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Show WATER CHALLENGES OF THE '80s Just as the '70s was the decade of the energy crisis, some experts believe the '80s will be the decade of severe national water shortages, short-ages, unless we take action now. It is estimated that this country used about 40 billion bil-lion gallons of fresh water per day in 1900 and 370 billion bil-lion gallons each dav bv 1970. By 1985, we're expected ex-pected to use 422 billion gallons per day. Our daily water supply limit is esti. mated to be 600 billion gallons per day. We could reach that supply limit even sooner than expected if the country commits itself to energy programs including coal gasification plants and shale-oil extraction plants which use massive amounts of water. According to John W Harnger-Vice President; Water Products, for the """T1 fUWity Division of Rockwell International, a leading manufacturer of water wa-ter meters-consumers industry in-dustry agriculture, suppliers of water products and government gov-ernment must work together to provide adequate supply pf quality Water at u lowest possible price. Consumers, Con-sumers, he says, can cut water consumption a num- Accurate meters and careful conservation frow can help us reduce the possibility of severe water ( . . rr ber of ways such as sprinkling sprin-kling lawns at night for less evaporation; getting wnter-saving wnter-saving devices for dishwashers, dish-washers, toilets and clothes washers; and attaching a control device to reduce water flow during showers. Agriculture, which uses nearly half the water in the U.&., can cut wasteful forms ot irrigation. Farmers can hne irrigation ditches with concrete, and adopt the new drip-type irrigation systems which deliver water to the Plant roots rather than to the soil. Also, by measuring accurately, thoy can use only the water needed for optimum opti-mum crop production. During the past several decades, the Wlltor imlus( found, communities which convert fn 1 i charge for water W- ill water reduce dem( jldl percent. Metering consumers who have to pay for ' ,, can be the key'1 ' economic wa' which can result in f- distribution and lo' m to the concerned In addition, mf'J' terns have the j determine unc' ' water loss. Ua detected for yea -W total system Unw" 'I) American u"1 . j vide the best drinking water m f0v today, Harrier l . v Thoy can, l ff J make it throim" ' '8 ploxities of th""" |