WEBVTT 1 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:12.210 A:middle L:90% Thank you very much. I don't know where that 2 00:00:12.210 --> 00:00:14.619 A:middle L:90% came from, but thanks a lot. Good afternoon 3 00:00:14.619 --> 00:00:16.390 A:middle L:90% . My name is Bill Hopkins. Uh I am 4 00:00:16.390 --> 00:00:19.120 A:middle L:90% a professor in the department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation 5 00:00:19.129 --> 00:00:21.649 A:middle L:90% here at Virginia Tech and I also have the pleasure 6 00:00:21.719 --> 00:00:24.260 A:middle L:90% of directing the Global Change Center at the university. 7 00:00:24.739 --> 00:00:27.480 A:middle L:90% I'd like to welcome everyone to another installment of our 8 00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:30.510 A:middle L:90% Global Change Center distinguished lecture series. Uh, these 9 00:00:30.510 --> 00:00:32.750 A:middle L:90% are public events and as you know, I saw 10 00:00:32.750 --> 00:00:34.700 A:middle L:90% a lot of familiar faces, which makes me happy 11 00:00:34.700 --> 00:00:37.219 A:middle L:90% to see that we have people coming back means we're 12 00:00:37.219 --> 00:00:40.090 A:middle L:90% doing something right. I hope uh, these events 13 00:00:40.100 --> 00:00:42.380 A:middle L:90% are one of a number of things that we try 14 00:00:42.380 --> 00:00:46.189 A:middle L:90% to do to engage the community on issues that we 15 00:00:46.189 --> 00:00:48.770 A:middle L:90% find to be of great societal importance. And it's 16 00:00:48.770 --> 00:00:51.880 A:middle L:90% wonderful to see such a strong turnout again. Today's 17 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:54.659 A:middle L:90% talk will focus on one of the most important challenges 18 00:00:54.659 --> 00:00:58.679 A:middle L:90% facing humanity today. How do we protect dwindling freshwater 19 00:00:58.679 --> 00:01:02.250 A:middle L:90% resources so that both society and healthy ecosystems, the 20 00:01:02.250 --> 00:01:04.030 A:middle L:90% ecosystems that we depend on for our own survival can 21 00:01:04.030 --> 00:01:07.840 A:middle L:90% simultaneously thrive. We're very fortunate to have bryan Richter 22 00:01:07.849 --> 00:01:11.379 A:middle L:90% , one of the world's foremost authorities on these complex 23 00:01:11.379 --> 00:01:12.780 A:middle L:90% water issues with us here on campus for a couple 24 00:01:12.780 --> 00:01:17.099 A:middle L:90% of days as well as this afternoon. Before we 25 00:01:17.099 --> 00:01:19.090 A:middle L:90% get started. I want to thank some of our 26 00:01:19.090 --> 00:01:22.959 A:middle L:90% key um, folks that made this event possible first 27 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:25.519 A:middle L:90% and foremost, the frail and Life Science Institute frail 28 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:26.819 A:middle L:90% in uh, is our home on campus, their 29 00:01:26.819 --> 00:01:30.180 A:middle L:90% academic home and they provide a great deal of our 30 00:01:30.180 --> 00:01:33.790 A:middle L:90% funding, the Virginia Tech Graduate School who funds our 31 00:01:33.829 --> 00:01:38.310 A:middle L:90% interfaces of global change, uh, interdisciplinary graduate education 32 00:01:38.310 --> 00:01:40.200 A:middle L:90% program, which is within the center. Uh, 33 00:01:40.209 --> 00:01:42.590 A:middle L:90% both of these frail in as well as the graduate 34 00:01:42.590 --> 00:01:44.549 A:middle L:90% school. We couldn't do anything that we do, 35 00:01:44.549 --> 00:01:47.480 A:middle L:90% including these sorts of events without their support. And 36 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:49.510 A:middle L:90% our key partner on this specific event today is the 37 00:01:49.510 --> 00:01:55.569 A:middle L:90% Virginia Water Resources Research Center. Also known, that's 38 00:01:55.569 --> 00:01:57.189 A:middle L:90% what the shout out was for. It wasn't for 39 00:01:57.189 --> 00:01:59.840 A:middle L:90% me, it was for the Water Center. The 40 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:02.030 A:middle L:90% Water Center led by dr steven Schoenholtz will introduce in 41 00:02:02.030 --> 00:02:05.069 A:middle L:90% just a moment. I also want to thank the 42 00:02:05.069 --> 00:02:07.890 A:middle L:90% frail in life sciences uh staff and in particular, 43 00:02:07.890 --> 00:02:09.469 A:middle L:90% I want to thank Gloria Schoenholtz for handling all the 44 00:02:09.469 --> 00:02:12.699 A:middle L:90% logistics for this event, as well as all as 45 00:02:12.699 --> 00:02:15.960 A:middle L:90% well as all of the events that we hold and 46 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:17.500 A:middle L:90% last and last, and certainly not least. And 47 00:02:17.500 --> 00:02:20.250 A:middle L:90% we better get a lot of these hoops and hollers 48 00:02:20.250 --> 00:02:22.389 A:middle L:90% for this one. I want to thank the Lyric 49 00:02:22.389 --> 00:02:24.860 A:middle L:90% Theatre. Uh this has been an amazing partnership. 50 00:02:27.639 --> 00:02:31.069 A:middle L:90% Yes. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. It's been 51 00:02:31.069 --> 00:02:34.580 A:middle L:90% an amazing partnership for the last couple of years, 52 00:02:34.590 --> 00:02:36.949 A:middle L:90% and I'm really looking forward to continuing this. It's 53 00:02:36.949 --> 00:02:38.770 A:middle L:90% a it's a wonderful venue for us to talk about 54 00:02:38.770 --> 00:02:42.300 A:middle L:90% these sorts of important issues. Uh, so one 55 00:02:42.300 --> 00:02:44.800 A:middle L:90% more time, let's thank the lyric and let's thank 56 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:51.139 A:middle L:90% everybody that's been helping out with these efforts. Yeah 57 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:53.270 A:middle L:90% . And speaking of the lyric and these free public 58 00:02:53.270 --> 00:02:57.419 A:middle L:90% events, just a shout out for next Wednesday, 59 00:02:57.430 --> 00:03:00.060 A:middle L:90% right here, seven PM will be airing a free 60 00:03:00.060 --> 00:03:04.069 A:middle L:90% film. It's a private screening of the film Between 61 00:03:04.069 --> 00:03:06.250 A:middle L:90% Earth and Sky. It's a film that's going to 62 00:03:06.250 --> 00:03:07.789 A:middle L:90% be airing on PBS. This is a pre screening 63 00:03:07.789 --> 00:03:10.770 A:middle L:90% of that, And it's a good one. cinematography 64 00:03:10.770 --> 00:03:14.430 A:middle L:90% is fantastic, the contents a little bit dark. 65 00:03:14.439 --> 00:03:15.370 A:middle L:90% We're gonna be talking about climate change. Um, 66 00:03:15.370 --> 00:03:17.550 A:middle L:90% but I think it's an important film for folks to 67 00:03:17.550 --> 00:03:20.560 A:middle L:90% come out for. Uh, and it also deals 68 00:03:20.560 --> 00:03:23.240 A:middle L:90% with some of the environmental injustices associated with climate change 69 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:24.979 A:middle L:90% . So try to come out and just as an 70 00:03:24.979 --> 00:03:27.919 A:middle L:90% enticement, we're gonna have a lot of free popcorn 71 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:30.360 A:middle L:90% for students when you get here, two quick housekeeping 72 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:32.810 A:middle L:90% items. There will be uh, time for questions 73 00:03:32.810 --> 00:03:35.280 A:middle L:90% and answers right at the end, we'll have a 74 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:37.909 A:middle L:90% microphone. This microphone will be down here and I 75 00:03:37.909 --> 00:03:38.949 A:middle L:90% asked that you come up one at a time to 76 00:03:38.949 --> 00:03:42.360 A:middle L:90% ask questions and for some reason you can't come up 77 00:03:42.370 --> 00:03:44.599 A:middle L:90% , flag me down or Stephen down, and we'll 78 00:03:44.599 --> 00:03:46.870 A:middle L:90% bring you the microphone. And I ask that you 79 00:03:46.870 --> 00:03:49.289 A:middle L:90% just be respectful of people's time, ask one question 80 00:03:49.289 --> 00:03:51.150 A:middle L:90% so that we can have other people have an opportunity 81 00:03:51.340 --> 00:03:54.469 A:middle L:90% to engage. We'll end promptly at 5 15 steve 82 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:58.479 A:middle L:90% . Uh brian's books are actually for sale out in 83 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:00.669 A:middle L:90% the lobby there also at our bookstore, and he'll 84 00:04:00.669 --> 00:04:02.280 A:middle L:90% be sticking around for about 30 minutes for a book 85 00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:04.810 A:middle L:90% signing. So please stop by, say hello and 86 00:04:04.810 --> 00:04:08.949 A:middle L:90% get your book signed. Okay, so now it's 87 00:04:08.949 --> 00:04:12.479 A:middle L:90% my pleasure today to introduce our partner on this event 88 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:15.850 A:middle L:90% , Dr steven schoenholtz and the Water center. Dr 89 00:04:15.850 --> 00:04:17.759 A:middle L:90% Schoenholtz, uh, as I mentioned, is the 90 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:19.759 A:middle L:90% director of the water center, which is one of 91 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:23.829 A:middle L:90% 50 for water resource programs around the country that were 92 00:04:23.829 --> 00:04:27.050 A:middle L:90% established by Congress in the 1960s and are funded to 93 00:04:27.050 --> 00:04:29.879 A:middle L:90% the Department of Interior. The Water center is housed 94 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:31.009 A:middle L:90% within the College of Natural Resources and Environment, one 95 00:04:31.009 --> 00:04:33.509 A:middle L:90% of the premier natural resource programs in the nation. 96 00:04:34.040 --> 00:04:36.680 A:middle L:90% Virginia Tech is extremely fortunate to be the home of 97 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:40.250 A:middle L:90% the Water center for the commonwealth and also to have 98 00:04:40.250 --> 00:04:42.509 A:middle L:90% dr schoenholtz at the helm of the center for the 99 00:04:42.509 --> 00:04:45.829 A:middle L:90% last 10 years under his leadership. Over the last 100 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:48.379 A:middle L:90% decade, the water center has been instrumental and raising 101 00:04:48.379 --> 00:04:51.930 A:middle L:90% the statue of Virginia Tech as an international leader and 102 00:04:51.930 --> 00:04:56.040 A:middle L:90% water resource research and education, both at the graduate 103 00:04:56.050 --> 00:04:59.240 A:middle L:90% as well as undergraduate levels. Dr schoenholtz has helped 104 00:04:59.240 --> 00:05:01.009 A:middle L:90% attract some of the best and brightest water faculty to 105 00:05:01.009 --> 00:05:04.629 A:middle L:90% Virginia Tech. He's helped spearhead the nation's first undergraduate 106 00:05:04.629 --> 00:05:06.810 A:middle L:90% degree in Water. Yes, you can come to 107 00:05:06.810 --> 00:05:10.670 A:middle L:90% Virginia Tech and get a Bachelor's of Science and Water 108 00:05:10.670 --> 00:05:12.980 A:middle L:90% , which I just think it's cool. He's been 109 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:15.879 A:middle L:90% very actively engaged in interdisciplinary graduate studies of water across 110 00:05:15.879 --> 00:05:19.160 A:middle L:90% campus, as well as with our graduate education program 111 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:24.069 A:middle L:90% and for fostering across campus vision and collegial atmosphere for 112 00:05:24.069 --> 00:05:28.050 A:middle L:90% advancing studies of water campus-wide. It is my pleasure 113 00:05:28.050 --> 00:05:30.269 A:middle L:90% to introduce my trusted colleague and very dear friend Dr 114 00:05:30.269 --> 00:05:46.220 A:middle L:90% steven Schoenholtz. No, thank you Bill. Uh 115 00:05:46.230 --> 00:05:48.529 A:middle L:90% those are very kind remarks. Uh it's a pleasure 116 00:05:48.529 --> 00:05:51.569 A:middle L:90% to work closely with Bill uh and our colleagues at 117 00:05:51.569 --> 00:05:57.660 A:middle L:90% the Global Change Center in bringing together events like this 118 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:02.029 A:middle L:90% and certainly in promoting water education, research and outreach 119 00:06:02.040 --> 00:06:06.389 A:middle L:90% here at Virginia Tech. Through many collaborate efforts along 120 00:06:06.389 --> 00:06:09.839 A:middle L:90% with this. We do a lot of other collaborative 121 00:06:09.850 --> 00:06:15.389 A:middle L:90% collaborative efforts. I'd also like to second bills appreciation 122 00:06:15.389 --> 00:06:17.649 A:middle L:90% or expression of appreciation to those who really make these 123 00:06:17.649 --> 00:06:20.089 A:middle L:90% events possible. Again, the frail and Life Science 124 00:06:20.089 --> 00:06:25.430 A:middle L:90% Institute, the grad school and certainly the lyric Theatre 125 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:28.310 A:middle L:90% who does this for free for us. So that's 126 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:31.420 A:middle L:90% really supportive and very helpful. So in terms of 127 00:06:31.420 --> 00:06:34.579 A:middle L:90% the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, uh, it's 128 00:06:34.589 --> 00:06:39.120 A:middle L:90% a pleasure to co sponsor events like this. Uh 129 00:06:39.129 --> 00:06:42.399 A:middle L:90% , it's certainly a pleasure to have bryan Richter visit 130 00:06:42.399 --> 00:06:46.970 A:middle L:90% campus and be this afternoon's distinguished lecture in this series 131 00:06:47.540 --> 00:06:50.009 A:middle L:90% . As bill said, the water center was established 132 00:06:50.019 --> 00:06:55.949 A:middle L:90% back in 1965 here at Virginia Tech and its mission 133 00:06:55.949 --> 00:07:02.579 A:middle L:90% is to facilitate uh outreach engagement and education through programmatic 134 00:07:02.589 --> 00:07:06.800 A:middle L:90% efforts to solve water challenges throughout the state, throughout 135 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:11.060 A:middle L:90% the region and throughout the country and also globally. 136 00:07:11.540 --> 00:07:15.699 A:middle L:90% So we have a very coherent mission that lines up 137 00:07:15.699 --> 00:07:18.339 A:middle L:90% with Virginia tech research, teaching and outreach with regards 138 00:07:18.339 --> 00:07:21.439 A:middle L:90% to water. So as part of the mission of 139 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:26.860 A:middle L:90% the water center, uh we coordinated and developed an 140 00:07:26.860 --> 00:07:31.100 A:middle L:90% undergraduate degree that Bill mentioned uh an interdisciplinary interdisciplinary degree 141 00:07:31.100 --> 00:07:34.899 A:middle L:90% on water resources policy and management. And uh it's 142 00:07:34.899 --> 00:07:38.050 A:middle L:90% the first of its kind in the U. S 143 00:07:38.339 --> 00:07:40.420 A:middle L:90% . And we already have, it started two years 144 00:07:40.420 --> 00:07:42.329 A:middle L:90% ago, we're not even done with our second year 145 00:07:42.329 --> 00:07:44.660 A:middle L:90% , we already have 50 students in the program, 146 00:07:44.839 --> 00:07:47.839 A:middle L:90% so we're very pleased with how that's starting in developing 147 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:51.170 A:middle L:90% the program several years ago. Uh One of the 148 00:07:51.170 --> 00:07:55.009 A:middle L:90% first things we wanted to do was get in touch 149 00:07:55.009 --> 00:07:58.250 A:middle L:90% with some of the leading water experts around the country 150 00:07:58.839 --> 00:08:00.759 A:middle L:90% and one of the first people eye contact. It 151 00:08:00.759 --> 00:08:03.759 A:middle L:90% was brian Richter to take a look at the curriculum 152 00:08:03.139 --> 00:08:05.769 A:middle L:90% . Uh invite people like brian to give us some 153 00:08:05.769 --> 00:08:09.519 A:middle L:90% feedback on what they thought of the curriculum. And 154 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:13.290 A:middle L:90% uh he was wonderful and wrote a very supportive letter 155 00:08:13.290 --> 00:08:16.560 A:middle L:90% and I'd like to share just a few items from 156 00:08:16.560 --> 00:08:18.810 A:middle L:90% that letter with you, Which I use frequently when 157 00:08:18.810 --> 00:08:22.360 A:middle L:90% I go around the country and talk about this degree 158 00:08:22.540 --> 00:08:24.959 A:middle L:90% . These are words from Brian Uh, from 2014 159 00:08:26.620 --> 00:08:28.649 A:middle L:90% . The timing of this new program could not be 160 00:08:28.649 --> 00:08:31.450 A:middle L:90% better nor more urgent As I write this letter. 161 00:08:31.450 --> 00:08:33.289 A:middle L:90% And this was written, I believe in June of 162 00:08:33.299 --> 00:08:39.919 A:middle L:90% 2014 drought and associated water shortages are wrecking havoc with 163 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:43.340 A:middle L:90% the economies of California Texas and other Western states and 164 00:08:43.350 --> 00:08:48.080 A:middle L:90% internationally to offer. But one example, and this 165 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:50.759 A:middle L:90% is really touching right now, severe water shortages in 166 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:56.200 A:middle L:90% Syria, water shortages in Syria drove the farmers from 167 00:08:56.200 --> 00:09:01.750 A:middle L:90% rural areas into the cities where social unrest ignited and 168 00:09:01.750 --> 00:09:03.490 A:middle L:90% as we all know, is still ignited. These 169 00:09:03.490 --> 00:09:07.220 A:middle L:90% calamities, which are certain to become more widespread and 170 00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:09.909 A:middle L:90% intense in coming decades, are evidence of the great 171 00:09:09.909 --> 00:09:13.470 A:middle L:90% need for higher education programs focused on water. The 172 00:09:13.470 --> 00:09:16.509 A:middle L:90% nature of the problems in these water stressed regions further 173 00:09:16.509 --> 00:09:20.419 A:middle L:90% suggests that these issues cannot be addressed from a single 174 00:09:20.429 --> 00:09:26.580 A:middle L:90% disciplinary perspective. They must be understood from social political 175 00:09:26.590 --> 00:09:31.139 A:middle L:90% economic engineering, environmental dimensions. Just to mention a 176 00:09:31.139 --> 00:09:33.070 A:middle L:90% few of the dimensions we have to consider. The 177 00:09:33.070 --> 00:09:37.649 A:middle L:90% pro proposed Virginia Tech program is designed to provide students 178 00:09:37.649 --> 00:09:41.909 A:middle L:90% with the essential interdisciplinary education that will prepare students for 179 00:09:41.909 --> 00:09:45.620 A:middle L:90% a challenging water future. I will close by adding 180 00:09:45.620 --> 00:09:48.169 A:middle L:90% that I teach a course in water sustainability at the 181 00:09:48.169 --> 00:09:52.029 A:middle L:90% University of Virginia. This is brian still speaking, 182 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:54.669 A:middle L:90% and I have long dreamed of my university taking a 183 00:09:54.669 --> 00:09:58.389 A:middle L:90% program on such as this one being proposed by Virginia 184 00:09:58.389 --> 00:10:00.700 A:middle L:90% Tech for the greater good of the world. I 185 00:10:00.700 --> 00:10:03.029 A:middle L:90% am very happy that at least one Virginia University is 186 00:10:03.029 --> 00:10:05.960 A:middle L:90% taking steps to tackle what is certain to be the 187 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:09.580 A:middle L:90% number one resource challenge of the 21st century. So 188 00:10:09.580 --> 00:10:13.000 A:middle L:90% again, I thank you brian for that very supportive 189 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:18.710 A:middle L:90% letter. So brian Richter Has been a global leader 190 00:10:18.710 --> 00:10:22.240 A:middle L:90% in water science and conservation for more than 25 years 191 00:10:22.240 --> 00:10:24.669 A:middle L:90% actually and interacting with them over the past two days 192 00:10:24.669 --> 00:10:28.000 A:middle L:90% . It's now 30 years as of this summer. 193 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.210 A:middle L:90% I believe he's a chief scientist for the global water 194 00:10:31.210 --> 00:10:35.250 A:middle L:90% program with the nature Conservancy where he promotes sustainable water 195 00:10:35.250 --> 00:10:39.129 A:middle L:90% use and management with governments, corporations and local communities 196 00:10:39.740 --> 00:10:43.750 A:middle L:90% . Brian is also the president of sustainable waters and 197 00:10:43.750 --> 00:10:48.799 A:middle L:90% NGO and a global water education organization. He's consulted 198 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:52.080 A:middle L:90% on more than 120 water projects worldwide and serves as 199 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:56.580 A:middle L:90% a water advisor to some of the world's largest corporations 200 00:10:56.590 --> 00:11:00.299 A:middle L:90% investment banks and also to the United Nations. He's 201 00:11:00.299 --> 00:11:03.659 A:middle L:90% a co author with Sandra pastel of rivers for life 202 00:11:03.740 --> 00:11:05.440 A:middle L:90% , Managing water for people in nature. One of 203 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:09.360 A:middle L:90% the two books out in the lobby that he will 204 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.309 A:middle L:90% happily sign and his most recent book, I believe 205 00:11:11.309 --> 00:11:16.379 A:middle L:90% , published in 2014 called Chasing Water A Guide for 206 00:11:16.379 --> 00:11:20.929 A:middle L:90% Moving From scarcity to sustainability, has been published in 207 00:11:20.929 --> 00:11:26.779 A:middle L:90% six languages already. So brian has also spent much 208 00:11:26.779 --> 00:11:28.590 A:middle L:90% of the past two days here on campus, uh 209 00:11:28.600 --> 00:11:31.870 A:middle L:90% , meeting with faculty Virginia, Tech, faculty, 210 00:11:31.870 --> 00:11:35.419 A:middle L:90% undergraduate students, grad students. He's been very gracious 211 00:11:35.419 --> 00:11:37.679 A:middle L:90% with his time over the last two days. In 212 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:41.460 A:middle L:90% fact, he even shared perspectives with my watershed management 213 00:11:41.539 --> 00:11:46.679 A:middle L:90% assessment and policy class yesterday afternoon and I could tell 214 00:11:46.690 --> 00:11:48.360 A:middle L:90% relative to my being in front of the students, 215 00:11:48.360 --> 00:11:52.340 A:middle L:90% they were a little more engaged and lively with some 216 00:11:52.340 --> 00:11:54.799 A:middle L:90% great questions. So thank you again brian for all 217 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:56.370 A:middle L:90% your help. So we will now share some of 218 00:11:56.370 --> 00:11:58.960 A:middle L:90% his, he will now share some of his perspectives 219 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:03.019 A:middle L:90% with you. Please join me in welcoming brian Richter 220 00:12:03.019 --> 00:12:05.289 A:middle L:90% to Virginia tech and to Blacksburg as he shares his 221 00:12:05.289 --> 00:12:09.049 A:middle L:90% thoughts on chasing water and a rapidly changing world. 222 00:12:09.059 --> 00:12:18.759 A:middle L:90% Welcome. Mm hmm. Thank you steve. Yeah 223 00:12:18.139 --> 00:12:22.009 A:middle L:90% . Mhm. Well, thank you so much. 224 00:12:22.009 --> 00:12:24.000 A:middle L:90% Stephen into bill into Gloria also for being some of 225 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:26.519 A:middle L:90% the warmest hosts I've ever experienced anywhere I've gone in 226 00:12:26.519 --> 00:12:30.000 A:middle L:90% the world. So thank you very much. It's 227 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:31.460 A:middle L:90% a real pleasure to be here. And thanks to 228 00:12:31.460 --> 00:12:35.159 A:middle L:90% all of you for coming out on a cold blustery 229 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:39.000 A:middle L:90% april afternoon. Um, and thanks in particular to 230 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:39.940 A:middle L:90% the students here, I gotta admit that when I 231 00:12:39.940 --> 00:12:43.230 A:middle L:90% was your age on a friday afternoon at four o'clock 232 00:12:43.230 --> 00:12:43.659 A:middle L:90% , I wouldn't have been in a lecture hall. 233 00:12:45.139 --> 00:12:48.110 A:middle L:90% Um I would have been uh in search of a 234 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:50.570 A:middle L:90% keg or something like that. So um so thank 235 00:12:50.570 --> 00:12:52.190 A:middle L:90% you and I hope that I can make your hour 236 00:12:52.190 --> 00:12:56.950 A:middle L:90% with me worthwhile. And interesting. I'm gonna start 237 00:12:58.340 --> 00:13:00.480 A:middle L:90% with a little bit of a historical perspective on this 238 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:01.830 A:middle L:90% problem that I'm talking about today. So as you 239 00:13:01.830 --> 00:13:05.440 A:middle L:90% all know for most of human history, we behaved 240 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:09.070 A:middle L:90% as hunters and gatherers. And the hunting and gathering 241 00:13:09.070 --> 00:13:11.129 A:middle L:90% was not just about in search of food, but 242 00:13:11.129 --> 00:13:13.320 A:middle L:90% it was also for many, for many tribes and 243 00:13:13.320 --> 00:13:16.039 A:middle L:90% many clans around the world, it was in search 244 00:13:16.039 --> 00:13:20.610 A:middle L:90% of water as well. And particularly if you lived 245 00:13:20.610 --> 00:13:22.759 A:middle L:90% in some of the dryer landscapes in places like Australia 246 00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:30.379 A:middle L:90% , developing a mental map in developing an intergenerational story 247 00:13:30.389 --> 00:13:31.919 A:middle L:90% about where these places were that you could find food 248 00:13:31.919 --> 00:13:33.480 A:middle L:90% and water was a very, very important part of 249 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:37.250 A:middle L:90% your survival. And so not surprisingly, a lot 250 00:13:37.250 --> 00:13:41.700 A:middle L:90% of these cultures developed with art and music and painting 251 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:48.879 A:middle L:90% um uh in calendars that were shaped by the seasonality 252 00:13:48.889 --> 00:13:52.049 A:middle L:90% that had to do with what foods were available at 253 00:13:52.049 --> 00:13:54.919 A:middle L:90% what times of the year. And also as evidenced 254 00:13:54.919 --> 00:13:56.909 A:middle L:90% by the painting that continues to be done today in 255 00:13:56.909 --> 00:14:01.490 A:middle L:90% the aboriginal communities of Australia, really revere ng um 256 00:14:01.490 --> 00:14:03.889 A:middle L:90% and recording the locations of where they could find reliable 257 00:14:03.889 --> 00:14:07.659 A:middle L:90% water, wetlands and springs and and floodplain, oxbow 258 00:14:07.659 --> 00:14:11.240 A:middle L:90% lakes and things like that. So that was much 259 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:13.360 A:middle L:90% of our history. Um and that was the way 260 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:16.350 A:middle L:90% that our relationship with with water was for literally tens 261 00:14:16.350 --> 00:14:20.240 A:middle L:90% of thousands of years, But then about 10-12,000 years 262 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.649 A:middle L:90% ago, in different pockets around the planet, our 263 00:14:22.649 --> 00:14:26.320 A:middle L:90% relationship with water began to fundamentally change, and what 264 00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:28.669 A:middle L:90% I mean by that is instead of going out in 265 00:14:28.669 --> 00:14:31.460 A:middle L:90% search of water chasing water, if you will, 266 00:14:33.539 --> 00:14:35.590 A:middle L:90% we decided to become sedentary, we've decided to settle 267 00:14:35.590 --> 00:14:39.259 A:middle L:90% down, We learned how to, how to produce 268 00:14:39.259 --> 00:14:41.370 A:middle L:90% crops, how to cultivate crops. And that changed 269 00:14:41.370 --> 00:14:46.799 A:middle L:90% our relationship because then we became dependent upon the water 270 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:50.820 A:middle L:90% coming to us that we were settled in place and 271 00:14:50.820 --> 00:14:54.019 A:middle L:90% that we were then become reliant upon that place, 272 00:14:54.019 --> 00:14:56.500 A:middle L:90% what that place had to offer with respect to water 273 00:14:56.519 --> 00:14:58.950 A:middle L:90% and all the vagaries in variability that comes with water 274 00:14:58.950 --> 00:15:03.039 A:middle L:90% availability from month to month, season, the season 275 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:05.190 A:middle L:90% and year to year, and so a very, 276 00:15:05.190 --> 00:15:07.529 A:middle L:90% very pivotal time in human history and changing our relationship 277 00:15:07.529 --> 00:15:11.679 A:middle L:90% to water. At that point. Of course, 278 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:15.649 A:middle L:90% over time we advanced technologically, we learned a lot 279 00:15:15.649 --> 00:15:20.740 A:middle L:90% of new engineering skills and we figured out how to 280 00:15:20.740 --> 00:15:24.289 A:middle L:90% bolster that water that was available to us locally by 281 00:15:24.289 --> 00:15:26.750 A:middle L:90% learning how to store it. And so we started 282 00:15:26.750 --> 00:15:28.190 A:middle L:90% building reservoirs and the reservoirs got bigger and bigger. 283 00:15:28.190 --> 00:15:31.639 A:middle L:90% And we finally built in the 1930s, this one 284 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:35.539 A:middle L:90% Hoover Dam that formed Lake Mead on the Colorado River 285 00:15:35.539 --> 00:15:37.679 A:middle L:90% , built in 1930s, as I said, um 286 00:15:37.690 --> 00:15:41.029 A:middle L:90% and it was really quite a remarkable engineering feat by 287 00:15:41.029 --> 00:15:43.759 A:middle L:90% far and away. The biggest dam that had ever 288 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:45.559 A:middle L:90% been built on the planet up to that point, 289 00:15:46.039 --> 00:15:48.580 A:middle L:90% but really really important to what we could do as 290 00:15:48.580 --> 00:15:50.649 A:middle L:90% a civilization, what we could do as a people 291 00:15:50.649 --> 00:15:52.230 A:middle L:90% , what we could do in terms of settlement of 292 00:15:52.230 --> 00:15:54.379 A:middle L:90% the Western United States, because of course, the 293 00:15:54.379 --> 00:15:58.470 A:middle L:90% Western United States um is much drier than this part 294 00:15:58.470 --> 00:16:00.269 A:middle L:90% of the world and being able to store water that 295 00:16:00.269 --> 00:16:03.970 A:middle L:90% comes to you if you will, something of a 296 00:16:03.970 --> 00:16:06.879 A:middle L:90% surplus of water that comes during the winter season, 297 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:08.179 A:middle L:90% in the case of of this part of the world 298 00:16:08.190 --> 00:16:11.870 A:middle L:90% , snowpack that falls on the Rocky Mountains and the 299 00:16:11.870 --> 00:16:15.149 A:middle L:90% snow melted thin comes and being able to capture that 300 00:16:15.149 --> 00:16:15.909 A:middle L:90% water and store it and to be able to use 301 00:16:15.909 --> 00:16:18.710 A:middle L:90% it during the drier times a year when there's not 302 00:16:18.710 --> 00:16:19.590 A:middle L:90% so much, water was a really, really key 303 00:16:19.590 --> 00:16:22.850 A:middle L:90% to our survival and enabled us to do pretty remarkable 304 00:16:22.850 --> 00:16:26.690 A:middle L:90% things and literally grow lettuce in the desert. So 305 00:16:26.690 --> 00:16:30.169 A:middle L:90% this is Imperial Valley, Those of you who happen 306 00:16:30.169 --> 00:16:30.649 A:middle L:90% to eat lettuce at this time of the year, 307 00:16:30.649 --> 00:16:33.679 A:middle L:90% about 90% of all of american lettuce in the wintertime 308 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:37.860 A:middle L:90% comes out of this one irrigation district in southern California 309 00:16:37.860 --> 00:16:41.120 A:middle L:90% called the Imperial Irrigation district and the Imperial irrigation district 310 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:44.970 A:middle L:90% would not exist were it not for hoover dam? 311 00:16:45.440 --> 00:16:48.090 A:middle L:90% Um The water supply, most of the water supply 312 00:16:48.090 --> 00:16:49.690 A:middle L:90% that's applied out here on these farm fields and it 313 00:16:49.690 --> 00:16:53.070 A:middle L:90% literally year round. Um you know, literally four 314 00:16:53.070 --> 00:16:56.620 A:middle L:90% growing seasons out here, that water comes out of 315 00:16:56.620 --> 00:16:59.590 A:middle L:90% the Colorado River, captured and held in Hoover dam 316 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:02.049 A:middle L:90% and then transported out to all these farm fields. 317 00:17:02.059 --> 00:17:06.880 A:middle L:90% So really enabled not only the expansion of water use 318 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:08.269 A:middle L:90% , but of course the food production associated with that 319 00:17:08.539 --> 00:17:11.329 A:middle L:90% um as well as the other cities that grew up 320 00:17:11.329 --> 00:17:14.180 A:middle L:90% in that part of the world. And of course 321 00:17:14.180 --> 00:17:18.069 A:middle L:90% we also discovered that we could we could dig underground 322 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:19.250 A:middle L:90% and encounter water as well. And this is really 323 00:17:19.250 --> 00:17:22.019 A:middle L:90% , really important parts of the world where you didn't 324 00:17:22.019 --> 00:17:23.259 A:middle L:90% have much water on the surface, you didn't have 325 00:17:23.259 --> 00:17:25.980 A:middle L:90% flowing streams, you didn't have lakes that you can 326 00:17:25.980 --> 00:17:27.009 A:middle L:90% go and get water from. And so being able 327 00:17:27.009 --> 00:17:29.619 A:middle L:90% to dig a well and get to it. And 328 00:17:29.619 --> 00:17:30.960 A:middle L:90% of course we now have taken that to the extreme 329 00:17:32.740 --> 00:17:36.049 A:middle L:90% , particularly with industrialized pumps, it became available after 330 00:17:36.049 --> 00:17:38.509 A:middle L:90% World War Two. We were able to reach deeper 331 00:17:38.509 --> 00:17:41.619 A:middle L:90% and deeper down into the earth, hundreds and even 332 00:17:41.619 --> 00:17:45.480 A:middle L:90% thousands of feet to be able to get to ancient 333 00:17:45.480 --> 00:17:47.809 A:middle L:90% water that's, that was deposited there back in the 334 00:17:47.809 --> 00:17:51.460 A:middle L:90% last ice Age. Um and be able to to 335 00:17:51.460 --> 00:17:53.220 A:middle L:90% have enough electricity and to have that technology of those 336 00:17:53.220 --> 00:17:56.519 A:middle L:90% pumps to be able to bring that water up from 337 00:17:56.519 --> 00:18:00.569 A:middle L:90% those great depths enable things to happen like the irrigated 338 00:18:00.569 --> 00:18:03.240 A:middle L:90% agriculture that's taking place in the Ogallala aquifer in the 339 00:18:03.240 --> 00:18:06.309 A:middle L:90% midwestern United States. That's where these crop circles come 340 00:18:06.309 --> 00:18:10.289 A:middle L:90% from. These are center pivot sprinklers that are irrigating 341 00:18:10.289 --> 00:18:11.339 A:middle L:90% move in a circular, the sprinklers move in a 342 00:18:11.339 --> 00:18:18.230 A:middle L:90% circular fashion and create those crop circles. So over 343 00:18:18.230 --> 00:18:22.759 A:middle L:90% time the expansion, the accumulation of water use, 344 00:18:22.099 --> 00:18:26.509 A:middle L:90% particularly for irrigated agriculture, but also for urban use 345 00:18:26.509 --> 00:18:32.099 A:middle L:90% and industrial use, um grew gradually over time, 346 00:18:32.109 --> 00:18:33.880 A:middle L:90% particularly over the last century. And I'm showing you 347 00:18:33.880 --> 00:18:37.700 A:middle L:90% two graphs here, and I could show you 1000 348 00:18:37.700 --> 00:18:40.960 A:middle L:90% grafts that tell this very much this exact same story 349 00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:42.269 A:middle L:90% . What I'm showing here of course, is, 350 00:18:42.269 --> 00:18:45.559 A:middle L:90% over the course of time over the last century, 351 00:18:45.099 --> 00:18:48.630 A:middle L:90% the two blue graph lines here represent the lighter blue 352 00:18:48.630 --> 00:18:52.940 A:middle L:90% , is the water available um particularly think about that 353 00:18:52.940 --> 00:18:56.059 A:middle L:90% , is the water flowing down the Colorado River, 354 00:18:56.059 --> 00:18:59.509 A:middle L:90% The water flowing down what's called the Murray darling basin 355 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:02.450 A:middle L:90% in southeastern Australia. That's up on the upper graph 356 00:19:02.450 --> 00:19:04.099 A:middle L:90% here and so from year to year, the water 357 00:19:04.099 --> 00:19:07.690 A:middle L:90% is variable. Um, but uh, but at 358 00:19:07.690 --> 00:19:11.750 A:middle L:90% the same time the water use the extraction of water 359 00:19:11.750 --> 00:19:14.589 A:middle L:90% out of these water bodies and putting it on farms 360 00:19:14.589 --> 00:19:17.779 A:middle L:90% and in cities and industries grew continuously and grew and 361 00:19:17.779 --> 00:19:22.839 A:middle L:90% grew almost without restriction, almost without regulation. Um 362 00:19:22.849 --> 00:19:25.680 A:middle L:90% , there was issuance of water rights, water entitlements 363 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:27.190 A:middle L:90% , legal documents that said how much water you could 364 00:19:27.190 --> 00:19:30.680 A:middle L:90% use, but nobody was slowing down the process of 365 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:33.759 A:middle L:90% just handing those entitlements and those water rights to anybody 366 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:36.049 A:middle L:90% who asked for them. And so over time the 367 00:19:36.049 --> 00:19:37.809 A:middle L:90% water use grew and as you can see then all 368 00:19:37.809 --> 00:19:41.720 A:middle L:90% of a sudden those two lines of water available and 369 00:19:41.720 --> 00:19:45.920 A:middle L:90% water consumed began to intersect In the Colorado. We 370 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:48.730 A:middle L:90% were getting close to that even back in the 1950s 371 00:19:48.740 --> 00:19:49.900 A:middle L:90% took, which is on the bottom here in the 372 00:19:49.900 --> 00:19:52.329 A:middle L:90% Murray Darling basin. It took a little bit longer 373 00:19:52.339 --> 00:19:55.740 A:middle L:90% to get up against the limits of the available water 374 00:19:55.740 --> 00:19:57.460 A:middle L:90% , but both of these places and again in thousands 375 00:19:57.460 --> 00:20:00.130 A:middle L:90% of places around the world. I'll show you a 376 00:20:00.130 --> 00:20:03.720 A:middle L:90% map in just a moment. Um this intersection between 377 00:20:03.720 --> 00:20:07.059 A:middle L:90% water use hitting the absolute ceiling of the water available 378 00:20:07.079 --> 00:20:10.599 A:middle L:90% . Now you see on the, on the bottom 379 00:20:10.599 --> 00:20:11.759 A:middle L:90% graph here, the Colorado River, that there are 380 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:15.630 A:middle L:90% many moments, many years when the use of water 381 00:20:15.630 --> 00:20:18.460 A:middle L:90% was actually greater than the water that was coming down 382 00:20:18.460 --> 00:20:21.180 A:middle L:90% the Colorado River. The only reason that could happen 383 00:20:21.180 --> 00:20:23.059 A:middle L:90% is because of those large reservoirs, because of Hoover 384 00:20:23.059 --> 00:20:26.549 A:middle L:90% Dam, because of Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam 385 00:20:26.700 --> 00:20:30.500 A:middle L:90% , which could store enormous volumes of water five times 386 00:20:30.539 --> 00:20:33.700 A:middle L:90% or five years of the total flow of the Colorado 387 00:20:33.700 --> 00:20:36.720 A:middle L:90% River can be captured and held by those two reservoirs 388 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:40.109 A:middle L:90% alone. That's immensely helpful, not only in getting 389 00:20:40.109 --> 00:20:41.269 A:middle L:90% you through dry seasons, but getting you through dry 390 00:20:41.269 --> 00:20:45.559 A:middle L:90% years, a series of dry years. Um but 391 00:20:45.539 --> 00:20:49.000 A:middle L:90% even in these places, now that we're up against 392 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:52.279 A:middle L:90% the limits of the total water that's available and now 393 00:20:52.279 --> 00:20:55.390 A:middle L:90% we've gone into a period in the Colorado River system 394 00:20:55.390 --> 00:21:00.089 A:middle L:90% where We're having below average water coming down the Colorado 395 00:21:00.089 --> 00:21:02.170 A:middle L:90% River. In fact, we're now in a span 396 00:21:02.170 --> 00:21:03.240 A:middle L:90% of the last 15 years, has now been estimated 397 00:21:03.240 --> 00:21:07.119 A:middle L:90% to be the driest 15 years in the last 1400 398 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:12.059 A:middle L:90% years. Um They're having some pretty dire consequences and 399 00:21:12.059 --> 00:21:15.359 A:middle L:90% a lot of concern in the Colorado River system. 400 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:18.329 A:middle L:90% Out in the western United States. You notice around 401 00:21:18.329 --> 00:21:19.690 A:middle L:90% the perimeter of the reservoir, that white band, 402 00:21:19.690 --> 00:21:22.789 A:middle L:90% what we call the bathtub ring, that's an indication 403 00:21:22.789 --> 00:21:26.140 A:middle L:90% of when this lake is full. When Lake mead 404 00:21:26.140 --> 00:21:27.549 A:middle L:90% is full, you don't see that white band around 405 00:21:27.549 --> 00:21:32.569 A:middle L:90% the lake. So the lake levels have dropped um 406 00:21:32.579 --> 00:21:34.970 A:middle L:90% 50 60 70 80 ft over the course of the 407 00:21:34.970 --> 00:21:37.390 A:middle L:90% last 10 years, over the course of the last 408 00:21:37.390 --> 00:21:41.599 A:middle L:90% decade. And there's great concerns about this because even 409 00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:45.470 A:middle L:90% though this year, the Western US has been blessed 410 00:21:45.470 --> 00:21:49.339 A:middle L:90% with really high rainfalls and really big snowpacks and that 411 00:21:49.339 --> 00:21:52.799 A:middle L:90% lake level is going to come up modestly as a 412 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:56.579 A:middle L:90% result of that. There's there's nobody that knows anything 413 00:21:56.579 --> 00:22:02.579 A:middle L:90% about water management or anything about climate and about water 414 00:22:02.579 --> 00:22:04.359 A:middle L:90% use in the Western United States. That expects this 415 00:22:04.359 --> 00:22:08.240 A:middle L:90% trend not to continue. So what that means is 416 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:11.230 A:middle L:90% that the lake level in Lake Mead is expected to 417 00:22:11.230 --> 00:22:14.650 A:middle L:90% continue in the bureau reclamation will tell you this as 418 00:22:14.650 --> 00:22:18.880 A:middle L:90% well, is expected to decline gradually over time. 419 00:22:18.890 --> 00:22:22.559 A:middle L:90% It could actually accelerate because the climate scientists are telling 420 00:22:22.559 --> 00:22:25.410 A:middle L:90% us that the water available, the water coming down 421 00:22:25.410 --> 00:22:30.319 A:middle L:90% the Colorado River is expected to decrease By 20-30 in 422 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:33.619 A:middle L:90% the next few decades. So I showed you that 423 00:22:33.619 --> 00:22:34.579 A:middle L:90% long term, 100 years of graph of how much 424 00:22:34.579 --> 00:22:37.450 A:middle L:90% water is available and how much we're using. We're 425 00:22:37.450 --> 00:22:38.690 A:middle L:90% already up against the limits. Now, think about 426 00:22:38.690 --> 00:22:42.839 A:middle L:90% taking 20-30 of that water availability graph down. And 427 00:22:42.839 --> 00:22:45.509 A:middle L:90% you can imagine what's going on. What's going to 428 00:22:45.509 --> 00:22:48.759 A:middle L:90% happen is that each of the states that are dependent 429 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:51.670 A:middle L:90% upon the Colorado River will start to get cut off 430 00:22:52.339 --> 00:22:55.359 A:middle L:90% . We came very close to hitting that water level 431 00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:57.680 A:middle L:90% , at which Arizona gets cut off during the past 432 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:00.720 A:middle L:90% couple of years. Again, they're gonna get a 433 00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:02.880 A:middle L:90% little bit of a respite here with the heavy snow 434 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:03.650 A:middle L:90% pack in the, in the heavy rain falls this 435 00:23:03.650 --> 00:23:07.450 A:middle L:90% year. But we're looking at some pretty serious consequences 436 00:23:07.539 --> 00:23:10.170 A:middle L:90% . And by the way, this damn not only 437 00:23:10.170 --> 00:23:11.470 A:middle L:90% provides water supply, but it also generates a lot 438 00:23:11.470 --> 00:23:15.339 A:middle L:90% of hydro power, a lot of electricity. And 439 00:23:15.339 --> 00:23:17.599 A:middle L:90% when the lake levels get down to a certain point 440 00:23:17.829 --> 00:23:21.029 A:middle L:90% , the turbines aren't able to operate as efficiently and 441 00:23:21.029 --> 00:23:22.970 A:middle L:90% you can't generate as much electricity. And eventually the 442 00:23:22.970 --> 00:23:25.980 A:middle L:90% lake will get to a point where you cannot generate 443 00:23:25.980 --> 00:23:30.170 A:middle L:90% electricity at all using the hydro electric turbines. And 444 00:23:30.339 --> 00:23:33.809 A:middle L:90% that has ramifications that will run throughout the Southwestern energy 445 00:23:33.809 --> 00:23:37.950 A:middle L:90% grids. Um and uh these are things that get 446 00:23:37.950 --> 00:23:40.849 A:middle L:90% talked about behind closed doors and and you know, 447 00:23:40.859 --> 00:23:42.599 A:middle L:90% nervously over a beer among water experts working out in 448 00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:45.150 A:middle L:90% the West. But they aren't things that the general 449 00:23:45.150 --> 00:23:49.220 A:middle L:90% public is very well tuned into just yet. So 450 00:23:49.230 --> 00:23:51.839 A:middle L:90% let me give you now a bit more of an 451 00:23:51.839 --> 00:23:53.809 A:middle L:90% expanded view of what's going on around the world. 452 00:23:53.819 --> 00:23:57.779 A:middle L:90% So This is an animation. It goes over time 453 00:23:57.779 --> 00:24:00.740 A:middle L:90% as you can see it started 1900 and goes up 454 00:24:00.740 --> 00:24:03.079 A:middle L:90% to pretty close to the president. This is based 455 00:24:03.079 --> 00:24:07.640 A:middle L:90% on a global global water model, a global water 456 00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:11.680 A:middle L:90% computer model. There are a number of research institutes 457 00:24:11.680 --> 00:24:15.849 A:middle L:90% around the world that are trying to that have built 458 00:24:15.849 --> 00:24:18.019 A:middle L:90% similar models. This one happens to come from the 459 00:24:18.019 --> 00:24:22.049 A:middle L:90% University of Kassel in Germany and it's called Water gap 460 00:24:22.440 --> 00:24:25.000 A:middle L:90% and Water gap. Basically what these models are trying 461 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:27.420 A:middle L:90% to do is to simulate how much water was available 462 00:24:27.420 --> 00:24:30.839 A:middle L:90% and how much water got used for farming, for 463 00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:33.809 A:middle L:90% urban use, for industrial use, for manufacturing. 464 00:24:33.809 --> 00:24:36.900 A:middle L:90% They're keeping track of all of those water uses and 465 00:24:36.900 --> 00:24:41.099 A:middle L:90% water availability year after year. Um and they're telling 466 00:24:41.099 --> 00:24:44.460 A:middle L:90% us what the water accounts, what the water budgets 467 00:24:44.460 --> 00:24:47.049 A:middle L:90% look like in the case of water gap in 100 468 00:24:47.049 --> 00:24:49.549 A:middle L:90% and 50,000 different water basins around the world. So 469 00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:55.440 A:middle L:90% very, very fine scaled spatial um information and modeling 470 00:24:55.440 --> 00:25:00.430 A:middle L:90% this literally on a daily basis um and uh particularly 471 00:25:00.430 --> 00:25:02.950 A:middle L:90% for irrigated agriculture. Now, the other thing you 472 00:25:02.950 --> 00:25:04.980 A:middle L:90% see about this map about this animation from the label 473 00:25:04.980 --> 00:25:08.160 A:middle L:90% down here is this isn't all water use, this 474 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:11.789 A:middle L:90% is only irrigated agriculture. And the reason for that 475 00:25:11.789 --> 00:25:15.519 A:middle L:90% is because when you look at the places around the 476 00:25:15.519 --> 00:25:17.869 A:middle L:90% planet that are running out of water that are up 477 00:25:17.869 --> 00:25:19.200 A:middle L:90% against the limits like the Colorado and the Murray Darling 478 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:22.279 A:middle L:90% . And thousands of other basins that are in the 479 00:25:22.279 --> 00:25:23.519 A:middle L:90% warm colors on this map. By the way, 480 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:30.230 A:middle L:90% the warm colors represent places where they're beyond 70 utilization 481 00:25:30.230 --> 00:25:32.819 A:middle L:90% of the renewable water supply. So they're getting up 482 00:25:32.819 --> 00:25:34.799 A:middle L:90% near the ceiling. Okay. Some of them are 483 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:37.039 A:middle L:90% hitting the ceiling on a continual basis, some of 484 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:40.009 A:middle L:90% them only hit it during certain months of the year 485 00:25:40.009 --> 00:25:41.089 A:middle L:90% . Some of them only hit it during drier or 486 00:25:41.089 --> 00:25:44.180 A:middle L:90% drought years. But if it's showing up is yellow 487 00:25:44.180 --> 00:25:45.809 A:middle L:90% , orange or red on here, they're hitting the 488 00:25:45.809 --> 00:25:48.609 A:middle L:90% limits and they're hitting it pretty regularly and pretty frequently 489 00:25:48.640 --> 00:25:51.460 A:middle L:90% . And so the reason that this show is irrigated 490 00:25:51.460 --> 00:25:52.680 A:middle L:90% agriculture only is that when we look at all of 491 00:25:52.680 --> 00:25:56.559 A:middle L:90% these places around the world are in those warm colors 492 00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:00.420 A:middle L:90% . On average, 90 of all the water being 493 00:26:00.420 --> 00:26:03.779 A:middle L:90% consumed is going to growing food. It's going to 494 00:26:03.779 --> 00:26:07.799 A:middle L:90% irrigated agriculture, About five goes to cities and about 495 00:26:07.799 --> 00:26:11.829 A:middle L:90% five goes to industries and power generation. So when 496 00:26:11.829 --> 00:26:14.599 A:middle L:90% we talk about water scarcity and this isn't true in 497 00:26:14.609 --> 00:26:17.700 A:middle L:90% every single one of those, you know, those 498 00:26:17.700 --> 00:26:21.150 A:middle L:90% red water basins up there, but the vast majority 499 00:26:21.150 --> 00:26:22.470 A:middle L:90% of them, if you're to really understand what's going 500 00:26:22.470 --> 00:26:25.980 A:middle L:90% on with water scarcity is you have to understand what's 501 00:26:25.980 --> 00:26:27.960 A:middle L:90% going on with the use of irrigation to grow our 502 00:26:27.960 --> 00:26:30.460 A:middle L:90% food and other crops that we depend upon. Okay 503 00:26:33.740 --> 00:26:34.509 A:middle L:90% , so this is the full map. If you 504 00:26:34.509 --> 00:26:37.400 A:middle L:90% put in all of the different water uses, the 505 00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:40.509 A:middle L:90% map gets a little bit more colored. Um and 506 00:26:40.509 --> 00:26:41.869 A:middle L:90% again, showing you that, you know, the 507 00:26:41.869 --> 00:26:45.779 A:middle L:90% different degrees of going over the 75 line, there's 508 00:26:45.779 --> 00:26:48.349 A:middle L:90% no magic. There's something that, that 75 is 509 00:26:48.349 --> 00:26:52.160 A:middle L:90% so much subjective, but clearly anybody can feel and 510 00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:55.440 A:middle L:90% know intuitively that if you're beyond using up three quarters 511 00:26:55.440 --> 00:26:56.700 A:middle L:90% of the water of the renewable water supply, you're 512 00:26:56.700 --> 00:27:00.250 A:middle L:90% probably getting pretty close to trouble. Right? So 513 00:27:00.250 --> 00:27:03.390 A:middle L:90% these are the places in the world and these are 514 00:27:03.390 --> 00:27:04.130 A:middle L:90% some of the statistics. This is from a paper 515 00:27:04.130 --> 00:27:07.710 A:middle L:90% we put out actually published last year. Um, 516 00:27:07.720 --> 00:27:11.920 A:middle L:90% So water shortages associated with this heavy utilization, heavy 517 00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:15.960 A:middle L:90% dependence upon the available water supplies. Water shortages are 518 00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:17.490 A:middle L:90% now happening at about a third of all of the 519 00:27:17.490 --> 00:27:18.650 A:middle L:90% water basins in the world. Half of the world's 520 00:27:18.650 --> 00:27:22.970 A:middle L:90% population is directly dependent upon those basins. And even 521 00:27:22.970 --> 00:27:26.980 A:middle L:90% more frightening. Three quarters of all the irrigated agriculture 522 00:27:26.980 --> 00:27:30.609 A:middle L:90% on the planet is dependent upon these basins. That 523 00:27:30.609 --> 00:27:33.230 A:middle L:90% means that 30 of your food is being grown in 524 00:27:33.230 --> 00:27:36.390 A:middle L:90% places that are up against the limits of the available 525 00:27:36.390 --> 00:27:41.960 A:middle L:90% water supply. That's because about 40 of all the 526 00:27:41.960 --> 00:27:45.630 A:middle L:90% food produced on the planet is produced using supplemental water 527 00:27:45.630 --> 00:27:49.420 A:middle L:90% , irrigation water. The other 60 depends entirely Unrein 528 00:27:49.430 --> 00:27:52.720 A:middle L:90% , they are able to grow crops just on rain 529 00:27:52.140 --> 00:27:53.970 A:middle L:90% . And so if three quarters of all the irrigated 530 00:27:53.970 --> 00:27:56.069 A:middle L:90% acreage is being is now in trouble, that means 531 00:27:56.069 --> 00:28:02.099 A:middle L:90% about 30 of all of your food. um zooming 532 00:28:02.099 --> 00:28:03.549 A:middle L:90% in a little bit closer and just giving you a 533 00:28:03.549 --> 00:28:06.460 A:middle L:90% picture of the United States now. Um this is 534 00:28:06.460 --> 00:28:07.839 A:middle L:90% a different model, but it's representing the same thing 535 00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:11.480 A:middle L:90% . You can see the percentages of depletion over here 536 00:28:11.490 --> 00:28:12.190 A:middle L:90% . If you're in the warm tones, you're up 537 00:28:12.190 --> 00:28:15.680 A:middle L:90% against the limits of your available water supply. In 538 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:17.319 A:middle L:90% this case, the map is only for the summer 539 00:28:17.319 --> 00:28:19.539 A:middle L:90% months, which are mostly the dry months across the 540 00:28:19.539 --> 00:28:23.329 A:middle L:90% United States for the most part, but you can 541 00:28:23.329 --> 00:28:26.690 A:middle L:90% see how red it is in the western part of 542 00:28:26.690 --> 00:28:30.309 A:middle L:90% the country and particularly in California, But many other 543 00:28:30.319 --> 00:28:33.119 A:middle L:90% the other states in the West. When you tell 544 00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:33.819 A:middle L:90% you this up, this is actually when we did 545 00:28:33.819 --> 00:28:37.230 A:middle L:90% this math a few years ago, I was quite 546 00:28:37.230 --> 00:28:40.680 A:middle L:90% stunned by this. So half of all the western 547 00:28:40.680 --> 00:28:44.369 A:middle L:90% rivers have lost more than half of their water during 548 00:28:44.369 --> 00:28:47.369 A:middle L:90% the summertime, and a quarter of them have lost 549 00:28:47.369 --> 00:28:49.779 A:middle L:90% three quarters of their water because of being extracted, 550 00:28:49.779 --> 00:28:52.789 A:middle L:90% not being returned back to the rivers. Now, 551 00:28:52.789 --> 00:28:56.960 A:middle L:90% what that means in places that have experienced that heavy 552 00:28:56.960 --> 00:29:00.960 A:middle L:90% degree of depletion of the available water flow is that 553 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:03.319 A:middle L:90% these are fundamentally different ecosystems. Now, I want 554 00:29:03.319 --> 00:29:06.089 A:middle L:90% you to understand that those of you that are in 555 00:29:06.099 --> 00:29:11.710 A:middle L:90% studying environmental sciences, um environmental policy, uh you 556 00:29:11.710 --> 00:29:12.390 A:middle L:90% know, we live, you know, in our 557 00:29:12.390 --> 00:29:15.000 A:middle L:90% generation and we see rivers as they are today. 558 00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:18.289 A:middle L:90% And, and it's it's hard to understand in these 559 00:29:18.289 --> 00:29:21.450 A:middle L:90% rivers that have been so heavily depleted that we're looking 560 00:29:21.450 --> 00:29:25.019 A:middle L:90% at a different river. I wrote recently. You 561 00:29:25.019 --> 00:29:26.450 A:middle L:90% know, we think, I think about these as 562 00:29:26.450 --> 00:29:30.289 A:middle L:90% being ghost rivers. Um, they're nothing like they 563 00:29:30.289 --> 00:29:32.039 A:middle L:90% used to be, they don't harbor, they don't 564 00:29:32.039 --> 00:29:33.869 A:middle L:90% support the same species, They don't function the way 565 00:29:33.869 --> 00:29:37.029 A:middle L:90% that they used to. Um, and uh, 566 00:29:37.039 --> 00:29:38.660 A:middle L:90% and that's, you know, that's part of part 567 00:29:38.660 --> 00:29:41.119 A:middle L:90% of the issues that we're gonna, that we're having 568 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:44.349 A:middle L:90% to deal with now in the 21st century. Um 569 00:29:45.339 --> 00:29:45.970 A:middle L:90% , one of the things that we did just last 570 00:29:45.970 --> 00:29:48.750 A:middle L:90% year at the end of last year was we, 571 00:29:48.759 --> 00:29:51.880 A:middle L:90% and we have never seen this done before. It 572 00:29:51.880 --> 00:29:56.240 A:middle L:90% just seems like somebody would have tried to relate the 573 00:29:56.240 --> 00:29:59.579 A:middle L:90% degree of utilization of the water resource. Too, 574 00:29:59.589 --> 00:30:02.390 A:middle L:90% Bad things happening. So what I mean by bad 575 00:30:02.390 --> 00:30:07.589 A:middle L:90% things happening is with a harness the, the intellectual 576 00:30:07.589 --> 00:30:10.809 A:middle L:90% capacity of my students at UVA and over the last 577 00:30:10.809 --> 00:30:15.619 A:middle L:90% couple, 23 years and they collected dot well documented 578 00:30:15.619 --> 00:30:19.259 A:middle L:90% stories, well documented evidence of where something bad had 579 00:30:19.259 --> 00:30:22.950 A:middle L:90% happened because they ran out of water. They didn't 580 00:30:22.950 --> 00:30:26.460 A:middle L:90% have enough water to provide drinking water supply in Sao 581 00:30:26.460 --> 00:30:30.279 A:middle L:90% Paulo brazil in rio de janeiro. Um they didn't 582 00:30:30.279 --> 00:30:33.809 A:middle L:90% have enough water to grow crops in 2011 in Texas 583 00:30:33.809 --> 00:30:36.279 A:middle L:90% . That's the picture from Texas in 2011. So 584 00:30:36.279 --> 00:30:38.059 A:middle L:90% many of the crops didn't make it through the summer 585 00:30:38.059 --> 00:30:41.380 A:middle L:90% growing season. Um, We had fish, we 586 00:30:41.380 --> 00:30:44.279 A:middle L:90% have fish kills all around the world. We have 587 00:30:44.279 --> 00:30:47.450 A:middle L:90% power plants that have to shut down because there's not 588 00:30:47.450 --> 00:30:49.099 A:middle L:90% enough water in the river of the lake to be 589 00:30:49.099 --> 00:30:52.180 A:middle L:90% able to, to run enough water through the power 590 00:30:52.180 --> 00:30:53.509 A:middle L:90% plant to keep it cool enough and otherwise they would 591 00:30:53.509 --> 00:30:56.849 A:middle L:90% literally have a meltdown. So these are the kinds 592 00:30:56.849 --> 00:30:59.940 A:middle L:90% of bad things, these bad events, these water 593 00:30:59.940 --> 00:31:02.609 A:middle L:90% shortage events that we were paying attention to and documenting 594 00:31:02.640 --> 00:31:04.470 A:middle L:90% . And then we did, did some statistical relationships 595 00:31:04.470 --> 00:31:07.950 A:middle L:90% to those places on the map where people are running 596 00:31:07.950 --> 00:31:10.539 A:middle L:90% out of water. Not surprisingly, if you're living 597 00:31:10.539 --> 00:31:11.690 A:middle L:90% on the edge, if you've pushed your water use 598 00:31:11.690 --> 00:31:14.750 A:middle L:90% all the way up to the limits of the renewable 599 00:31:14.750 --> 00:31:18.450 A:middle L:90% water supply, your likelihood of experiencing water shortage impacts 600 00:31:18.450 --> 00:31:19.900 A:middle L:90% goes way up and it goes up very very quickly 601 00:31:21.339 --> 00:31:22.630 A:middle L:90% . That's true. Also for the ecological systems for 602 00:31:22.630 --> 00:31:25.319 A:middle L:90% the species of the planet, the ones that live 603 00:31:25.319 --> 00:31:29.470 A:middle L:90% in these freshwater bodies very, very strong evidence that 604 00:31:29.480 --> 00:31:32.279 A:middle L:90% you don't have to deplete a water body very far 605 00:31:32.289 --> 00:31:33.789 A:middle L:90% . Going back to my story, about half the 606 00:31:33.789 --> 00:31:34.700 A:middle L:90% water in the western rivers, in half of the 607 00:31:34.700 --> 00:31:38.759 A:middle L:90% western rivers is now gone. That's why we're seeing 608 00:31:40.339 --> 00:31:42.390 A:middle L:90% so many freshwater animals, plants and animals being becoming 609 00:31:42.390 --> 00:31:47.920 A:middle L:90% very severely imperiled. One statistic here that still is 610 00:31:47.920 --> 00:31:52.140 A:middle L:90% just almost hard to believe is, um, World 611 00:31:52.140 --> 00:31:56.349 A:middle L:90% Wildlife Fund has been tracking thousands of populations of freshwater 612 00:31:56.349 --> 00:31:57.609 A:middle L:90% plants and animals, well, all kinds of plants 613 00:31:57.609 --> 00:32:00.970 A:middle L:90% and animals, marine animals, terrestrial animals, things 614 00:32:00.970 --> 00:32:06.559 A:middle L:90% that live in the freshwater systems. And very frighteningly 615 00:32:06.559 --> 00:32:10.450 A:middle L:90% they have seen an average decline in oceanic marine species 616 00:32:10.450 --> 00:32:15.559 A:middle L:90% populations and in terrestrial species populations of about 40 declines 617 00:32:15.740 --> 00:32:21.289 A:middle L:90% since 1970. It's over 80 for freshwater plants and 618 00:32:21.289 --> 00:32:23.799 A:middle L:90% animals. And much of it is being driven by 619 00:32:23.799 --> 00:32:25.900 A:middle L:90% the fact that we have, we have so heavily 620 00:32:25.910 --> 00:32:30.569 A:middle L:90% utilized these water resources, so what we see in 621 00:32:30.569 --> 00:32:31.599 A:middle L:90% different parts of the world. So in writing the 622 00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:34.759 A:middle L:90% book chasing water, I had a chance to really 623 00:32:34.759 --> 00:32:37.569 A:middle L:90% study how people were responding to water shortages. I 624 00:32:37.569 --> 00:32:39.559 A:middle L:90% was of course looking for good stories. I will 625 00:32:39.559 --> 00:32:42.190 A:middle L:90% share a couple of them with you here in just 626 00:32:42.190 --> 00:32:45.769 A:middle L:90% a moment. But I really wanted to document and 627 00:32:45.769 --> 00:32:49.980 A:middle L:90% understand how communities, how farmers had tried to deal 628 00:32:49.980 --> 00:32:51.910 A:middle L:90% with running out of water over time. And what 629 00:32:51.910 --> 00:32:54.880 A:middle L:90% happens is after you exhaust your local water supply, 630 00:32:54.890 --> 00:32:59.269 A:middle L:90% you've dried up your river, you've pumped your groundwater 631 00:32:59.269 --> 00:33:01.220 A:middle L:90% system down to where you can no longer economically reach 632 00:33:01.230 --> 00:33:04.059 A:middle L:90% the water and pump it out of the ground. 633 00:33:05.240 --> 00:33:07.660 A:middle L:90% One of the most common things that's happened is that 634 00:33:07.670 --> 00:33:09.859 A:middle L:90% you then go looking for some more water in another 635 00:33:09.859 --> 00:33:14.859 A:middle L:90% place. You build what's called water importation pipelines and 636 00:33:14.859 --> 00:33:17.569 A:middle L:90% canals. This is one of the most ambitious and 637 00:33:17.569 --> 00:33:21.210 A:middle L:90% gargantuan projects of that nature anywhere in the world. 638 00:33:21.210 --> 00:33:23.970 A:middle L:90% This is called the South North Water diversion project. 639 00:33:24.420 --> 00:33:29.230 A:middle L:90% It's in china and it takes water pulls water out 640 00:33:29.230 --> 00:33:30.450 A:middle L:90% of the Yangtze River, positioned in the southern part 641 00:33:30.450 --> 00:33:35.400 A:middle L:90% of the country and it runs it over 1000 kilometers 642 00:33:35.400 --> 00:33:37.920 A:middle L:90% to the north, up to Beijing and other cities 643 00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:39.509 A:middle L:90% , but also up to the north china plain, 644 00:33:39.509 --> 00:33:42.799 A:middle L:90% which is china's breadbasket. It's the equivalent of the 645 00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:45.839 A:middle L:90% midwestern United States for china. The new york times 646 00:33:45.839 --> 00:33:49.339 A:middle L:90% ran a story about this diversion project and this is 647 00:33:49.339 --> 00:33:52.190 A:middle L:90% the way that they helped to relate what's going on 648 00:33:52.190 --> 00:33:53.299 A:middle L:90% here. This is like taking water out of the 649 00:33:53.299 --> 00:33:58.660 A:middle L:90% Missouri River and to supply the water supply needs of 650 00:33:58.670 --> 00:34:00.670 A:middle L:90% Washington, D. C, new york and boston 651 00:34:01.140 --> 00:34:04.269 A:middle L:90% , That kind of distance in that kind of volume 652 00:34:04.269 --> 00:34:06.720 A:middle L:90% of water and being done at great cost, about 653 00:34:06.730 --> 00:34:08.750 A:middle L:90% $80 billion dollars on this. And this is only 654 00:34:08.750 --> 00:34:13.559 A:middle L:90% the first phase of a three phase water diversion project 655 00:34:14.039 --> 00:34:17.719 A:middle L:90% . Now, Another interesting fact, if you look 656 00:34:17.719 --> 00:34:20.389 A:middle L:90% at all the major cities of the world, about 657 00:34:20.400 --> 00:34:22.920 A:middle L:90% 40 of their water supply comes from this kind of 658 00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:24.639 A:middle L:90% a project, they exhausted their local water supply and 659 00:34:24.639 --> 00:34:27.199 A:middle L:90% they ended up having to go to other places to 660 00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:30.260 A:middle L:90% get it. The problem now in the 21st century 661 00:34:30.269 --> 00:34:34.039 A:middle L:90% is that they're in many parts of the world and 662 00:34:34.039 --> 00:34:36.420 A:middle L:90% particularly water scarce regions, there is no more surplus 663 00:34:36.420 --> 00:34:40.510 A:middle L:90% water and communities are getting more and more protective about 664 00:34:40.510 --> 00:34:44.989 A:middle L:90% having some other water users coming in and building a 665 00:34:44.989 --> 00:34:46.809 A:middle L:90% pipe and taking their water away. They're concerned about 666 00:34:46.809 --> 00:34:50.929 A:middle L:90% their water security, their water futures. And so 667 00:34:50.929 --> 00:34:53.369 A:middle L:90% this is not going to be a viable proposition for 668 00:34:53.369 --> 00:34:55.469 A:middle L:90% very much longer in most areas of the planet. 669 00:34:57.519 --> 00:35:00.420 A:middle L:90% The other thing about water importation is that it's tremendously 670 00:35:00.420 --> 00:35:04.900 A:middle L:90% energy intensive. It takes a tremendous amount of energy 671 00:35:04.900 --> 00:35:06.969 A:middle L:90% to be able to move water. You can almost 672 00:35:06.969 --> 00:35:08.730 A:middle L:90% never run it downhill, you know, with gravity 673 00:35:08.730 --> 00:35:10.880 A:middle L:90% the entire way, so you've got to pump and 674 00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:14.599 A:middle L:90% water is heavy and if you're pumping enormous volumes of 675 00:35:14.599 --> 00:35:16.489 A:middle L:90% water, it's really, really energy. It requires 676 00:35:16.489 --> 00:35:20.469 A:middle L:90% a great deal of electricity, which makes these water 677 00:35:20.469 --> 00:35:24.980 A:middle L:90% transportation pipelines, some of the biggest electricity users on 678 00:35:24.980 --> 00:35:30.190 A:middle L:90% the planet. And so California, the single biggest 679 00:35:30.199 --> 00:35:35.190 A:middle L:90% electricity user in California, is the state water project 680 00:35:35.199 --> 00:35:37.010 A:middle L:90% that moves water from northern California. Southern California, 681 00:35:37.019 --> 00:35:39.840 A:middle L:90% the biggest electricity user in the state of Arizona is 682 00:35:39.840 --> 00:35:43.949 A:middle L:90% a central Arizona project canal that pulls water out of 683 00:35:43.949 --> 00:35:45.329 A:middle L:90% the Colorado River runs at the phoenix and then all 684 00:35:45.329 --> 00:35:47.070 A:middle L:90% the way down across the state, down, down 685 00:35:47.070 --> 00:35:51.280 A:middle L:90% to Tucson. So this is not, I don't 686 00:35:51.280 --> 00:35:52.250 A:middle L:90% think this is a very hopeful part of our future 687 00:35:53.340 --> 00:35:55.059 A:middle L:90% . Um everywhere I go, I get asked about 688 00:35:55.059 --> 00:35:59.969 A:middle L:90% desalination those of you that aren't familiar with that term 689 00:35:59.969 --> 00:36:02.230 A:middle L:90% , It's basically taking the salts out of salty water 690 00:36:02.230 --> 00:36:05.960 A:middle L:90% and turning it into freshwater is represented by this cartoon 691 00:36:06.630 --> 00:36:08.929 A:middle L:90% , mostly practiced pulling water out of the ocean and 692 00:36:08.929 --> 00:36:15.260 A:middle L:90% so mostly used around coastal areas and mostly used by 693 00:36:15.260 --> 00:36:19.460 A:middle L:90% cities. The reason being that it's extremely expensive because 694 00:36:19.460 --> 00:36:20.949 A:middle L:90% it takes a log in, it takes a lot 695 00:36:20.949 --> 00:36:23.739 A:middle L:90% of electricity to what they do with the desalination plant 696 00:36:23.739 --> 00:36:27.409 A:middle L:90% . Pretty much as they push water through a permeable 697 00:36:27.409 --> 00:36:31.150 A:middle L:90% membrane in a big factory plant. And an outcome 698 00:36:31.150 --> 00:36:35.250 A:middle L:90% . So that membrane captures the salts and then the 699 00:36:35.250 --> 00:36:37.360 A:middle L:90% fresh water comes through for every gallon of ocean water 700 00:36:37.360 --> 00:36:42.010 A:middle L:90% that you run through a desalination desalination plant. You 701 00:36:42.010 --> 00:36:44.570 A:middle L:90% get a half a gallon of fresh water and a 702 00:36:44.570 --> 00:36:50.079 A:middle L:90% half a gallon of really super saline salty water called 703 00:36:50.090 --> 00:36:52.570 A:middle L:90% brine. And you have to figure out how to 704 00:36:52.570 --> 00:36:54.269 A:middle L:90% dispose of that brian safely as well. But anyway 705 00:36:54.280 --> 00:36:58.010 A:middle L:90% , very energy intensive. And that makes this water 706 00:36:58.010 --> 00:37:00.000 A:middle L:90% very, very expensive. And that makes it limited 707 00:37:00.010 --> 00:37:02.349 A:middle L:90% only the places that can afford to pay this water 708 00:37:02.349 --> 00:37:05.710 A:middle L:90% . It's about 10 times what it cost to pull 709 00:37:05.710 --> 00:37:07.840 A:middle L:90% water out of your local aquifer, your local river 710 00:37:08.230 --> 00:37:12.099 A:middle L:90% or to build a storage reservoir. And so this 711 00:37:12.099 --> 00:37:14.809 A:middle L:90% is going to have very limited applications, about two 712 00:37:14.809 --> 00:37:15.150 A:middle L:90% of the water supply. And the plan is being 713 00:37:15.150 --> 00:37:19.110 A:middle L:90% served by desalination. I do have hope and I 714 00:37:19.110 --> 00:37:21.929 A:middle L:90% do think this is an appropriate technology in the right 715 00:37:21.929 --> 00:37:23.460 A:middle L:90% place under the right circumstances. Don't get me wrong 716 00:37:23.630 --> 00:37:25.679 A:middle L:90% . I think there is a place for this and 717 00:37:25.679 --> 00:37:30.369 A:middle L:90% the use of desalinization is increasing very, very rapidly 718 00:37:30.380 --> 00:37:31.960 A:middle L:90% and it's going to be important part of the solution 719 00:37:32.030 --> 00:37:34.670 A:middle L:90% in a lot of different places. But this is 720 00:37:34.670 --> 00:37:36.500 A:middle L:90% not going to solve the water scarcity problems of the 721 00:37:36.500 --> 00:37:39.369 A:middle L:90% world. There's also a lot of talk about reusing 722 00:37:39.369 --> 00:37:45.019 A:middle L:90% water recycling water and it's a fantastic idea, particularly 723 00:37:45.019 --> 00:37:45.780 A:middle L:90% in cities. If you can take the water that's 724 00:37:45.780 --> 00:37:50.119 A:middle L:90% used in the city, 90 of it, 95 725 00:37:50.119 --> 00:37:52.230 A:middle L:90% of it goes down your drain. Think about taking 726 00:37:52.230 --> 00:37:53.989 A:middle L:90% a shower very little of that. Water ends up 727 00:37:54.000 --> 00:37:55.860 A:middle L:90% not going down your drain, some of it ends 728 00:37:55.860 --> 00:37:58.840 A:middle L:90% up in the steam coming out of the shower, 729 00:37:58.840 --> 00:38:00.730 A:middle L:90% some of it ends up on your towel, but 730 00:38:00.730 --> 00:38:01.989 A:middle L:90% most of it, 95 of it goes down the 731 00:38:01.989 --> 00:38:06.269 A:middle L:90% drain similarly with your toilet, similarly with your dishwashers 732 00:38:06.269 --> 00:38:08.719 A:middle L:90% , etc. So what a wonderful idea than to 733 00:38:08.719 --> 00:38:12.139 A:middle L:90% take that water, clean it up again and reuse 734 00:38:12.139 --> 00:38:14.230 A:middle L:90% it, recycle it. There's even places in the 735 00:38:14.230 --> 00:38:17.360 A:middle L:90% world that actually drink that water afterwards, and we're 736 00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:20.059 A:middle L:90% gonna see a lot more of that in the future 737 00:38:20.789 --> 00:38:22.750 A:middle L:90% . The limitations on that idea. So from a 738 00:38:23.719 --> 00:38:27.130 A:middle L:90% , you know, most of us think about that 739 00:38:27.130 --> 00:38:29.500 A:middle L:90% as being, you know, that's that's the this 740 00:38:29.500 --> 00:38:32.260 A:middle L:90% is a classic sustainable strategy, right? Sustainable water 741 00:38:32.260 --> 00:38:36.250 A:middle L:90% use strategy. It's green, it's environmentally friendly. 742 00:38:36.820 --> 00:38:40.010 A:middle L:90% Um the problem is that again, the process of 743 00:38:40.010 --> 00:38:44.460 A:middle L:90% having to retreat the water after you after you've used 744 00:38:44.460 --> 00:38:47.079 A:middle L:90% it requires a lot of energy and energy is expensive 745 00:38:47.079 --> 00:38:52.059 A:middle L:90% . So again, unfortunately, reuse and recycling continues 746 00:38:52.059 --> 00:38:53.510 A:middle L:90% to be a very, very expensive option for trying 747 00:38:53.510 --> 00:38:59.119 A:middle L:90% to bolster your water supply. Um And another, 748 00:38:59.130 --> 00:39:01.110 A:middle L:90% another area that I think is hopeful in this respect 749 00:39:01.119 --> 00:39:06.199 A:middle L:90% is most of the places that reuse water that recycled 750 00:39:06.199 --> 00:39:09.130 A:middle L:90% water are treating that water to drinking water quality before 751 00:39:09.130 --> 00:39:10.630 A:middle L:90% they re use it well. If you're putting it 752 00:39:10.630 --> 00:39:13.579 A:middle L:90% out on an agricultural field or using it on a 753 00:39:13.579 --> 00:39:15.780 A:middle L:90% golf course, you certainly don't need to be treating 754 00:39:15.780 --> 00:39:16.940 A:middle L:90% it to that high level of quality. And so 755 00:39:16.940 --> 00:39:20.800 A:middle L:90% we could perhaps save some of the cost of the 756 00:39:20.800 --> 00:39:22.989 A:middle L:90% treatment if we can lower how, how hard we're 757 00:39:22.989 --> 00:39:27.800 A:middle L:90% trying to treat it. So this gets down to 758 00:39:27.809 --> 00:39:30.699 A:middle L:90% the issues of of water options, right? So 759 00:39:30.730 --> 00:39:34.489 A:middle L:90% in our toolbox and our water toolboxes, I refer 760 00:39:34.489 --> 00:39:36.869 A:middle L:90% to it in chasing water. I talk about all 761 00:39:36.869 --> 00:39:38.610 A:middle L:90% these different ways that you can balance your water budget 762 00:39:38.769 --> 00:39:42.329 A:middle L:90% if you're running out of water. Most places in 763 00:39:42.329 --> 00:39:45.010 A:middle L:90% the world have gone to have tried, have looked 764 00:39:45.010 --> 00:39:47.150 A:middle L:90% at that challenges being how do I get more water 765 00:39:47.519 --> 00:39:50.440 A:middle L:90% ? How do I increase the supply side of the 766 00:39:50.440 --> 00:39:54.440 A:middle L:90% equation? And as I've been saying, the pretty 767 00:39:54.440 --> 00:39:57.960 A:middle L:90% much all of these options are on the top are 768 00:39:57.960 --> 00:40:00.679 A:middle L:90% supply side options. You see the expense of desalination 769 00:40:00.679 --> 00:40:04.119 A:middle L:90% , water, recycling, importing water. This is 770 00:40:04.119 --> 00:40:07.050 A:middle L:90% only for one case, but this is these these 771 00:40:07.050 --> 00:40:08.989 A:middle L:90% trends and these relative costs are the same in most 772 00:40:08.989 --> 00:40:13.159 A:middle L:90% places in the world, groundwater and surface water that's 773 00:40:13.159 --> 00:40:15.579 A:middle L:90% using your local water supplies. Um But I want 774 00:40:15.579 --> 00:40:17.420 A:middle L:90% to draw your attention. I'm gonna spend the rest 775 00:40:17.420 --> 00:40:23.070 A:middle L:90% of the talk talking about this. It's it's trying 776 00:40:23.070 --> 00:40:25.119 A:middle L:90% to deal with this problem of water scarcity of water 777 00:40:25.119 --> 00:40:29.340 A:middle L:90% shortages, not so much by trying to increase your 778 00:40:29.340 --> 00:40:30.969 A:middle L:90% supplies. Because I'm arguing that those options are going 779 00:40:30.969 --> 00:40:34.079 A:middle L:90% to become more and more limited and very, very 780 00:40:34.079 --> 00:40:36.230 A:middle L:90% expensive. And there's not a lot of people going 781 00:40:36.230 --> 00:40:38.340 A:middle L:90% to want to give you their water anymore, and 782 00:40:38.340 --> 00:40:40.900 A:middle L:90% we really need to start focusing on the demand side 783 00:40:40.909 --> 00:40:45.210 A:middle L:90% on how we can use less water um in order 784 00:40:45.210 --> 00:40:46.949 A:middle L:90% to solve this problem. So again in the book 785 00:40:46.960 --> 00:40:51.780 A:middle L:90% , I talk about this at considerable length and basically 786 00:40:51.780 --> 00:40:53.059 A:middle L:90% , I think about this as creating water, but 787 00:40:53.059 --> 00:40:55.900 A:middle L:90% this isn't creating water by turning ocean water into fresh 788 00:40:55.900 --> 00:41:00.300 A:middle L:90% water instead. The idea here is that each gallon 789 00:41:00.300 --> 00:41:01.639 A:middle L:90% of water that we don't consume is a gallon of 790 00:41:01.639 --> 00:41:05.519 A:middle L:90% water that's available for other users or for nature. 791 00:41:06.010 --> 00:41:07.219 A:middle L:90% And so I really like the idea of thinking about 792 00:41:07.219 --> 00:41:12.889 A:middle L:90% water conservation or improved efficiencies as creating water because it's 793 00:41:12.889 --> 00:41:14.389 A:middle L:90% the water that you don't have to use and is 794 00:41:14.400 --> 00:41:16.679 A:middle L:90% being made available for other purposes. So let me 795 00:41:16.679 --> 00:41:21.920 A:middle L:90% just talk about a couple of big use categories of 796 00:41:21.920 --> 00:41:25.380 A:middle L:90% water. Talk about cities first, um there have 797 00:41:25.380 --> 00:41:30.679 A:middle L:90% been some really, really interesting progress being made discussions 798 00:41:30.679 --> 00:41:34.480 A:middle L:90% , dialogue taking place within the urban areas about sustainable 799 00:41:34.480 --> 00:41:37.860 A:middle L:90% water use. And I've been part of this of 800 00:41:37.860 --> 00:41:39.940 A:middle L:90% a group that's been trying to develop a model ordinance 801 00:41:39.940 --> 00:41:44.170 A:middle L:90% for cities that in essence would commit the city to 802 00:41:44.170 --> 00:41:47.630 A:middle L:90% not increasing their water use going forward to flat line 803 00:41:47.630 --> 00:41:50.570 A:middle L:90% their water use. Now this is very, very 804 00:41:50.570 --> 00:41:52.769 A:middle L:90% realistic and very possible. And I'll note for you 805 00:41:52.769 --> 00:41:57.900 A:middle L:90% that within the United States overall, We have flattened 806 00:41:57.900 --> 00:42:00.550 A:middle L:90% our water use since 1975. We've added 80-100 million 807 00:42:00.550 --> 00:42:02.730 A:middle L:90% people in the United States. And we're not using 808 00:42:02.730 --> 00:42:06.730 A:middle L:90% any more water than we did in 1975. So 809 00:42:06.730 --> 00:42:08.099 A:middle L:90% this is not a pipe dream. This isn't being 810 00:42:08.099 --> 00:42:10.559 A:middle L:90% , you know, being unrealistic about the potential, 811 00:42:10.559 --> 00:42:13.510 A:middle L:90% there is great potential to be able to do this 812 00:42:13.599 --> 00:42:15.750 A:middle L:90% . And but I think it's a really important first 813 00:42:15.750 --> 00:42:17.510 A:middle L:90% step for cities to commit to this, to take 814 00:42:17.510 --> 00:42:21.449 A:middle L:90% this seriously and say, look, we understand that 815 00:42:21.449 --> 00:42:23.090 A:middle L:90% we can continue to grow if we use water better 816 00:42:23.699 --> 00:42:25.849 A:middle L:90% , it doesn't have to limit our population growth. 817 00:42:25.849 --> 00:42:29.489 A:middle L:90% It doesn't have to limit our economy, our economic 818 00:42:29.489 --> 00:42:31.920 A:middle L:90% production. We can actually get by using less water 819 00:42:32.400 --> 00:42:35.619 A:middle L:90% . And one of the really important ways that cities 820 00:42:35.619 --> 00:42:37.510 A:middle L:90% are going to be able to do this is by 821 00:42:37.510 --> 00:42:40.429 A:middle L:90% paying attention to how they use water outdoors. Um 822 00:42:42.099 --> 00:42:44.050 A:middle L:90% We don't have to worry about that so much here 823 00:42:44.050 --> 00:42:45.750 A:middle L:90% in Virginia. You know, I have a I 824 00:42:45.750 --> 00:42:46.349 A:middle L:90% have a green grass lawn, I never thought I'd 825 00:42:46.349 --> 00:42:47.889 A:middle L:90% have a green grass lawn, but I don't have 826 00:42:47.889 --> 00:42:52.760 A:middle L:90% to irrigate it. It's entirely uh supported by by 827 00:42:52.760 --> 00:42:54.530 A:middle L:90% rainfall. And so that's really nice. That's a 828 00:42:54.530 --> 00:42:57.769 A:middle L:90% real luxury, you know in some ways for people 829 00:42:57.769 --> 00:42:59.440 A:middle L:90% who live in the parts of the country, particularly 830 00:42:59.440 --> 00:43:01.320 A:middle L:90% northeastern United States and the upper midwest that you can 831 00:43:01.320 --> 00:43:04.429 A:middle L:90% do that. But the rest of the country, 832 00:43:04.480 --> 00:43:06.489 A:middle L:90% if you want that kind of outdoor landscaping, you're 833 00:43:06.489 --> 00:43:07.230 A:middle L:90% gonna have to put water on it. And it 834 00:43:07.230 --> 00:43:10.179 A:middle L:90% turns out that in most of the most U. 835 00:43:10.179 --> 00:43:15.139 A:middle L:90% S. Cities half of the water use 30 to 836 00:43:15.139 --> 00:43:19.179 A:middle L:90% 50 is going to doing this to watering things outside 837 00:43:19.190 --> 00:43:23.420 A:middle L:90% to creating landscapes that need supplemental water. And so 838 00:43:23.800 --> 00:43:27.050 A:middle L:90% there was some really great piece of research that was 839 00:43:27.050 --> 00:43:29.329 A:middle L:90% done out at U. C. Davis University of 840 00:43:29.329 --> 00:43:32.239 A:middle L:90% California Davis where they did a comparison of cities across 841 00:43:32.239 --> 00:43:35.969 A:middle L:90% Australia and compared them to cities in the western United 842 00:43:35.969 --> 00:43:38.469 A:middle L:90% States. And they documented the Australians are using half 843 00:43:38.480 --> 00:43:40.710 A:middle L:90% the amount of water that western U. S. 844 00:43:40.710 --> 00:43:45.960 A:middle L:90% Cities are using. And it's because entirely 90 of 845 00:43:45.960 --> 00:43:47.230 A:middle L:90% the of the reason of the explanation is because the 846 00:43:47.230 --> 00:43:52.639 A:middle L:90% way that they use water outdoors they're using landscape plants 847 00:43:52.019 --> 00:43:57.230 A:middle L:90% that do perfectly well on the available water supply falling 848 00:43:57.230 --> 00:44:00.050 A:middle L:90% out of the sky on rainfall. That's the big 849 00:44:00.050 --> 00:44:00.809 A:middle L:90% difference. A little bit of the difference between the 850 00:44:00.809 --> 00:44:05.539 A:middle L:90% cities has to do with toilets and other water efficient 851 00:44:05.550 --> 00:44:09.360 A:middle L:90% appliances inside. But I want to turn now to 852 00:44:09.369 --> 00:44:13.349 A:middle L:90% the opportunities out on farms. Um, for the 853 00:44:13.349 --> 00:44:16.099 A:middle L:90% obvious reason I told you that 90 of the water 854 00:44:16.099 --> 00:44:19.610 A:middle L:90% being consumed in water scarce series being used on farms 855 00:44:19.619 --> 00:44:21.329 A:middle L:90% . So we have to look at farms and in 856 00:44:21.329 --> 00:44:22.280 A:middle L:90% fact, there are very, very few places in 857 00:44:22.280 --> 00:44:23.989 A:middle L:90% the world where we're gonna be able to resolve water 858 00:44:23.989 --> 00:44:28.940 A:middle L:90% scarcity by not doubling tripling down on, trying to 859 00:44:28.940 --> 00:44:30.809 A:middle L:90% figure out how to use less water on farms. 860 00:44:31.070 --> 00:44:32.440 A:middle L:90% Now, something I want to say. So, 861 00:44:32.440 --> 00:44:35.170 A:middle L:90% the thing is coming into a lot of your minds 862 00:44:35.170 --> 00:44:37.719 A:middle L:90% , I'm sure, is how in the world are 863 00:44:37.719 --> 00:44:38.849 A:middle L:90% we going to use less water on farms? Because 864 00:44:38.849 --> 00:44:42.030 A:middle L:90% we're gonna be producing a lot less food. Our 865 00:44:42.030 --> 00:44:44.280 A:middle L:90% population is growing here in the United States and around 866 00:44:44.280 --> 00:44:47.179 A:middle L:90% the world. The United States is responsible for feeding 867 00:44:47.190 --> 00:44:50.039 A:middle L:90% a number of other places in the world. We 868 00:44:50.039 --> 00:44:52.630 A:middle L:90% export a great deal of food. Um, We 869 00:44:52.630 --> 00:44:55.530 A:middle L:90% are the largest exporter of virtual water by the way 870 00:44:55.539 --> 00:44:59.539 A:middle L:90% , because we use a lot of our water supply 871 00:44:59.550 --> 00:45:01.440 A:middle L:90% to grow crops that are water intensive, that aren't 872 00:45:01.440 --> 00:45:02.869 A:middle L:90% able to be grown, at least in the volume 873 00:45:02.869 --> 00:45:06.000 A:middle L:90% that's required in a lot of other countries. So 874 00:45:06.000 --> 00:45:08.920 A:middle L:90% we are the biggest exporter of water intensive crops on 875 00:45:08.920 --> 00:45:13.900 A:middle L:90% the planet. So what I'm talking about here is 876 00:45:13.900 --> 00:45:16.550 A:middle L:90% not reducing agricultural production, and I'm not talking about 877 00:45:16.550 --> 00:45:21.010 A:middle L:90% reducing the revenue revenue generation that farmers can earn. 878 00:45:21.489 --> 00:45:23.679 A:middle L:90% Um, it is very realistic to be able to 879 00:45:23.679 --> 00:45:29.070 A:middle L:90% produce the same or even slightly greater volume of food 880 00:45:29.070 --> 00:45:32.369 A:middle L:90% and other crops by using substantially less water. Um 881 00:45:32.380 --> 00:45:35.789 A:middle L:90% , again, I harnessed the intellectual capacity of a 882 00:45:35.789 --> 00:45:37.809 A:middle L:90% group of my students, student researchers over the course 883 00:45:37.809 --> 00:45:42.219 A:middle L:90% of the last year, and we looked around the 884 00:45:42.219 --> 00:45:45.329 A:middle L:90% world, we scoured the literature, um and we 885 00:45:45.329 --> 00:45:49.019 A:middle L:90% looked with great scrutiny at places. It had credible 886 00:45:49.019 --> 00:45:52.730 A:middle L:90% defensible evidence of being able to use less water on 887 00:45:52.730 --> 00:45:55.889 A:middle L:90% irrigated farms, um using a wide variety of strategies 888 00:45:55.900 --> 00:45:59.980 A:middle L:90% . But we held ourselves to the standard of they 889 00:45:59.989 --> 00:46:01.710 A:middle L:90% couldn't have shown any reduction in the agricultural production, 890 00:46:02.079 --> 00:46:05.239 A:middle L:90% so they had to save water but keep the production 891 00:46:05.239 --> 00:46:07.230 A:middle L:90% the same. And we built a very, very 892 00:46:07.230 --> 00:46:08.739 A:middle L:90% large database of examples from around the world and published 893 00:46:08.739 --> 00:46:10.820 A:middle L:90% in the paper that will show up in the journal 894 00:46:10.820 --> 00:46:14.530 A:middle L:90% Water Policy, which is available online. It should 895 00:46:14.530 --> 00:46:16.000 A:middle L:90% show up any day. Um this particular paper, 896 00:46:16.869 --> 00:46:20.219 A:middle L:90% but here's some of the things that we found is 897 00:46:20.679 --> 00:46:22.000 A:middle L:90% just in the way that you apply the water to 898 00:46:22.000 --> 00:46:25.090 A:middle L:90% the crop field can actually make a big difference in 899 00:46:25.090 --> 00:46:30.489 A:middle L:90% terms of how much water you're using up. Um 900 00:46:30.880 --> 00:46:31.309 A:middle L:90% And by the way, let me back up because 901 00:46:31.309 --> 00:46:32.889 A:middle L:90% I'm going to use a term of art real quick 902 00:46:32.889 --> 00:46:34.840 A:middle L:90% here and I want to, I want to be 903 00:46:34.840 --> 00:46:37.900 A:middle L:90% clear for those of you that have some familiarity with 904 00:46:37.550 --> 00:46:40.539 A:middle L:90% irrigation science, agricultural crop science and that sort of 905 00:46:40.539 --> 00:46:44.719 A:middle L:90% thing. Most people, when they talk about most 906 00:46:44.730 --> 00:46:49.079 A:middle L:90% people in the world and manufacturers of efficient irrigation equipment 907 00:46:49.090 --> 00:46:51.940 A:middle L:90% , what they talk about is how much less water 908 00:46:51.940 --> 00:46:54.849 A:middle L:90% you have to withdraw out of the water source to 909 00:46:54.849 --> 00:46:59.280 A:middle L:90% put on your farm, but they're not paying attention 910 00:46:59.280 --> 00:47:00.909 A:middle L:90% to the fact that a good amount of that water 911 00:47:01.480 --> 00:47:05.139 A:middle L:90% , sometimes a substantial portion of that water that you 912 00:47:05.139 --> 00:47:07.340 A:middle L:90% pulled out of the river and apply it on the 913 00:47:07.340 --> 00:47:09.389 A:middle L:90% farm actually returned back to the water source. It 914 00:47:09.389 --> 00:47:13.650 A:middle L:90% seats back into the groundwater or it ran off the 915 00:47:13.650 --> 00:47:15.710 A:middle L:90% farm fields and got back into the river or back 916 00:47:15.710 --> 00:47:17.469 A:middle L:90% into the lake. And so they have, they 917 00:47:17.469 --> 00:47:20.869 A:middle L:90% have inflated the estimates of how much water can be 918 00:47:20.869 --> 00:47:22.550 A:middle L:90% saved because they're not paying attention to this issue of 919 00:47:22.559 --> 00:47:24.969 A:middle L:90% return flow, the amount of water that gets back 920 00:47:24.969 --> 00:47:28.860 A:middle L:90% into the system. So they've been overemphasizing, they've 921 00:47:28.860 --> 00:47:30.599 A:middle L:90% been overrating how much can be done. So we 922 00:47:30.599 --> 00:47:32.400 A:middle L:90% were very careful about these things I just wanted to 923 00:47:32.400 --> 00:47:36.570 A:middle L:90% mention again for those of you that understand this issue 924 00:47:36.570 --> 00:47:38.769 A:middle L:90% in this problem. So when you just look at 925 00:47:38.769 --> 00:47:43.179 A:middle L:90% how much water actually gets consumed gets lost and isn't 926 00:47:43.179 --> 00:47:46.130 A:middle L:90% returned back into the water source By shifting the way 927 00:47:46.130 --> 00:47:47.739 A:middle L:90% that you apply the water to the farm field. 928 00:47:47.739 --> 00:47:50.360 A:middle L:90% You can reduce by, as it says here, 929 00:47:50.360 --> 00:47:54.289 A:middle L:90% 34-57%. Things like instead of flooding the farm fields 930 00:47:54.519 --> 00:47:59.150 A:middle L:90% with water and having all that evaporation directly from the 931 00:47:59.150 --> 00:48:00.480 A:middle L:90% water surface as well as from the soil, becoming 932 00:48:00.480 --> 00:48:02.679 A:middle L:90% more careful with the way that you apply the water 933 00:48:02.769 --> 00:48:05.059 A:middle L:90% . The picture on the bottom right, of course 934 00:48:05.059 --> 00:48:07.119 A:middle L:90% , being drip irrigation, applying the water right to 935 00:48:07.119 --> 00:48:09.260 A:middle L:90% the root zone, right to the plant roots in 936 00:48:09.260 --> 00:48:12.960 A:middle L:90% a very, very careful way and we can reduce 937 00:48:12.960 --> 00:48:16.369 A:middle L:90% that consumptive use of water quite substantially. The other 938 00:48:16.369 --> 00:48:19.090 A:middle L:90% area that I think is really interesting, we're gonna 939 00:48:19.090 --> 00:48:21.699 A:middle L:90% hear a lot of discussion about this in the coming 940 00:48:21.699 --> 00:48:22.960 A:middle L:90% decades here in the United States and many other parts 941 00:48:22.960 --> 00:48:27.139 A:middle L:90% of the country is deciding whether or not we're going 942 00:48:27.139 --> 00:48:29.139 A:middle L:90% to continue to grow the same crops in the same 943 00:48:29.139 --> 00:48:31.789 A:middle L:90% places and this is going to become a bigger and 944 00:48:31.789 --> 00:48:36.039 A:middle L:90% bigger issue of course, under climate change, um 945 00:48:36.050 --> 00:48:37.949 A:middle L:90% one of my colleagues has, has done some modeling 946 00:48:37.949 --> 00:48:40.900 A:middle L:90% and mapping, looking at what's projected, what's forecast 947 00:48:40.900 --> 00:48:44.760 A:middle L:90% from the climate change models in the next few decades 948 00:48:44.860 --> 00:48:46.940 A:middle L:90% and what that's gonna mean for agricultural crop production, 949 00:48:46.940 --> 00:48:49.750 A:middle L:90% which kind of crops you can grow in different places 950 00:48:49.750 --> 00:48:51.840 A:middle L:90% in the United States and what you see for many 951 00:48:51.840 --> 00:48:54.280 A:middle L:90% of the major crops is moving for literally from texas 952 00:48:54.369 --> 00:48:58.500 A:middle L:90% up into Canada, because we can will no longer 953 00:48:58.500 --> 00:49:00.099 A:middle L:90% be able to produce those crops that we've been used 954 00:49:00.099 --> 00:49:02.440 A:middle L:90% to producing. So whether it's being driven by climate 955 00:49:02.440 --> 00:49:07.309 A:middle L:90% change and changing water availability or just because um we're 956 00:49:07.309 --> 00:49:08.840 A:middle L:90% trying to save a lot less water or because we're 957 00:49:08.840 --> 00:49:14.590 A:middle L:90% trying to take advantage of of different crops um may 958 00:49:14.769 --> 00:49:17.130 A:middle L:90% provide greater economic returns to the farmers. So there 959 00:49:17.130 --> 00:49:21.000 A:middle L:90% is great potential to rethink what we're going to grow 960 00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:22.079 A:middle L:90% . Where and again, look at the percentage of 961 00:49:22.079 --> 00:49:23.789 A:middle L:90% water savings that might be available to us. If 962 00:49:23.789 --> 00:49:27.829 A:middle L:90% we can do that, I'm gonna finish on one 963 00:49:27.829 --> 00:49:32.639 A:middle L:90% last topic. And what I mean by this, 964 00:49:32.639 --> 00:49:38.550 A:middle L:90% by sharing water is the context here, is that 965 00:49:38.559 --> 00:49:42.280 A:middle L:90% in many of the water scarce regions of the world 966 00:49:43.139 --> 00:49:46.070 A:middle L:90% , the governments have developed what are called water allocation 967 00:49:46.070 --> 00:49:50.760 A:middle L:90% systems. What that means is that they keep track 968 00:49:50.760 --> 00:49:53.050 A:middle L:90% of the inventory by telling each water user how much 969 00:49:53.050 --> 00:49:55.619 A:middle L:90% water they get to use. And it's a legal 970 00:49:55.619 --> 00:49:59.400 A:middle L:90% right. It's a legal right or a legal entitlements 971 00:49:59.400 --> 00:50:01.159 A:middle L:90% . Sometimes they call them permits, but basically they're 972 00:50:01.159 --> 00:50:06.480 A:middle L:90% controlling water use through a formal water allocation system. 973 00:50:07.159 --> 00:50:09.840 A:middle L:90% Now, in the places that are doing that many 974 00:50:09.840 --> 00:50:13.150 A:middle L:90% of those places, you can also you also have 975 00:50:13.150 --> 00:50:19.070 A:middle L:90% the opportunity to trade that legal right, either in 976 00:50:19.070 --> 00:50:22.170 A:middle L:90% part or in whole, why would a farmer want 977 00:50:22.170 --> 00:50:27.329 A:middle L:90% to do that? Um Some farmers are getting old 978 00:50:27.329 --> 00:50:28.730 A:middle L:90% and getting and getting out of the business and their 979 00:50:28.730 --> 00:50:30.039 A:middle L:90% kids don't want to take over the farm, they're 980 00:50:30.039 --> 00:50:31.869 A:middle L:90% going to go out of production. The water is 981 00:50:31.869 --> 00:50:34.429 A:middle L:90% worth a great deal. They can sell it to 982 00:50:34.429 --> 00:50:37.869 A:middle L:90% somebody else who wants to use their water that takes 983 00:50:37.869 --> 00:50:39.500 A:middle L:90% agricultural farms out of production though. And so that's 984 00:50:39.500 --> 00:50:42.780 A:middle L:90% not a very desirable thing in the Western us, 985 00:50:42.780 --> 00:50:45.599 A:middle L:90% we refer to that as buy and dry. Um 986 00:50:45.610 --> 00:50:46.559 A:middle L:90% , and it's caused some real problems in some agricultural 987 00:50:46.559 --> 00:50:50.000 A:middle L:90% communities and really unraveled the social fabric and some of 988 00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:52.030 A:middle L:90% those communities if you do too much of that. 989 00:50:52.039 --> 00:50:53.280 A:middle L:90% But some farmers are wanting to get out and that's 990 00:50:53.280 --> 00:50:55.570 A:middle L:90% , that's one of the motivations. The much, 991 00:50:55.570 --> 00:51:00.920 A:middle L:90% much better scenario or story is you have a farmer 992 00:51:00.920 --> 00:51:05.420 A:middle L:90% who realizes that he or she can produce the same 993 00:51:05.420 --> 00:51:09.539 A:middle L:90% crop by using some of these water saving strategies. 994 00:51:09.539 --> 00:51:14.909 A:middle L:90% Water efficiency strategies use less water than they have historically 995 00:51:14.909 --> 00:51:17.429 A:middle L:90% used and no longer need the full portion of their 996 00:51:17.429 --> 00:51:21.190 A:middle L:90% water rights of their entitlements and then they can take 997 00:51:21.190 --> 00:51:22.659 A:middle L:90% that portion and neither sell it permanently or rent it 998 00:51:22.670 --> 00:51:24.719 A:middle L:90% , lease it from year to year. And so 999 00:51:24.719 --> 00:51:28.460 A:middle L:90% we've talked about growing not only growing crops but growing 1000 00:51:28.460 --> 00:51:31.650 A:middle L:90% water if they deploy this kind of a strategy and 1001 00:51:31.650 --> 00:51:34.480 A:middle L:90% I think it's going to help it is helping a 1002 00:51:34.480 --> 00:51:37.329 A:middle L:90% lot of farmers economically, giving them an additional revenue 1003 00:51:37.329 --> 00:51:43.019 A:middle L:90% stream. And it's become a very powerful catalyst for 1004 00:51:43.019 --> 00:51:45.480 A:middle L:90% improved water conservation of water use efficiency because if you're 1005 00:51:45.480 --> 00:51:50.500 A:middle L:90% motivated, if you're incentivized financially by doing this by 1006 00:51:50.500 --> 00:51:52.420 A:middle L:90% using less water and being rewarded from that, then 1007 00:51:52.429 --> 00:51:55.750 A:middle L:90% then that's a that's a powerful force. So we're 1008 00:51:55.750 --> 00:51:58.619 A:middle L:90% seeing more and more of that. Here is just 1009 00:51:58.619 --> 00:52:00.840 A:middle L:90% one story I'll finish with to illustrate how some of 1010 00:52:00.840 --> 00:52:02.789 A:middle L:90% this is playing out here in the United States. 1011 00:52:04.750 --> 00:52:07.440 A:middle L:90% I happen to grow up in SAn Diego. San 1012 00:52:07.440 --> 00:52:08.949 A:middle L:90% Diego grew, you know, leaps by leaps and 1013 00:52:08.949 --> 00:52:13.199 A:middle L:90% bounds over the last century, particularly during World war 1014 00:52:13.199 --> 00:52:15.219 A:middle L:90% two, San Diego became a very important naval base 1015 00:52:15.219 --> 00:52:19.619 A:middle L:90% . And and tens of thousands hundreds of thousands of 1016 00:52:19.670 --> 00:52:22.059 A:middle L:90% , of navy personnel came into San Diego and many 1017 00:52:22.059 --> 00:52:23.730 A:middle L:90% of them ended up staying like my father and my 1018 00:52:23.730 --> 00:52:25.820 A:middle L:90% parents ended up settling there because of his time in 1019 00:52:25.820 --> 00:52:30.269 A:middle L:90% the Navy. Um so San Diego has been growing 1020 00:52:30.269 --> 00:52:31.630 A:middle L:90% and expanding and needing more and more water supply. 1021 00:52:31.710 --> 00:52:36.769 A:middle L:90% And in the late 1990s, after they've exhausted all 1022 00:52:36.769 --> 00:52:38.159 A:middle L:90% the local water supply, they started getting dependent on 1023 00:52:38.159 --> 00:52:40.460 A:middle L:90% these water importation pipelines. They pulled it in from 1024 00:52:40.460 --> 00:52:43.519 A:middle L:90% the Colorado River and they pulled it in from the 1025 00:52:43.519 --> 00:52:45.679 A:middle L:90% central, from the state water project, from northern 1026 00:52:45.679 --> 00:52:49.630 A:middle L:90% California. But beginning in the late 1990s and early 1027 00:52:49.630 --> 00:52:52.820 A:middle L:90% 2000, they shifted strategy. They realized that they 1028 00:52:52.820 --> 00:52:57.559 A:middle L:90% could work with the farmers in the imperial irrigation district 1029 00:52:58.849 --> 00:53:02.340 A:middle L:90% who use a great deal of water they use in 1030 00:53:02.340 --> 00:53:08.630 A:middle L:90% total, that one irrigation district Uses 20 of all 1031 00:53:08.630 --> 00:53:13.739 A:middle L:90% the water in the Colorado River. And so the 1032 00:53:13.739 --> 00:53:15.889 A:middle L:90% imperial irrigation district was an obvious partner, or somebody 1033 00:53:15.889 --> 00:53:17.760 A:middle L:90% that the city thought they should go talk to, 1034 00:53:17.760 --> 00:53:20.409 A:middle L:90% to see whether not they couldn't work out some sort 1035 00:53:20.409 --> 00:53:22.989 A:middle L:90% of arrangement. They worked out an arrangement where they 1036 00:53:22.989 --> 00:53:27.059 A:middle L:90% pay these farmers over$60 million dollars every year out 1037 00:53:27.059 --> 00:53:29.599 A:middle L:90% in this irrigation district. And in turn, the 1038 00:53:29.599 --> 00:53:32.309 A:middle L:90% farmers use those funds to change the way that they 1039 00:53:32.309 --> 00:53:36.190 A:middle L:90% apply water. They change the crops that they're growing 1040 00:53:36.210 --> 00:53:38.130 A:middle L:90% . Sometimes they might temporarily fallow their crop. They 1041 00:53:38.130 --> 00:53:40.219 A:middle L:90% may not grow a crop in one year so that 1042 00:53:40.219 --> 00:53:43.079 A:middle L:90% they can instead take some of these payments from SAN 1043 00:53:43.079 --> 00:53:45.320 A:middle L:90% Diego. They are lining their ditches and canals, 1044 00:53:45.320 --> 00:53:49.099 A:middle L:90% or they're putting in a lot of monitoring and instrumentation 1045 00:53:49.250 --> 00:53:51.429 A:middle L:90% , doing all kinds of things. The important thing 1046 00:53:51.429 --> 00:53:54.440 A:middle L:90% is the farmers decide what to do. Um the 1047 00:53:54.440 --> 00:53:57.230 A:middle L:90% city doesn't tell them how to save the water. 1048 00:53:57.230 --> 00:53:59.380 A:middle L:90% The farmers figure that out. They've raised their hand 1049 00:53:59.380 --> 00:54:00.400 A:middle L:90% . They volunteer, I want to save some water 1050 00:54:00.469 --> 00:54:02.440 A:middle L:90% , I want to sell some water to SAn Diego 1051 00:54:02.480 --> 00:54:05.909 A:middle L:90% . And the result of all of this is that 1052 00:54:05.920 --> 00:54:08.429 A:middle L:90% that transfer of water now from the Imperial irrigation district 1053 00:54:08.429 --> 00:54:10.349 A:middle L:90% to the city of San Diego is a third of 1054 00:54:10.349 --> 00:54:15.420 A:middle L:90% San Diego's water supply and it's increasing. Um so 1055 00:54:15.420 --> 00:54:15.880 A:middle L:90% this is the kind of story that you're going to 1056 00:54:15.880 --> 00:54:19.500 A:middle L:90% see playing out in the western United States and a 1057 00:54:19.500 --> 00:54:22.090 A:middle L:90% lot of the other water scarce areas of the world 1058 00:54:22.099 --> 00:54:24.820 A:middle L:90% . And it's all based on saving water. It's 1059 00:54:24.820 --> 00:54:28.590 A:middle L:90% on the potential to save water and the reduction in 1060 00:54:28.590 --> 00:54:30.489 A:middle L:90% the economic expense of trying to get more water. 1061 00:54:30.500 --> 00:54:34.550 A:middle L:90% And if we can figure out ways to economically incentivized 1062 00:54:34.559 --> 00:54:37.750 A:middle L:90% saving water, we could really see a quite a 1063 00:54:37.750 --> 00:54:40.079 A:middle L:90% quite a rapid change take place. So this is 1064 00:54:40.079 --> 00:54:45.269 A:middle L:90% the picture of San Diego's water supply I mentioned in 1065 00:54:45.269 --> 00:54:47.550 A:middle L:90% the early 1990s 96 of the water supply came from 1066 00:54:47.550 --> 00:54:51.059 A:middle L:90% bringing it in from from hundreds of miles away. 1067 00:54:51.739 --> 00:54:55.469 A:middle L:90% Um by 2011 they were starting to rebalance um they 1068 00:54:55.469 --> 00:54:59.360 A:middle L:90% were down to 44. So the pie is growing 1069 00:54:59.369 --> 00:55:01.599 A:middle L:90% , they're using more water over time, but 44 1070 00:55:01.599 --> 00:55:05.690 A:middle L:90% coming from water importation, but they're starting to invest 1071 00:55:05.699 --> 00:55:07.360 A:middle L:90% by that point in water conservation. Specifically, the 1072 00:55:07.360 --> 00:55:12.010 A:middle L:90% deal with the imperial irrigation district Was already in place 1073 00:55:12.010 --> 00:55:14.449 A:middle L:90% in the early 2000. So by 2011 over a 1074 00:55:14.449 --> 00:55:16.119 A:middle L:90% quarter. Now, if you look at both, 1075 00:55:16.119 --> 00:55:20.130 A:middle L:90% how much is coming out of the Imperial irrigation district 1076 00:55:20.130 --> 00:55:22.460 A:middle L:90% , which is in the green, combined with what 1077 00:55:22.460 --> 00:55:23.889 A:middle L:90% they're doing with urban water conservation inside the city, 1078 00:55:23.889 --> 00:55:27.639 A:middle L:90% which is in the red you're getting to almost half 1079 00:55:27.650 --> 00:55:30.909 A:middle L:90% of SAn Diego's water supply being based on water conservation 1080 00:55:30.920 --> 00:55:32.659 A:middle L:90% being driven by water conservation. That's the city of 1081 00:55:32.659 --> 00:55:36.940 A:middle L:90% the future. That's, that's a sustainable water future 1082 00:55:36.940 --> 00:55:38.980 A:middle L:90% for a city like SAn Diego. This is my 1083 00:55:38.980 --> 00:55:42.949 A:middle L:90% last slide. Um, and it's just a wrap 1084 00:55:42.949 --> 00:55:44.590 A:middle L:90% up of everything that I said, but I always 1085 00:55:44.590 --> 00:55:45.420 A:middle L:90% like to make sure that some of the really important 1086 00:55:45.420 --> 00:55:47.829 A:middle L:90% points that I've shared with you come across loud and 1087 00:55:47.829 --> 00:55:51.769 A:middle L:90% clear. So, um, we have, so 1088 00:55:51.769 --> 00:55:52.849 A:middle L:90% again, a third of the water sources on the 1089 00:55:52.849 --> 00:55:55.280 A:middle L:90% planet rivers, lakes and aquifers are being very, 1090 00:55:55.280 --> 00:56:00.469 A:middle L:90% very heavily utilized to the point of exhaustion, 90 1091 00:56:00.469 --> 00:56:01.940 A:middle L:90% on average, not in every single water basin, 1092 00:56:01.940 --> 00:56:04.860 A:middle L:90% but on average, across all of those places, 1093 00:56:04.860 --> 00:56:07.360 A:middle L:90% 90 is going to irrigated farms, about 10 of 1094 00:56:07.360 --> 00:56:09.739 A:middle L:90% the water going to cities and industry. The result 1095 00:56:09.739 --> 00:56:13.900 A:middle L:90% being that we've dried up many, many river and 1096 00:56:13.900 --> 00:56:17.670 A:middle L:90% lake ecosystems and groundwater biographers around the planet where we 1097 00:56:17.670 --> 00:56:21.099 A:middle L:90% need to go over the next couple of decades is 1098 00:56:21.099 --> 00:56:22.510 A:middle L:90% very, very clear in my mind. And that 1099 00:56:22.510 --> 00:56:25.130 A:middle L:90% is, we need to start investing in using a 1100 00:56:25.130 --> 00:56:29.000 A:middle L:90% lot less water for irrigated agriculture. We need to 1101 00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:31.159 A:middle L:90% use a lot less because the irrigated agriculture uses so 1102 00:56:31.159 --> 00:56:34.360 A:middle L:90% much water. The volume that gets freed up from 1103 00:56:34.360 --> 00:56:37.869 A:middle L:90% any water savings is enormous. You can reduce the 1104 00:56:37.869 --> 00:56:40.860 A:middle L:90% water being consumed in irrigation agriculture by 10 in supply 1105 00:56:40.869 --> 00:56:43.750 A:middle L:90% , all of the cities and industries around the world 1106 00:56:44.429 --> 00:56:46.769 A:middle L:90% With 10 reduction in irrigated agriculture. That's, that's 1107 00:56:46.769 --> 00:56:49.760 A:middle L:90% a gross average. But it gives you some idea 1108 00:56:49.760 --> 00:56:52.590 A:middle L:90% of the magnitude that I'm talking about here in cities 1109 00:56:52.590 --> 00:56:53.449 A:middle L:90% . We need to do our part. Um, 1110 00:56:53.449 --> 00:56:55.650 A:middle L:90% we need to freeze the amount of water that we're 1111 00:56:55.650 --> 00:57:00.179 A:middle L:90% using and and start moving toward reducing and hopefully I've 1112 00:57:00.190 --> 00:57:01.050 A:middle L:90% provided you with some evidence of how that can be 1113 00:57:01.050 --> 00:57:05.519 A:middle L:90% done, particularly focusing on outdoor landscaping. And then 1114 00:57:05.519 --> 00:57:07.239 A:middle L:90% lastly, I hope that we can use a lot 1115 00:57:07.239 --> 00:57:10.659 A:middle L:90% of this water to bring some of those natural ecosystems 1116 00:57:10.670 --> 00:57:15.289 A:middle L:90% back into a more healthy condition. I had a 1117 00:57:15.289 --> 00:57:17.579 A:middle L:90% wonderful two days here at Virginia Tech and I was 1118 00:57:17.579 --> 00:57:21.159 A:middle L:90% really impressed. You are the best and the brightest 1119 00:57:21.630 --> 00:57:24.150 A:middle L:90% students, faculty researchers, You've got the talent, 1120 00:57:24.150 --> 00:57:25.809 A:middle L:90% you've got the intellect, you've got the skills to 1121 00:57:25.809 --> 00:57:28.789 A:middle L:90% do this. So let's go Hokies and get this 1122 00:57:28.789 --> 00:57:31.159 A:middle L:90% job done. All right, thank you. And 1123 00:57:31.159 --> 00:57:35.880 A:middle L:90% so is uh Stephen and Bill said, um, 1124 00:57:35.889 --> 00:57:37.469 A:middle L:90% we have time for questions. This is always my 1125 00:57:37.469 --> 00:57:40.929 A:middle L:90% favorite part of doing these things. Um, I'd 1126 00:57:40.929 --> 00:57:44.019 A:middle L:90% be very gratified to you if you if you come 1127 00:57:44.019 --> 00:57:45.750 A:middle L:90% up and hit me with whatever you got. Um 1128 00:57:47.030 --> 00:57:50.070 A:middle L:90% , If your voice doesn't project, we're going to 1129 00:57:50.070 --> 00:57:51.559 A:middle L:90% ask you to try to come up to one of 1130 00:57:51.559 --> 00:57:52.989 A:middle L:90% the mix, but those of you think you have 1131 00:57:52.989 --> 00:57:54.650 A:middle L:90% booming voices, we could give it a try. 1132 00:57:55.130 --> 00:58:05.800 A:middle L:90% Um So I see your hand back here first stand 1133 00:58:05.800 --> 00:58:22.280 A:middle L:90% up please, yep. Um So I hit on 1134 00:58:22.280 --> 00:58:25.309 A:middle L:90% a couple of them and the way that you apply 1135 00:58:25.309 --> 00:58:30.280 A:middle L:90% the water um they have made big advances in sprinkler 1136 00:58:30.280 --> 00:58:32.079 A:middle L:90% systems. Um you know they've gone from sprinkler systems 1137 00:58:32.079 --> 00:58:36.610 A:middle L:90% that used to spray such fine particles of such fine 1138 00:58:36.610 --> 00:58:39.429 A:middle L:90% particles or droplets I should say of water that they 1139 00:58:39.429 --> 00:58:42.659 A:middle L:90% lost a lot to evaporation particularly. It was windy 1140 00:58:42.659 --> 00:58:45.280 A:middle L:90% and hot outside um while they were doing this and 1141 00:58:45.280 --> 00:58:49.219 A:middle L:90% now they go to low pressure systems that make bigger 1142 00:58:49.219 --> 00:58:51.510 A:middle L:90% drops and they put those sprinklers much closer to the 1143 00:58:51.510 --> 00:58:57.239 A:middle L:90% ground. Um Low energy precision application leap systems. 1144 00:58:57.719 --> 00:58:59.650 A:middle L:90% So the way that you apply the water is an 1145 00:58:59.650 --> 00:59:01.159 A:middle L:90% important one, but another one that I didn't hit 1146 00:59:01.159 --> 00:59:05.550 A:middle L:90% on here, And it's a really, really important 1147 00:59:05.550 --> 00:59:09.730 A:middle L:90% one is the soil health, the soil quality itself 1148 00:59:09.739 --> 00:59:12.619 A:middle L:90% . So if you've got enough organic matter in the 1149 00:59:12.619 --> 00:59:17.539 A:middle L:90% soil by mulching by no till agriculture, various methods 1150 00:59:17.920 --> 00:59:22.409 A:middle L:90% , you can substantially increase the moisture retention capacity of 1151 00:59:22.409 --> 00:59:23.409 A:middle L:90% the soil. And that means that you're going to 1152 00:59:23.409 --> 00:59:28.190 A:middle L:90% have to apply less supplemental irrigation water. So I 1153 00:59:28.190 --> 00:59:30.119 A:middle L:90% think a lot of the soil health movement is starting 1154 00:59:30.119 --> 00:59:31.599 A:middle L:90% to take place here in the United States. Um 1155 00:59:31.599 --> 00:59:35.130 A:middle L:90% and in particular in the young farming community, the 1156 00:59:35.130 --> 00:59:36.840 A:middle L:90% folks that are, you know, the 20somethings and 1157 00:59:36.840 --> 00:59:38.090 A:middle L:90% 30 some things that are going back to the farm 1158 00:59:38.090 --> 00:59:42.019 A:middle L:90% and the second back to the land movement um which 1159 00:59:42.019 --> 00:59:45.269 A:middle L:90% is really cool and I love it. Um so 1160 00:59:45.269 --> 00:59:47.059 A:middle L:90% much attention on the soil, It's all about the 1161 00:59:47.059 --> 00:59:49.670 A:middle L:90% soil, right? So if you get the soil 1162 00:59:49.670 --> 00:59:51.110 A:middle L:90% right, you can save an awful lot of water 1163 00:59:51.110 --> 00:59:52.780 A:middle L:90% and produce much healthier food as well. So those 1164 00:59:52.780 --> 00:59:54.639 A:middle L:90% are some of the some of the particular ones, 1165 00:59:55.219 --> 00:59:57.840 A:middle L:90% and I saw a hand up over here, please 1166 01:00:07.110 --> 01:00:09.429 A:middle L:90% . Okay. The question was about Hampton Roads and 1167 01:00:09.429 --> 01:00:12.150 A:middle L:90% I don't know this particular project, but it's come 1168 01:00:12.150 --> 01:00:13.949 A:middle L:90% up in the last couple days, this is the 1169 01:00:13.949 --> 01:00:16.829 A:middle L:90% second time. So they're trying to reuse, they're 1170 01:00:16.829 --> 01:00:21.969 A:middle L:90% trying to recycle their water so they're taking um they're 1171 01:00:21.969 --> 01:00:23.260 A:middle L:90% taking water that's being used within the city of Hampton 1172 01:00:23.260 --> 01:00:28.739 A:middle L:90% roads presumably and they're treating it, I presume in 1173 01:00:28.739 --> 01:00:31.570 A:middle L:90% some way. Um But here's where the here's where 1174 01:00:31.570 --> 01:00:35.840 A:middle L:90% you end up with really the psychological problems, so 1175 01:00:35.849 --> 01:00:38.659 A:middle L:90% we can treat wastewater to the point where it's absolutely 1176 01:00:38.659 --> 01:00:40.449 A:middle L:90% safe to drink, you know, after we've run 1177 01:00:40.449 --> 01:00:44.130 A:middle L:90% it through a treatment process um at least for most 1178 01:00:44.130 --> 01:00:47.619 A:middle L:90% waste waters. Um But the problem is psychological, 1179 01:00:47.619 --> 01:00:50.639 A:middle L:90% it's what we call the yuck factor in the water 1180 01:00:50.650 --> 01:00:52.690 A:middle L:90% community, people can't stand the thought that you're going 1181 01:00:52.690 --> 01:00:54.489 A:middle L:90% to drink something that's already been through some of these 1182 01:00:54.489 --> 01:00:57.630 A:middle L:90% toilet. Well it turns out that most of the 1183 01:00:57.630 --> 01:00:59.900 A:middle L:90% water that we drink has gone through a toilet somewhere 1184 01:00:59.900 --> 01:01:01.269 A:middle L:90% just maybe it was way upstream, you know, 1185 01:01:01.269 --> 01:01:04.340 A:middle L:90% and in some other city, you know treated and 1186 01:01:04.340 --> 01:01:05.699 A:middle L:90% put it back in the river and it comes down 1187 01:01:05.699 --> 01:01:07.030 A:middle L:90% to us and then we drink it well. So 1188 01:01:07.409 --> 01:01:12.030 A:middle L:90% the idea of injecting it into an aquifer after you've 1189 01:01:12.030 --> 01:01:15.320 A:middle L:90% treated it is trying to get at that psychological barrier 1190 01:01:15.010 --> 01:01:17.760 A:middle L:90% . Um It doesn't necessarily do a whole lot more 1191 01:01:17.760 --> 01:01:21.289 A:middle L:90% in terms of purifying the water, but it does 1192 01:01:21.289 --> 01:01:23.840 A:middle L:90% do some, it depends upon the aquifer in the 1193 01:01:23.840 --> 01:01:28.650 A:middle L:90% soil there and all. But but really it's to 1194 01:01:28.650 --> 01:01:30.059 A:middle L:90% try to get over that psychological barrier, so by 1195 01:01:30.059 --> 01:01:32.739 A:middle L:90% putting it back in the ground and then pumping it 1196 01:01:32.750 --> 01:01:36.159 A:middle L:90% , you know, somewhere later or at some distance 1197 01:01:36.159 --> 01:01:38.239 A:middle L:90% away, people get more comfortable with that. They're 1198 01:01:38.239 --> 01:01:40.920 A:middle L:90% also using that same psychological strategy by the way for 1199 01:01:40.920 --> 01:01:45.369 A:middle L:90% reservoirs. So in san Diego they couldn't stand the 1200 01:01:45.369 --> 01:01:49.420 A:middle L:90% idea of doing direct potable reuse of recycling the water 1201 01:01:49.420 --> 01:01:51.280 A:middle L:90% and putting it right back in the water distribution system 1202 01:01:51.280 --> 01:01:52.440 A:middle L:90% . So they put it in the water reservoirs and 1203 01:01:52.440 --> 01:01:55.630 A:middle L:90% somehow magic happens up the reservoir and everybody gets comfortable 1204 01:01:55.630 --> 01:02:00.960 A:middle L:90% with it. Um So you know that's what's going 1205 01:02:00.960 --> 01:02:05.650 A:middle L:90% on but you know um I don't want to Pollyannish 1206 01:02:05.650 --> 01:02:07.070 A:middle L:90% about this because there are a lot of things in 1207 01:02:07.119 --> 01:02:10.820 A:middle L:90% that are getting into our water systems that are that 1208 01:02:10.820 --> 01:02:15.929 A:middle L:90% are wastewater treatment technologies are not dealing with very well 1209 01:02:15.400 --> 01:02:20.889 A:middle L:90% . There's a lot of nasties in particularly um some 1210 01:02:20.889 --> 01:02:24.989 A:middle L:90% of the pesticides, you know, various hormones, 1211 01:02:24.989 --> 01:02:28.400 A:middle L:90% various prescription drugs, things like that. We're not 1212 01:02:28.400 --> 01:02:31.119 A:middle L:90% getting it all out. So that's not a problem 1213 01:02:32.300 --> 01:02:35.929 A:middle L:90% exclusive to this idea of reusing water. It's a 1214 01:02:35.940 --> 01:02:39.039 A:middle L:90% it's a problem for us. And and there's many 1215 01:02:39.039 --> 01:02:40.980 A:middle L:90% people in this audience, I'm sure that are much 1216 01:02:40.980 --> 01:02:45.610 A:middle L:90% better versed in that particular problem than I am right 1217 01:02:45.610 --> 01:03:31.500 A:middle L:90% in the middle here. Yeah, yeah, yeah 1218 01:03:31.510 --> 01:03:34.360 A:middle L:90% . This question, this discussions come up in a 1219 01:03:34.360 --> 01:03:37.019 A:middle L:90% couple different places over the last couple days. Um 1220 01:03:37.800 --> 01:03:39.539 A:middle L:90% we human beings are not genetically wired to be able 1221 01:03:39.539 --> 01:03:44.849 A:middle L:90% to handle slow moving problems. Uh climate change being 1222 01:03:44.849 --> 01:03:45.610 A:middle L:90% the best illustration of that. But you know, 1223 01:03:45.610 --> 01:03:49.360 A:middle L:90% but water and water shortages and the fact that you 1224 01:03:49.360 --> 01:03:52.039 A:middle L:90% can look at a graph and see that, you 1225 01:03:52.039 --> 01:03:53.139 A:middle L:90% know, the water availability is about to you know 1226 01:03:53.139 --> 01:03:54.780 A:middle L:90% , the water uses about the intersect with the water 1227 01:03:54.780 --> 01:04:00.030 A:middle L:90% availability. Hello Houston, we have a problem but 1228 01:04:00.030 --> 01:04:02.000 A:middle L:90% we're not good at doing anything even when we have 1229 01:04:02.010 --> 01:04:06.510 A:middle L:90% evidence in front of us. I do think that 1230 01:04:08.389 --> 01:04:11.559 A:middle L:90% that we could do a much better job of educating 1231 01:04:11.559 --> 01:04:16.190 A:middle L:90% and building awareness and building action around doing better planning 1232 01:04:16.199 --> 01:04:21.710 A:middle L:90% and better water management overall through communications and marketing strategies 1233 01:04:23.090 --> 01:04:25.849 A:middle L:90% . But one of the real problems is the unwillingness 1234 01:04:25.860 --> 01:04:30.409 A:middle L:90% of governments and utilities to admit that there's a problem 1235 01:04:30.690 --> 01:04:39.929 A:middle L:90% . Um for example, in water utilities in cities 1236 01:04:39.940 --> 01:04:43.289 A:middle L:90% , urban water providers, they don't like to admit 1237 01:04:43.300 --> 01:04:45.369 A:middle L:90% that people are going to need to cut back on 1238 01:04:45.369 --> 01:04:47.599 A:middle L:90% water that they need to implement water conservation one because 1239 01:04:48.289 --> 01:04:53.460 A:middle L:90% their revenue stream is dependent upon selling water to customers 1240 01:04:53.469 --> 01:04:55.570 A:middle L:90% . So they don't want to deal with the shortages 1241 01:04:55.570 --> 01:04:58.300 A:middle L:90% in their water and their water related revenues and the 1242 01:04:58.300 --> 01:05:02.369 A:middle L:90% water sales. There are some infrastructure challenges when you 1243 01:05:02.369 --> 01:05:06.280 A:middle L:90% start pushing much less water through a pipe that was 1244 01:05:06.280 --> 01:05:10.469 A:middle L:90% designed to flow full, for instance, of wastewater 1245 01:05:10.480 --> 01:05:13.019 A:middle L:90% discharge pipe that can cause some real problems and that 1246 01:05:13.019 --> 01:05:15.289 A:middle L:90% is a real problem. But when I was writing 1247 01:05:15.289 --> 01:05:17.340 A:middle L:90% the book, I interviewed a number of water utility 1248 01:05:17.340 --> 01:05:19.360 A:middle L:90% managers and one of the interesting things that some of 1249 01:05:19.360 --> 01:05:23.219 A:middle L:90% them admitted was we don't want to tell anybody that 1250 01:05:23.219 --> 01:05:26.730 A:middle L:90% we need to conserve water because then that stigmatizes our 1251 01:05:26.730 --> 01:05:29.809 A:middle L:90% community as being at risk of running out of water 1252 01:05:30.690 --> 01:05:34.449 A:middle L:90% . And so if you ask the city water managers 1253 01:05:34.449 --> 01:05:40.969 A:middle L:90% in phoenix or las Vegas or Denver or whatever, 1254 01:05:40.969 --> 01:05:42.670 A:middle L:90% they're always gonna tell, you, don't worry, 1255 01:05:42.670 --> 01:05:44.880 A:middle L:90% we're perfectly safe, we're gonna have plenty of water 1256 01:05:45.750 --> 01:05:47.670 A:middle L:90% . They will all tell you that even if they 1257 01:05:47.670 --> 01:05:50.639 A:middle L:90% understand that that story say about the Colorado River, 1258 01:05:50.639 --> 01:05:54.829 A:middle L:90% which is really going to create some really, really 1259 01:05:54.829 --> 01:05:56.400 A:middle L:90% serious problems for us in the, in the coming 1260 01:05:56.400 --> 01:05:59.760 A:middle L:90% decades. They just won't admit it publicly. And 1261 01:05:59.760 --> 01:06:01.800 A:middle L:90% so I don't quite know how you get past that 1262 01:06:01.809 --> 01:06:05.369 A:middle L:90% about how you really start telling the truth the full 1263 01:06:05.369 --> 01:06:09.400 A:middle L:90% truth and nothing but the truth about what's really coming 1264 01:06:09.880 --> 01:06:11.980 A:middle L:90% . Because then I think the marketers and the communication 1265 01:06:11.980 --> 01:06:14.289 A:middle L:90% experts can figure out how to how to convey that 1266 01:06:15.079 --> 01:06:16.179 A:middle L:90% somehow. But you have to have them willing to 1267 01:06:16.179 --> 01:06:18.429 A:middle L:90% say, you know, that's actually is what happened 1268 01:06:18.440 --> 01:06:24.849 A:middle L:90% , What's happening. This is this is factual over 1269 01:06:24.849 --> 01:06:44.239 A:middle L:90% here. What? Yeah, um, great question 1270 01:06:44.239 --> 01:06:46.230 A:middle L:90% . So the question is, okay, so they're 1271 01:06:46.230 --> 01:06:48.579 A:middle L:90% using less water and irrigated agriculture and that water is 1272 01:06:48.579 --> 01:06:51.079 A:middle L:90% going to the city, but that doesn't do anything 1273 01:06:51.079 --> 01:06:55.199 A:middle L:90% for the restoration of the Colorado River, for example 1274 01:06:55.579 --> 01:06:57.010 A:middle L:90% . None of that water is going back to nature 1275 01:06:57.010 --> 01:06:59.550 A:middle L:90% and that is true and that's a problem. Um 1276 01:06:59.559 --> 01:07:00.739 A:middle L:90% or it's a lost opportunity, I should say. 1277 01:07:00.750 --> 01:07:04.210 A:middle L:90% Um What, what I'd like to see is much 1278 01:07:04.210 --> 01:07:06.500 A:middle L:90% more of the, that kind of project taking place 1279 01:07:06.500 --> 01:07:10.599 A:middle L:90% where some portion of it ends up being returned back 1280 01:07:10.599 --> 01:07:12.889 A:middle L:90% to nature back to the river ecosystem or back to 1281 01:07:12.889 --> 01:07:15.670 A:middle L:90% the aquifer to recharge the aquifer. Um and just 1282 01:07:15.670 --> 01:07:18.190 A:middle L:90% making that part of nature tax, if you will 1283 01:07:18.199 --> 01:07:20.190 A:middle L:90% , some portion of the water needs to be returned 1284 01:07:20.199 --> 01:07:24.440 A:middle L:90% because we've heavily damaged and degraded, depleted these natural 1285 01:07:24.440 --> 01:07:27.099 A:middle L:90% ecosystem. So it should be part of the story 1286 01:07:28.079 --> 01:07:30.289 A:middle L:90% . It should be part of the story. Yes 1287 01:07:30.480 --> 01:07:38.599 A:middle L:90% . Right. Um You mean the kind of credits 1288 01:07:38.599 --> 01:07:40.989 A:middle L:90% or water rights are trading that sort of thing that 1289 01:07:40.989 --> 01:07:45.090 A:middle L:90% I was talking about, So. Okay. So 1290 01:07:45.579 --> 01:07:49.599 A:middle L:90% um the question was are there any, are there 1291 01:07:49.599 --> 01:07:54.179 A:middle L:90% any cities or communities on the atlantic seaboard that are 1292 01:07:54.179 --> 01:07:58.969 A:middle L:90% doing some of these sorts of things? Um There 1293 01:07:58.969 --> 01:08:01.469 A:middle L:90% are some, there are some examples. I gave 1294 01:08:01.469 --> 01:08:05.159 A:middle L:90% a talk at north Carolina state last year. So 1295 01:08:05.159 --> 01:08:06.559 A:middle L:90% I had to do a little bit of research on 1296 01:08:06.559 --> 01:08:10.400 A:middle L:90% the local situation down in north Carolina. It turns 1297 01:08:10.400 --> 01:08:12.289 A:middle L:90% out that in the coastal plain, biographers of eastern 1298 01:08:12.289 --> 01:08:15.710 A:middle L:90% north Carolina, they have had serious groundwater overdraft problems 1299 01:08:15.719 --> 01:08:18.220 A:middle L:90% and the aquifer levels have been declining pretty pretty precipitously 1300 01:08:18.229 --> 01:08:21.539 A:middle L:90% . And they have put into place a management plan 1301 01:08:21.539 --> 01:08:25.800 A:middle L:90% for those coastal plain og refers that sets a limit 1302 01:08:25.810 --> 01:08:29.130 A:middle L:90% , sets a cap On the total extraction that basically 1303 01:08:29.130 --> 01:08:30.510 A:middle L:90% freezing, you know, the the extraction of water 1304 01:08:30.510 --> 01:08:33.359 A:middle L:90% from the groundwater aquifers at the present level. And 1305 01:08:33.359 --> 01:08:36.010 A:middle L:90% then and then they have a projected reduction in that 1306 01:08:36.020 --> 01:08:39.670 A:middle L:90% use over the next 10, 20 years, so 1307 01:08:39.670 --> 01:08:44.069 A:middle L:90% giving everybody time to wean themselves off of the aquifer 1308 01:08:44.079 --> 01:08:46.409 A:middle L:90% , becoming more conservative or efficient with their water, 1309 01:08:46.409 --> 01:08:51.560 A:middle L:90% use their building that into the planning and, and 1310 01:08:51.560 --> 01:08:54.569 A:middle L:90% as part of that as I understand it, there's 1311 01:08:54.569 --> 01:08:58.909 A:middle L:90% also, um, a specification of how much water 1312 01:08:58.909 --> 01:09:00.220 A:middle L:90% to the users gets to use. So in essence 1313 01:09:00.220 --> 01:09:03.289 A:middle L:90% , the shares kind of a system. Um, 1314 01:09:03.770 --> 01:09:05.789 A:middle L:90% there's talk of this in a lot of different places 1315 01:09:05.789 --> 01:09:09.770 A:middle L:90% , particularly in the Southeast, down in southwest Georgia 1316 01:09:09.779 --> 01:09:12.579 A:middle L:90% . You know, we've been having some conversations because 1317 01:09:12.579 --> 01:09:15.189 A:middle L:90% they have the same problem uh, over pumping of 1318 01:09:15.189 --> 01:09:17.390 A:middle L:90% the Floridian aquifer, the upper Floridian aquifer that extends 1319 01:09:17.390 --> 01:09:20.189 A:middle L:90% up into southwest Georgia. So there are a couple 1320 01:09:20.189 --> 01:09:26.340 A:middle L:90% places, um, many of my colleagues and particularly 1321 01:09:26.340 --> 01:09:30.310 A:middle L:90% the environmental community, um, the idea of water 1322 01:09:30.310 --> 01:09:34.890 A:middle L:90% rights is anathema to them because they see that as 1323 01:09:34.890 --> 01:09:40.939 A:middle L:90% being commodification and privatization of water. And I think 1324 01:09:40.949 --> 01:09:44.590 A:middle L:90% there, I think they're missing the point. Um 1325 01:09:45.170 --> 01:09:47.260 A:middle L:90% , in my opinion, I think that if you've 1326 01:09:47.260 --> 01:09:50.550 A:middle L:90% got, if you're approaching a situation which we are 1327 01:09:50.560 --> 01:09:54.479 A:middle L:90% in the southeastern US and now across more of the 1328 01:09:54.479 --> 01:09:58.140 A:middle L:90% atlantic seaboard and even up into the upper midwest, 1329 01:09:58.340 --> 01:10:01.399 A:middle L:90% this problem is not something uh, that they're never 1330 01:10:01.399 --> 01:10:03.029 A:middle L:90% going to have to deal with. In fact, 1331 01:10:03.039 --> 01:10:06.449 A:middle L:90% you know, some places city of Charlottesville, where 1332 01:10:06.449 --> 01:10:10.409 A:middle L:90% I live Had a really, really serious drought in 1333 01:10:10.409 --> 01:10:12.810 A:middle L:90% 2002, and we had to go into really severe 1334 01:10:12.819 --> 01:10:15.909 A:middle L:90% mandatory water conservation measures. So it's happening here in 1335 01:10:15.909 --> 01:10:18.449 A:middle L:90% Virginia and it's happening even farther north into Massachusetts and 1336 01:10:18.739 --> 01:10:21.210 A:middle L:90% other places. So water scarcity is going to be 1337 01:10:21.210 --> 01:10:24.789 A:middle L:90% a problem in a lot of places, um, 1338 01:10:24.800 --> 01:10:27.939 A:middle L:90% with the climate changing and with the growth in population 1339 01:10:27.939 --> 01:10:31.079 A:middle L:90% and water demands. And I don't know of any 1340 01:10:31.079 --> 01:10:34.439 A:middle L:90% other way to manage that problem other than to get 1341 01:10:34.439 --> 01:10:38.729 A:middle L:90% into managing the inventory by the issuance of permits and 1342 01:10:38.729 --> 01:10:41.170 A:middle L:90% rights and entitlements and that. So, so just 1343 01:10:41.170 --> 01:10:43.760 A:middle L:90% from a pure simple management standpoint, I think you 1344 01:10:43.760 --> 01:10:45.220 A:middle L:90% have to do that whether or not you want to 1345 01:10:45.220 --> 01:10:47.600 A:middle L:90% also enable people to do, you know what I 1346 01:10:47.600 --> 01:10:50.140 A:middle L:90% suggested with sharing water and trading water and creating a 1347 01:10:50.140 --> 01:10:53.750 A:middle L:90% water market around water, it starts to put in 1348 01:10:53.750 --> 01:10:55.920 A:middle L:90% real monetary value on the water. And some people 1349 01:10:55.920 --> 01:10:59.130 A:middle L:90% , again, they gag on that, they don't 1350 01:10:59.130 --> 01:11:00.779 A:middle L:90% think that you should be putting a price on water 1351 01:11:01.260 --> 01:11:05.369 A:middle L:90% . Um You know, I see I see the 1352 01:11:05.369 --> 01:11:08.270 A:middle L:90% upside, you know, to be honest with you 1353 01:11:08.270 --> 01:11:12.180 A:middle L:90% , I see that by by placing, by allowing 1354 01:11:12.180 --> 01:11:14.399 A:middle L:90% water to assume a monetary value, it could be 1355 01:11:14.399 --> 01:11:15.750 A:middle L:90% a very powerful driver for using water in a lot 1356 01:11:15.750 --> 01:11:18.340 A:middle L:90% better way. Um and you don't have to do 1357 01:11:18.340 --> 01:11:20.829 A:middle L:90% that by entitlements and and markets and that sort of 1358 01:11:20.829 --> 01:11:23.649 A:middle L:90% thing. You can do that by just water pricing 1359 01:11:23.649 --> 01:11:25.859 A:middle L:90% in general. And so this issue of how much 1360 01:11:25.859 --> 01:11:27.880 A:middle L:90% you charge for water in cities, you know, 1361 01:11:27.880 --> 01:11:30.260 A:middle L:90% is is another way to gain some control on that 1362 01:11:30.270 --> 01:11:34.050 A:middle L:90% . But but again, the ideas and the strategies 1363 01:11:34.050 --> 01:11:35.930 A:middle L:90% and the concepts are really, really well known. 1364 01:11:35.930 --> 01:11:39.289 A:middle L:90% I said, you know, some students earlier today 1365 01:11:39.300 --> 01:11:42.399 A:middle L:90% , we don't need like rocket science breakthroughs. You 1366 01:11:42.399 --> 01:11:43.979 A:middle L:90% know, most of the stuff that we need to 1367 01:11:43.979 --> 01:11:45.859 A:middle L:90% know to solve this problem, you know, in 1368 01:11:45.859 --> 01:11:46.970 A:middle L:90% the world, we already know how to do it 1369 01:11:47.359 --> 01:11:49.399 A:middle L:90% . But what we do have to figure out and 1370 01:11:49.409 --> 01:11:53.430 A:middle L:90% and not to dissuade anybody from continuing to work on 1371 01:11:53.430 --> 01:11:57.470 A:middle L:90% technological advancements and you know, and better energy sources 1372 01:11:57.470 --> 01:11:59.489 A:middle L:90% so that, you know, things like desalination become 1373 01:11:59.489 --> 01:12:03.159 A:middle L:90% more cost effective and more reasonable. Um but what 1374 01:12:03.159 --> 01:12:05.619 A:middle L:90% we really need to focus on her, what are 1375 01:12:05.619 --> 01:12:09.479 A:middle L:90% the financial incentives to get people to change behaviors? 1376 01:12:09.489 --> 01:12:13.119 A:middle L:90% Um what are the necessary policy reforms? Uh how 1377 01:12:13.119 --> 01:12:15.569 A:middle L:90% do you get water managers in the Colorado River basin 1378 01:12:15.579 --> 01:12:16.539 A:middle L:90% to come out and publicly admit that they have a 1379 01:12:16.539 --> 01:12:20.869 A:middle L:90% problem? Um Those are those are some of the 1380 01:12:20.880 --> 01:12:24.270 A:middle L:90% some of the real issues, but in particular the 1381 01:12:24.270 --> 01:12:26.180 A:middle L:90% economic and financial drivers, I think is something that 1382 01:12:26.180 --> 01:12:29.060 A:middle L:90% we really need to need to figure out. So 1383 01:12:29.060 --> 01:12:30.250 A:middle L:90% we know how to do it. We just need 1384 01:12:30.250 --> 01:12:30.670 A:middle L:90% to figure out how to convince people to do it 1385 01:12:32.050 --> 01:12:42.770 A:middle L:90% right here in the middle first. Yes. Very 1386 01:12:45.550 --> 01:12:56.789 A:middle L:90% boy. Uh huh. What, yep. So 1387 01:12:56.789 --> 01:12:59.380 A:middle L:90% the question was about aquifers is enough attention being paid 1388 01:12:59.380 --> 01:13:00.710 A:middle L:90% to the health or the the, you know, 1389 01:13:00.710 --> 01:13:03.760 A:middle L:90% the proper management, the sustainable management of aquifers. 1390 01:13:03.760 --> 01:13:06.529 A:middle L:90% And the answer is absolutely not. Um They're very 1391 01:13:06.529 --> 01:13:09.300 A:middle L:90% , very few places in the world, there are 1392 01:13:09.300 --> 01:13:12.159 A:middle L:90% fewer places in the world that have management plans for 1393 01:13:12.159 --> 01:13:15.170 A:middle L:90% aquifers than we have management plans for surface water. 1394 01:13:15.180 --> 01:13:15.979 A:middle L:90% Um it's kind of like that unknown, hidden, 1395 01:13:15.979 --> 01:13:19.989 A:middle L:90% mysterious water and uh we don't know how to manage 1396 01:13:19.989 --> 01:13:27.619 A:middle L:90% it well. Um presently about 20 of all of 1397 01:13:27.619 --> 01:13:31.479 A:middle L:90% our food is being grown on unsustainably pumped groundwater aquifers 1398 01:13:32.680 --> 01:13:36.270 A:middle L:90% and that's worsening pretty fast right now. So the 1399 01:13:36.270 --> 01:13:41.510 A:middle L:90% thing about aquifers is that they don't recharge as quickly 1400 01:13:41.630 --> 01:13:44.920 A:middle L:90% as a river does, so you dry up a 1401 01:13:44.920 --> 01:13:45.220 A:middle L:90% river and at least, you know, you've got 1402 01:13:45.220 --> 01:13:47.460 A:middle L:90% more rain coming, or more snowmelt coming or whatever 1403 01:13:47.460 --> 01:13:49.300 A:middle L:90% and you know, it can, it can potentially 1404 01:13:49.300 --> 01:13:53.210 A:middle L:90% refill and restore the river in the future with groundwater 1405 01:13:53.210 --> 01:13:58.529 A:middle L:90% aquifers. The recharge rates are so slow um that 1406 01:13:58.539 --> 01:14:00.560 A:middle L:90% we have to be particularly careful with them. And 1407 01:14:00.569 --> 01:14:02.970 A:middle L:90% uh but there are some hopeful signs, you may 1408 01:14:02.970 --> 01:14:05.920 A:middle L:90% have heard out in California. So California had one 1409 01:14:05.920 --> 01:14:09.350 A:middle L:90% of its very worst droughts and record up until this 1410 01:14:09.350 --> 01:14:11.739 A:middle L:90% year, and now they don't have more water than 1411 01:14:11.739 --> 01:14:13.670 A:middle L:90% they know what to do with this year. And 1412 01:14:13.670 --> 01:14:17.829 A:middle L:90% so everybody's forgotten about water conservation, but um they 1413 01:14:17.829 --> 01:14:20.069 A:middle L:90% dried up pretty much dried up the state's rivers. 1414 01:14:20.069 --> 01:14:25.159 A:middle L:90% They've issued five times more water rights in California than 1415 01:14:25.159 --> 01:14:27.960 A:middle L:90% all the water flowing down the rivers in California. 1416 01:14:28.600 --> 01:14:30.510 A:middle L:90% So my story about they just keep giving away the 1417 01:14:30.510 --> 01:14:32.149 A:middle L:90% water rights until, you know, they end up 1418 01:14:32.149 --> 01:14:35.390 A:middle L:90% with problems. That's the situation in California. And 1419 01:14:35.390 --> 01:14:36.720 A:middle L:90% so when they ran out of the water in the 1420 01:14:36.720 --> 01:14:40.350 A:middle L:90% rivers and they started drilling wells and they drilled a 1421 01:14:40.350 --> 01:14:44.100 A:middle L:90% record number of wells last year um in California because 1422 01:14:44.100 --> 01:14:45.579 A:middle L:90% there was no more surface water and they depleted the 1423 01:14:45.579 --> 01:14:50.300 A:middle L:90% groundwater levels at an unprecedented rate 10 times faster than 1424 01:14:50.300 --> 01:14:55.560 A:middle L:90% they had been doing in previous years. And but 1425 01:14:55.569 --> 01:14:59.539 A:middle L:90% that precipitated that opened up a legislative opportunities, political 1426 01:14:59.539 --> 01:15:02.949 A:middle L:90% opportunity that fortunately they seized upon. And they passed 1427 01:15:03.340 --> 01:15:08.510 A:middle L:90% a landmark bill in California called the sustainable groundwater management 1428 01:15:08.510 --> 01:15:13.090 A:middle L:90% act or sigma, which essentially calls for sustainable management 1429 01:15:13.090 --> 01:15:15.170 A:middle L:90% of all the states photographers over the long term. 1430 01:15:15.840 --> 01:15:16.770 A:middle L:90% So they've got to figure out for each and every 1431 01:15:16.770 --> 01:15:18.989 A:middle L:90% aquifer and for all the local users depending upon those 1432 01:15:18.989 --> 01:15:21.420 A:middle L:90% aquifers, how they can stabilize the water levels in 1433 01:15:21.420 --> 01:15:24.710 A:middle L:90% the groundwater aquifers. So there's some hope there and 1434 01:15:24.710 --> 01:15:27.850 A:middle L:90% there's some good examples in other places also where they 1435 01:15:27.859 --> 01:15:30.739 A:middle L:90% have done a good job of management but but we 1436 01:15:30.739 --> 01:15:34.569 A:middle L:90% got a long, long way to go. I'm 1437 01:15:34.569 --> 01:15:36.859 A:middle L:90% gonna take one more. Okay, right over here 1438 01:15:36.859 --> 01:15:40.939 A:middle L:90% and that's the last one, the water. Yeah 1439 01:15:42.140 --> 01:15:49.289 A:middle L:90% . Say again. How does Mhm. Oh yeah 1440 01:15:49.300 --> 01:15:51.020 A:middle L:90% . Okay, good. So the question being, 1441 01:15:51.020 --> 01:15:54.699 A:middle L:90% how does this water that we're saving it back to 1442 01:15:54.699 --> 01:15:58.289 A:middle L:90% the ecosystems? Well The easiest ways, you just 1443 01:15:58.289 --> 01:16:00.010 A:middle L:90% don't take it out of the ecosystem in the first 1444 01:16:00.010 --> 01:16:01.579 A:middle L:90% place. So if you use to use 100 units 1445 01:16:01.579 --> 01:16:04.180 A:middle L:90% of water and now you're only using 60 units of 1446 01:16:04.180 --> 01:16:09.470 A:middle L:90% water, that's 40 units of water that stay in 1447 01:16:09.479 --> 01:16:11.949 A:middle L:90% the water system in the ecosystem and not being used 1448 01:16:13.000 --> 01:16:15.850 A:middle L:90% . There are some places in the world though where 1449 01:16:15.829 --> 01:16:20.289 A:middle L:90% um for various reasons you may want to take some 1450 01:16:20.289 --> 01:16:24.779 A:middle L:90% of the water that was previously used for irrigation and 1451 01:16:24.779 --> 01:16:28.380 A:middle L:90% move it to a different ecosystems. So in Australia 1452 01:16:28.380 --> 01:16:30.960 A:middle L:90% , we're doing this where we're buying water rights from 1453 01:16:30.960 --> 01:16:33.670 A:middle L:90% farmers and then literally taking the water that they're not 1454 01:16:33.670 --> 01:16:38.560 A:middle L:90% using out of their irrigation canals and piping and pumping 1455 01:16:38.560 --> 01:16:42.640 A:middle L:90% it to wetland areas that haven't received water for 40 1456 01:16:42.640 --> 01:16:44.970 A:middle L:90% some years now, Detroit. And those wetlands are 1457 01:16:44.970 --> 01:16:47.300 A:middle L:90% coming back in a very spectacular way. So you 1458 01:16:47.300 --> 01:16:51.449 A:middle L:90% don't, but that physical manipulation of the water isn't 1459 01:16:51.449 --> 01:16:54.819 A:middle L:90% really necessary in most places. You just, it's 1460 01:16:54.819 --> 01:16:56.350 A:middle L:90% just that you're not taking it out in the first 1461 01:16:56.350 --> 01:17:00.060 A:middle L:90% place. Makes sense. Okay, that's all of 1462 01:17:00.060 --> 01:17:01.949 A:middle L:90% our time and thank you so much for the great 1463 01:17:01.949 --> 01:17:11.060 A:middle L:90% questions your attention today. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah 1464 01:17:11.630 --> A:middle L:90% . Yeah.