has suffered a water shortage for almost two years, and by spring of 2008 it had
only received a third of the average seasonal rainfall. With reservoirs less than half full, the
country is gripped in its worst drought since the 1940s. And in Catalonia the situation is even
worse: Reservoirs are less than a fifth full, and, in April, Barcelona – a city known for its efficient
infrastructure – was forced to import water by ship and train to prevent a water
crisis prompted by extreme drought.
The water was brought in from Marseilles, France and from desalination
plants in southern Spain. And
Barcelona is not alone, for many
years now the island of Mallorca has depended upon imported water to meet its
needs – especially the spike in demand during tourist season.
I was lucky enough to spend some time in Barcelona and
Mallorca, as well as a few other destinations in southern Spain. What struck me while I was visiting was
the ubiquity of low-flow fixtures throughout the region. Every hotel – whether it was a small,
family-owned pension or a large, commercial chain – had bathrooms outfitted with
dual-flush toilets and low-flow showerheads. In larger cities, like Madrid, the hotel
rooms were also adorned with the requests for conscientious water usage that we
often see here in the US.
Unfortunately, many times that’s as far as it goes – just a
postcard asking you to hang up your towel and maybe turn the faucet off while
your brushing your teeth. And yet,
the traveler is an important demographic when it comes to public outreach and
water efficiency. Studies have
shown that when people are on vacation they tend to throw caution to the wind
and put aside daily habits – including their normal water conservation
efforts. It’s certainly an unwanted
twist on “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”
Tourism is big business
in the US. According to a report by
the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, in 2007 “56 million international visitors from 213
countries during 2007, up 10% from 2006.”
And that’s just international travelers. When you add domestic tourism to the
mix, you can begin to see how much impact water-wasting tourists can have on a
local economy and water parched region – be it California, Nevada, Georgia,
Florida, National Parks, and just about any city, town, or hamlet situated near
an attraction or interstate.
If the people of Spain are willing to
mitigate the impact of tourism on their water resources by investing in
water-saving technologies and low-flow fixtures, shouldn’t we, in the US, be
doing the same before it gets to the point where our most water-starved
communities are actually forced to import water to meet their needs?