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Show We may face a global water crisis Hy Senator Alon ( rannton ol CuliloriiU Hxpcrts arn lirKitmiiiK t" l i-oiu-.TiU'il that clmiiHi't in ttm 'l,fU' population as woll ait tlm basic fhaii);ia in lint urn itself may tm prtvipitatiiiK watnr oristis of global proportions. propor-tions. Our burKKoniiiK world pop illation. di'iiiaiuliiiK and m.irti living spam, , n moving into arid lands whi. h rfiiiiti new tt'ilinolonios for huinan survival. Ami, soiim rliinalolorists sunfst that lliti planet may lx moving into an era of unstable weather patterns that could deprive our well established agricultural regions re-gions of rainfall that used to be reliable. Of course, we' all hope and pray that the rains will return to the West this winter that our reservoirs will be restored restor-ed so our thirsty lands can drink their fill. Hut. even if I'rovidence smiles upon us next year, the fact remains that a global water crisis may be developing develop-ing that could rival the energy crisis. Water Scaxr W orldwide The issue of a global water crisis was addressed at the recent I'niteti Nations water conference in Argentina. Ijke previous conferences on food, environment and population, this meeting attempted to achieve a global perspective on our world's shrinking resources. re-sources. Incredibly. K0 percent of the world's population has no access to tap water, but must rely on water taken directly from streams and wells. This water is often contaminated with human wastes. It is estimated that five million people die earh year of water-borne water-borne disease. Clearly, if we are to conquer disease and alleviate human misery, we must develop methods for providing clean, safe drinking water. (round Water User Agriculture currently uses about HO IK) percent of all available ground water. Virtually Vir-tually all of that water is used for irrigation. Since nearly all the useable cropland that gets adequate rainfall is already under plow, the increased food production needed to feed the world's growing population pop-ulation must come from new irrigated lands. In fact, if we are going to feed all of the people who will be living on this planet in the year 2000, we will have virtu ally to double the amount of water now used for irrigation.. That's the prediction of the United Nations Food and Ag ricullure Organization. A third significant- and growing demand for water comes from industry. Producing Produ-cing a ton of steel requires 150 tons or 40.000 gallons of water. Refining a ton of oil uses 1K0 tons of water. And making a ton of paper takes 2.r0 tons of water. Clearly, growing needs for water over the next 25 yeara will compel the best efforts of hydrologisls, agronomists, meteorologists, water supply engineers, pollution control specialists and many others to find and make significant new supplies of clean, fresh water. In this global context, the drought is a challenge a test of our determination and in- Kenuity to live in a world of shrinking resources and grow-i"K grow-i"K mIs. 1 Wight Kffeels In Calif. In California. . the effects of the drought are increasingly increasing-ly visible. Mandatory rationing ration-ing is in effect in many areas. In the Marin municipal water district, domestic users are limited to slightly more than 40 gallons per person per day. San h'rancisco has mandated water reductions of 25 percent per-cent and East Hay municipal utility district will require cutbacks of 1)5 percent. And in Southern California, a voluntary vol-untary rationing program has been initiated to cut consumption consump-tion by 10 per cent. It will b made mandatory if necessary. The drought has also had a severe effect on power users. Northern California, which relies heavily on hydroelectric hydroelec-tric energy, will have to purchase high priced stearn-generated stearn-generated electricity from other utilities. This will require re-quire Increased burning of fossil fuels. That, In turn, will add to our air quality problems. prob-lems. The California Department of Water Ilesources estimates that the loss of hydroelectric power will cost consumers an additional $500 million this year. Central Valley farmers, who must pump underground water to supplement the lost supply of surface water, will pay an additional $25 million this year for electricity. Congress and the President are working on legislation to alleviate the financial burdens imposed by the drought. The so-called water bank bill has been enacted to provide the Bureau of Reclamation with the funds and the authority to assist water users who are afflicted by severe water cutbacks. cut-backs. The Senate is completing action on the Community E-mergency E-mergency Drought Relief Act of 1977 (S 1279). which would give the Economic Development Develop-ment Administration similar emergency authority. I am pleased to report that I have worked out an amendment that makes absolutely clear funds made available under this act can be used to assist communities that have already al-ready incurred drought-related expenses. My amendment has been agreed to by the Administration. Other Problems You are all aware of President Pres-ident Carter's actions to eliminate elim-inate certain federal water projects, including Auburn Dam in California (from the 1978 budget). I agTee with the President's overall objectives for future water projects; they must be safe, environmentally environ-mentally sound, economically feasible, and the beneficiaries must repay their equitable share. I believe that Auburn is a good project that should be built if it is possible to build it to withstand earthquakes... Federal reclamation projects proj-ects In the West are not pork-barrel pork-barrel projects. . . For example, exam-ple, the Federal Government has spent a total of 7.2 billion dollars on reclamation projects proj-ects over the past 74 years. Vet the Government has collected col-lected between 15-20 billion in taxes attributable to reclamation reclama-tion projects over the last 36 years alone. That's a pretty good return on the taxpayer's investment. The Senate Select Committee Commit-tee on Indian Affairs will hold hearings this month on S 905 (the Indian water rights bill) introduced by Sen. Kennedy (D Mass.). This bill would authorize the Secretary of Interior to purchase or exchange ex-change lands in Arizona that have water rights attached, and transfer the water to Indian reservations. Most of the land would be in the Wellton-Mohawk Division near Yuma. While the bill is bound to face opposition from non-Indian Arizonans, the concept of the bill-that is, the purchase of water rights at a fair price-may be one possible way to settle Indian claims. Increasing Costs The interim primary drinking drink-ing water standards mandated mandat-ed by the safe drinking water act take effect next month. This will surely mean increasing increas-ing costs especially for many small communities throughout through-out the country... As these increasing costs become more apparent, I expect great pressures pres-sures on the Congress to provide money to bring small communities up to date-One date-One thing is clear-the cost of energy is only going to go up. And that means increasing increas-ing costs for water users. In Southern California, for example, ex-ample, the cost of pumping water from the Owens Valley, the Colorado River and North-Cont. North-Cont. on Page B2 Global water crisis Cont. from Page Bl ern California will rise dramatically drama-tically in the next decade. Metropolitan Water District of Southern California estimates esti-mates the cost of pumping northern California water over ov-er the Techachipis (a mountain moun-tain range that divides Northern North-ern and Southern California) will jump from three cents per 1,000 gallons to 25 cents per 1000 gallons in 1983-an eightfold eight-fold increase!. . .No one will escape the rising costs of energy. Liability insurance premiums premi-ums in California for owners and operators of dams have escalated 200-500 percent in the past two years . . . apparently appar-ently (because of) the failure of Teton Dam in Idaho. Whatever What-ever the reason, the problem is serious. I understand, for example that the Nevada irrigation district in Northern California found itself priced out of the market, and thus has no liability insurance... A solution is needed to the f problem. One idea would be to ( establish Federal dam safety standards and then tie some (type of) federal insurance , system to a certification that ( the standards have been met. f |
