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Water scarcity is not a problem just for the developing world. In California, legislators are currently proposing a US$ 7.5 billion emergency water plan to their voters; and U.S. federal officials last year warned residents of Arizona and Nevada that they could face cuts in Colorado River water deliveries in 2016.
Irrigation techniques, industrial and residential habits combined with climate change lie at the root of the problem. But despite what appears to be an insurmountable problem, according to researchers from McGill and Utrecht University it is possible to turn the situation around and significantly reduce water scarcity in just over 35 years.
[Pay Walled Paper]: http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v7/n9/full/ngeo2241.html?WT.ec_id=NGEO-201409
(Score: 3, Insightful) by evilviper on Wednesday September 03 2014, @02:45AM
I think you're over-doing the tiers. You just need TWO.
First tier: Enough water for ~2X as much as the average (interior) household use, at low prices.
Second tier: MUCH higher prices. More than the cost to develop new sources.
That way, those without the money to burn will just need to shrink their lawn and stay within the lower tier. Those who want to spend the money can have a full lawn, just part of their monthly usage jumping into the higher tier, keeping things reasonable. And those households who are wasting large quantities of water will feel the pinch, but can choose to pay it if they don't want to cut back their usage.
To help people stay in the lower tier, the water company can subsidize ultra-low-flow shower-heads and faucet aerators that'll reduce usage by over half, for next to nothing:
* http://www.amazon.com/Niagara-0.5GPM-Faucet-Aerator-N3205N/dp/B00F6AJ690/ [amazon.com]
* http://www.amazon.com/Niagara-Earth-Massage-1.25GPM-showerhead/dp/B003UQ17O4/ [amazon.com]
It gets a bit more expensive to subsidize, but big water-savings to be had by replacing toilets, too:
* http://www.amazon.com/Niagara-77001WHCO1-Stealth-0.8GPF-Elongated-Toilet/dp/B009MY4K1K/ [amazon.com]
People will be on their own to buy drip lines if they want exterior plants. Those who can't afford it, can just stop watering them and hope the trees are big enough to survive on natural sources.
I think we're overdue for grey water systems here in the US, too. Why not capture the water that goes down the sink and shower drains, filter the suspended-solids out, and then use that to flush toilets? That should come close to halving the water usage inside the home again, for just the cost of a barrel, a float, and a very small electric water pump. Retrofitting a house will cost a bit more than designing new construction for grey water, but it is still possible to do so to varying degrees.
Businesses that use large amounts of water will be paying a modest penalty, but it's so cheap right now that only the most water-intensive business will really feel a hit on their bottom-line, and that might be enough to motivate them to save water in similar ways. Most will be happier with their guaranteed supplies, without having to deal with watering/drought restrictions every few years, as new sources will be developed with the extra cash.
Farmers will take a hit, but not nearly as large as you were proposing. They've been required to reduce their runoff before, so some addition efforts to save themselves water are not unheard of. They might even switch to less water-intensive crops in arid regions when the higher water price makes that economical. Or maybe nearby cities will offer them the output of their storm drains, or fully-treated sewer water, for irrigation, for just the cost to develop the delivery infrastructure.
Actually, big industry like Boeing, Caterpillar, GE, and many others are doing just fine. Manufacturing in the US is still growing. Lots of jobs lost to China are likely to come back, thanks to cheaper and more capable robots, and technologies like 3D printers. The US may have higher cost, but increasing fuel prices make the long distance transportation cost quite a bit, too. We might never get textiles back from the 3rd world, but many industries are fair-game. China's lacking domestic energy resources, and increasing wage demands shift the economics in our favor, too. Their bubble will eventually burst, and the world will look very different. GE figured out that domestic production makes economic sense, too:
http://asq.org/qualitynews/qnt/execute/displaySetup?newsID=14519 [asq.org]
Hydrogen cyanide is a delicious and necessary part of the human diet.