Toledo water crisis is bad. Is your city next?
Gripping headlines in recent days that 400,000 people don’t have access to clean water in Toledo, Ohio became national news. I know we often hear a lot of third world countries having inadequate drinking and bathing water, yet the issue of water shortages are increasingly affecting more and more Americans. Exceptional droughts in California, extreme water shortages in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Colorado and Oklahoma, as well as abnormally dry conditions in areas of Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, New York and even Connecticut are collectively highlighting a growing problem here at home that should only make water preservation an issue of national priority.
Irrigation accounts for roughly 40% of water taken from lakes, aquifers and rivers. The development of biofuels will further constrain our fresh water supply by another 10% within 20 years. That brings roughly 50% of water being accounted for and that doesn’t even take into account the millions of gallons of water needed to fracture oil and gas wells over their lifecycle or the hundreds of thousands of gallons of water vital to cooling power plants (coal, nuclear, biofuel, solar thermal, gas, nuclear). All of this at a time when many lakes are drying up around the country or as recently seen in Ohio, becoming contaminated.
So shouldn’t focusing on ways to recycle water, purify saltwater from the ocean or tap new innovation to develop next generation energy solutions like wind or solar PV, energy sources that do not require water use, be key investor themes in coming years? Same for energy sources like geothermal power which consumes less water than traditional power plants (see chart) and small modular reactors which don’t require external water. I believe so. Therefore If you are interested in allocating some of your portfolio dollars to water, check out the PowerShares Water Resources ETF ($PHO).
At the end of the day, without much more water conservation efforts, our place as an industrialized nation will be challenged. Here is a scary chart from The US Drought Monitor partnership which shows just how far the dry temperatures and water concerns are presently spreading across the country and maybe even into your own neighborhood.
We simply can’t focus on the word sustainability if we have an “inability” to make real progress on preserving our water supply. Just ask the people of Toledo.
Photo Credit: Flickr/Kevin Cortopassi
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