(Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection - Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Corner)

Last Sunday, March 22, was proclaimed by the United Nations as World Water Day. The theme this year was “Where Water Flows Equality Grows.” This year, attention was given to the plight of women around the world. Globally, more than 1 billion women lack access to safely managed drinking water services. In 53 countries that collect the data, women and girls spend 250 million hours per day on water collection – more than 3 times that of men and boys. Unsafe water, sanitation, and hygiene are responsible for the deaths of about 1,000 children under 5 years of age every day.

Groundwater provides almost half of the drinking water supply in the U.S. and around half of the drinking water supply worldwide. Groundwater and aquifers are closely linked. Seventy percent of groundwater extracted worldwide including in the U.S. is for agriculture. I will refer to groundwater and aquifers as the same in this article going forward. Many aquifers are in severe decline. The Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer is one of the most heavily pumped aquifers in the U.S. with an average annual extraction of roughly 10 million acre-feet, or more than 3 trillion gallons. Much of that is mismanaged and excess water flows off to the Mississippi River. In fact approximately 75 trillion gallons of water is removed from aquifers each year, displaced into oceans and causing sea level rise. The weight shift of the extraction of all this water unevenly around the globe has caused the planet to wobble and the earth’s axis has tilted 31.5″ as a result.

Climate change has had a large impact on the water cycle worldwide, with water levels declining in 36% of studied aquifers. Climate change slows the rate of aquifer recharge by decreasing the amount of water available to seep into the ground, driven by increased evaporation, reduced precipitation in many areas, and altered snowmelt patterns. Intense, fast-moving rainfall often runs off into rivers rather than soaking into the soil. Run off is exacerbated by the proliferation of impervious surfaces across the landscape (rooftops, streets, parking areas, etc.), and agricultural practices that leave bare ground after harvests – bare ground sheds water quickly, whereas fields with cover crops allow rainfall to stay on the land longer, soak in and recharge aquifers.

Data centers are emerging as a serious threat to our water supply. A 200 mega-watt data center proposed for the Waterford, OH, area provides a good example of what to expect. All the information shared here is corroborated by multiple information sources. An average 200MW data center uses 1-2 million gallons of water a day for cooling. To provide the energy for that data center a gas-powered power plant would use an average of about 860,000 gallons each day. To provide the gas for that power plant would require many hydraulically fractured wells and a constant supply of new wells that require an average of 5 million gallons of water to produce. There is also the problem of where to dispose of resurfaced frack and production water, but that is for another article.

Another threat to the future of abundant clean water in the U.S. is the outcome of the legal battle of Sackett v. EPA. In 2023 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Sackett regarding the definition of Waters of the United States (WOTUS). Under the new interpretation a waterway is under the jurisdiction of the federal government only if it is adjacent to navigable waters. Under this much narrower interpretation of WOTUS, protection for tens of millions of acres of wetlands, nearly half of the wetlands in the U.S. are vulnerable to drainage. Wetlands serve as the kidneys of the environment, removing contaminants, recharging aquifers, and providing storage capacity, thereby reducing flooding.

Beef and ethanol production are concerns because of the amount of corn production required to support those industries and the related irrigation needs. Industrial cattle operations which produce 70-75% of the beef in the U.S. rely on corn and soybeans. 5-15 million acres of corn are grown each year for the concentrated animal feeding operations. 30 million acres of corn are grown each year for bio-fuel (ethanol) production.

This is by no means an attempt to present all of the threats to our water, but a sample of a few.

Here is the good news.

Many people are becoming aware of the threats to water quantity and quality and are becoming advocates for the protection of water.

Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar use a little water during production but once in service use little to no water.

Farmers are selecting more appropriate crops to avoid or lessen irrigation and employing other water conservation measures – some are even taking marginal land out of production in areas where the aquifer is in danger of drying up.

Our earth is amazingly resilient.

Some things you can do:

Reduce beef consumption and choose grass fed, which uses water in a more natural way, making it easier on the environment and less damaging to water quality.

Adopt energy saving practices such as solar installation.

Not mow grass too short to keep the ground surface shaded and help retain water – also, gasoline powered mowers are large air polluters because they have no emissions controls.

Avoid lawn watering by converting lawn to native plants, especially pollinators.

Get involved, organizations such as Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action welcome you to join in their efforts.

I leave you with a quote from Rachel Carson, author of “Silent Spring,” “Mankind has gone very far into an artificial world of his own creation. He has sought to insulate himself, in his cities of steel and concrete, from the realities of earth and water and the growing seed. Intoxicated with a sense of his own power, he seems to be going farther and farther into more experiments for the destruction of himself and his world.”

***

Vic Elam is an avid outdoorsman and contributor to organizations that share his concern for our environment, including Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action.