U6115: Climate & Water Tuesday, July 26 2004

1. U6115: Climate & WaterTuesday, July 26 2004 “If everything seems to be going well, Obviously you’ve overlooked something!” “If Barbie is so popular, why do you have to buy her friends!

2. Today: Water/Hydrology • Water for the world • An introduction to management issues • Global utilization • National to regional water management • NYC Case study

3. Water: Counting every drop… “Access to safe water is a fundamental human need and, therefore, a basic human right. Contaminated water jeopardizes both the physical and social health of all people. It is an affront to human dignity” Kofi Annan – UN Secretary-General on World Water Day

4. “Making prediction is very difficult, especially about the future” – Casey Stengel Water scenarios: Projected and actual global withdrawals. From Gleick (2000): The World’s Water, 2000-2001

5. Continental Distribution

6. Continental Distribution

7. Water: Our U.S. Budget Stream Flow (29%) Main loss (66%) Humans (~2.5%)

8. “North America’s abundant water resources represent 14% of the global renewable fresh water”

9. “North America’s abundant water resources represent 14% of the global renewable fresh water” From Commission for Environmental Cooperation (2000): The North American Mosaic

10. in many areas of the US more water is withdrawn than is renewed * global warming * floods, hurricanes * groundwater and surface water contamination

11. Source: http://water.usgs.gov/watuse

12. Water utilization (withdrawals) in the U.S.

13. Source, use & disposition of water in the US, (1990) Modified from http:// water.usgs.gov/watuse/ wuto.html

14. Electricity production and irrigation are far and away the biggest water users in the country (48% and 34%)

15. Public supply is a distant third (11%) but has ceased to increase at the same rate as population growth

16. Public supply is a distant third (11%) but has ceased to increase at the same rate as population growth

17. The USGS reports that groundwater withdrawals have increased by 14% in the last 20 years  decline in groundwater storage aquifers in some regions and diminishing streamflow (through lower base flows).

18. “The problem of water is so severe that the United States will increasingly challenged to provide sufficient quantity of high-quality water to its growing population” - Envisioning the Agenda for Water Resourcecs Research in the 21st Century (NRC) Many water expert say, however, that overall water supply is NOT the problem (with some regional exceptions), but rather management of that supply. Although water is a national issue, there is no national platform in the U.S. from which to address this issue. Water experts are now calling for a national commission of the form of the defunct Water Resource Council (WRC). The case of the Colorado River.

19. The Colorado River. The Compact of 1922.

20. The Colorado River.

21. The Colorado River. According to the Colorado Compact, the seven States are responsible for determining how their shares are to be used. However, the Compact is an agreement ratified by Congress and thus carries the weight of Federal Law. • Federal government is responsible for: • managing reservoirs (Bureau of Reclamation), • meeting international agreements (U.S. Dept. of Interior), • protecting and restoring endangered species (Fish and Wildlife), • navigation and flood control (Arm. Corps of Engineers), • water quality (EPA).

22. “Making predictions…” Aquifer recharge Pass through needs for estuaries Water scenario: Regional management model

23. “Making predictions…” Water scenario: Regional management model

24. “Making predictions…” Water scenario: Regional management model

25. “Making predictions…” Water scenario: Regional management model

26. Streamflow variability

27. “Making predictions…” proposed Aquifer recharge Mary Rhodes pipeline Water scenario: Regional management model

28. The case for water quality!“If I die, I will die, but I will not fetch water from another man’s house” – Bangladeshi villager

29. The case for water quality!“If I die, I will die, but I will not fetch water from another man’s house” – Bangladeshi villager

30. The case for water quality!“If I die, I will die, but I will not fetch water from another man’s house” – Bangladeshi villager • Arsenic is conservative (high during drought intensive periods!) • Desalination  expensive and exacerbate hypersalinity of lagoons • Groundwater  Bangladesh anyone?

31. Water for NYC On 4 July 1842, New York City celebrated the opening of the world's first long-distance urban water supply aqueduct since the Roman Empire. The city's population had quadrupled since 1800 (from 60,000 to 250,000) and was wracked by chronic water shortages, outbreaks of cholera, and recurrent fires Source: “A Full, Clean Glass?” Platt et al., 2000

32. Water for NYC • The Croton system today provides ~10% of the city’s water needs. The rest is provided by the Catskill watersheds and its reservoir systems: • The Eastern “Catskill” system provides 40% of the city’s water . • The Western “Delaware” system provides the remaining 50%. These two systems were developed between 1900-1960 (particularly the Delaware system which came online during the 1960s drought period) Source: “A Full, Clean Glass?” Platt et al., 2000

33. Changes in land use: Modeled changes in land use across NY metro region(Work carried out by William Solecki, Chris Small, and colleagues) 1990s Observed 2050s Projected

34. 1997 Memorandum of Understanding (MOA) On 21 January 1997, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Governor George Pataki, and a host of governmental and environmental cosigners entered into an epic Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). A product resulting from years of negotiation, the MOA established a legally enforceable compact under which the city would spend up to a billion dollars over 10 years to maintain and protect the high quality of water derived from its WOH reservoirs indefinitely into the future. Its objective is to satisfy the stringent requirements of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act through watershed management rather than by constructing a filtration plant for its WOH sources at even greater expense.The 1997 New York City Watershed MOA is a unique document in the history of water resource management. It provides for an extraordinary financial and legal commitment from New York City to prevent existing and potential contaminants from reaching reservoirs; to monitor a broad range of water quality and drinking parameters; to conduct new research on public health and water quality; and to promote sustainable economic development and social wellbeing in the Catskill/Delaware watershed communities. Source: “A Full, Clean Glass?” Platt et al., 2000

35. NRC Recommendations 1) The first conclusion noted that the New York City watershed management program should place importance first on microbial pathogens, second on organic precursors of disinfection byproducts (DBPs), third on phosphorus, and fourth on turbidity and sediment.2) The second conclusion of the NRC committee is that the concept of balancing watershed rules and regulations with targeted support of watershed community development is a reasonable strategy for New York City and possibly other water suppliers. The committee feels that the MOA adequately considers both private property rights and the economic, social, and political concerns of watershed residents.3) As its third recommendation, the committee encourages New York City and all other water suppliers to be receptive to the possibility of additional water treatment options (pollution control)4) Lastly, the committee recommended that New York City should lead in efforts to quantify the contribution of watershed management to the overall risk reduction from waterborne pollutants. Source: “A Full, Clean Glass?” Platt et al., 2000

38. Source: Ming Fang Ting (pers. Comm.)

39. Concluding Thought And after you’ve “heard” this story of great misfortunes, you will no doubt dine well, blaming the author for your own insensitivity, accusing him of wild exaggeration and flights of fancy. But rest assured: this tragedy is not a fiction. All is true” • Honoré de Balzac