When it comes to water usage, it is all about the location and the timing. When it comes to water need, it is all about location and the timing, too! The top consumers of water are people in housing developments, fish in waterways, farmers and industrial operations.
The top crises are occurring in areas of the Western and Southwestern United States where the climate is either semi-arid or arid. In the West, seasonal droughts can last for most of the year and cyclical droughts can go on for 20 years, making even a huge system of dams and water diversions insufficient for storing enough water for the long Summers and for the many competing users.
The major factors that influence the true need for a basic level of clean water include human sustenance, hygiene, food production, waste management and recreation, among other essentials of modern living. A decent allowance is about 200 gallons per person.
But when we add in the need for landscaping, swimming and other recreational pools, decorative water features and flood irrigation of rice crops, the volume of water need goes up and up..depending on the location.
Add in specific industrial processes that involve washing, submersing, rinsing, pressurized water, and so on, and the water usage of one industrial plant or business can be far greater than that of a whole community.
With entertainment and recreation venues, such as Las Vegas, a city that many believe never should have been built, consumption for each person can be enormous, given the excessive water features, fountains, and ways of beating the desert heat. Power is the issue for Las Vegas, where the Hoover Dam is only one source of the incredible power that is consumed there, and where green power is not exactly a top priority. Vegas needs to make money. Tourists need to stay cool and to be entertained. Nevada citizens are used to not paying state income tax.
In desert zones, housing developments are huge culprits of water consumption, especially when residents try to create lush and water hungry lawns and gardens. But the real estate boom in Nevada has gone bust, putting a slowdown to water hungry housing developments. Housing boom and bust is then another important factor in changing need for water.
In the end, it is not always so much need for water as it is about declaring truces in ongoing wars of, ownership, influence and political power. In Northern California, the delta that carries water from the Sierras to the San Francisco Bay needs water to keep the life forms and lifestyles of everything from Sacramento to the bay in good shape. Yet Mid and South state farmers and the South state megalopolises are clamoring for diversion of more water to them, even when they do little to curb waste or over consumption of water.
Not only do they get water from relatively water rich Northern California, they get water from the Colorado river, in competition with Nevada, Arizona and especially Las Vegas. Yet farmers and others are fighting for more water during a drought cycle, even if the delta biome suffers irreparable damage.
In some cases, planning and zoning codes mandate a certain amount of landscaping which provides micro-habitat for insects, birds and other life forms. In drought, the reverse happens and incentives are given to make homeowners replace their water hungry lawns and trees with less greedy designs. In this case, regulation and the population create need for water by mandating water hungry greenery. This need is reduced with the regulations are eased to conserve water.
Technology affects need. In most farming, massive closed drip irrigation systems have replaced millions of square miles of flood and ditch irrigation methods. With the exception of rice, there is almost no flood irrigation visible for miles in the Sacramento Valley. This has reduced the need for water, which evaporates at an extremely high rate when flood irrigation is done.
So, in the West, drought and plenty are the two main factors that drive need for water and that allow humans and businesses to expand their usage until usage becomes need. When drought becomes a problem, need is redefined because of scarcity and usage is mandated, rationed or otherwise controlled.
Planning defines need based on expectations of nature. In the West, nature will decide whether the expected amounts of water will be available. In the West, the idea that an area can be in drought and under water restrictions at the same time that parts of the place are flooding is not unusual at all. As a result, growth that was planned ten years ago might not be viable now, even if the economy was in good shape.
