DENVER (AP) For the northeastern United States, this fall hasn’t been like others.
In the parks and woodlands surrounding New York City, there have been fires. According to the Applied Climate Information System, the driest three months on record were experienced by towns and cities south of Philadelphia and from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. A few of the area’s reservoirs are close to their historic lows.
Even while it won’t happen right away, significant changes must be made to prevent severe water shortages in the future. Droughts will continue to get worse as the climate warms, and towns should take this as an opportunity to implement long-term solutions, experts advise.
According to Tim Eustance, executive director of the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission, this is the first sign of things to come. Yesterday, people ought to have stopped watering their lawns.
To heighten people’s sense of urgency, Eustance urges New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy to declare a drought emergency.
According to experts, the Northeast may need to stretch its water supply in the following ways.
replenishing subsurface water supplies
The area beneath our feet is a crucial location for water storage. In areas of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York, groundwater levels have drastically decreased over time.
About half of the drinking water in New Jersey comes from groundwater. Concrete and sprawl can make it difficult for rain to resupply subsurface water.
New Jersey is the home of malls. Eustance stated, “We have these enormous parking lots that could be ways to reclaim water instead of having runoff.”
The usage of permeable pavers, concrete, and asphalt—which permit water to seep into the ground and return to the aquifer—is growing in other regions of the nation. Municipalities would have to mandate that, he said.
Los Angeles has been pouring highly treated wastewater into the aquifer for years as a quicker method of replenishing it. It is significantly increasing the amount of water available in the city.
Anne Arundel County in Maryland is working to enact legislation that would permit the same practice, while Virginia Beach, Virginia, is likewise pouring highly treated water back into its aquifer.
Rewarding conservation efforts
It has long been possible to get paid to conserve water in various areas of the western United States. For every square foot of turf that is removed and replaced with natural landscaping, several counties and towns pay dollars.
According to Alan Roberson, CEO of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators, those regulations are not nearly as common in the Northeast.
According to him, the abundance has led to a shift in viewpoint. Getting individuals to support conservation may be challenging as a result.
“When drought doesn’t feel as urgent, upgraded water meters can provide customers with information about their water use and help them see where they can save money,” said Beth O. Connell, chief engineer for Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
Reusing water might become more widespread.
The idea is straightforward: collect water from the toilet, shower, clothes washer, and sink, purify it to a high quality, and then reuse it for nonpotable uses. It can be returned through pipes to cool buildings, water yards, flush toilets, or help raise river or aquifer water levels.
Eustance stated, “I believe that using drinking water to flush our toilets and water our lawns is one of the crimes in America.”
Natural Systems Utilities, which plans, constructs, and manages water recycling systems, is led by CEO Zach Gallagher. This drought affects him personally because he lives in New Jersey and is the father of three children.
“I believe that what I’m doing will have significance and leave a lasting legacy for my children and their children,” he said.
He clarified that reuse can be a strategy for both floods and droughts. A city’s delicate sewer system is less stressed when a building can recycle its own wastewater and release it straight into a body of water. This is a prevalent vulnerability in older coastal communities. Additionally, it lessens the need for fresh water.
When the company’s renovated Domino Sugar Refinery on the East River in New York opens this summer, it will have the capacity to process 400,000 gallons (1.5 million liters) of effluent every day—enough to submerge a football field in almost 15 inches (38 cm) of water. A portion of the cleansed water will be released back into the river after being piped back into the new mixed-use buildings for landscaping, cooling, and toilet flushing.
According to O Connell, nonpotable reuse is becoming more widespread in the eastern United States, but regionalization should be the next priority.
A shift in perspective
Making plans for a future with prolonged drought might be expensive. According to dam engineer and American Society of Civil Engineers member Del Shannon, it might also necessitate a change in perspective from one of abundance to conservation.
Many developing nations are focused on obtaining dependable water for crops and drinking, according to him, who has worked on water projects all around the world.
We must take the same care and precautions with our water that those nations do.
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