Report: More Than One Out of Three US Counties Will Face Water Shortages
By 2050, 14 US states will be facing an extreme or high risk to water sustainability, or are likely to see limitations on water availability, based on new estimates from a report released this week by Tetra Tech for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
The 14 states cited in the report are: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
As you can see from that list, the research predicts that the Great Plains and Southwest United States will be the regions most affected, and the report specifically identifies more than 1,100 counties at-risk –and more than 400 counties at extremely high risk –for water shortages by mid-century. Obviously, water shortages in these regions will significantly impact US crop production. In an earlier study from 2007, researchers found that the value of the crops produced in the at-risk counties exceeded $105 billion.
“This analysis shows climate change will take a serious toll on water supplies throughout the country in the coming decades, with over one out of three US counties facing greater risks of water shortages,” says Dan Lashof, director of the Climate Center at NRDC. “Water shortages can strangle economic development and agricultural production and affected communities. As a result, cities and states will bear real and significant costs if Congress fails to take the steps necessary to slow down and reverse the warming trend. Water management and climate change adaptation plans will be essential to lessen the impacts, but they cannot be expected to counter the effects of a warming climate. The only way to truly manage the risks exposed by this report is for Congress to pass meaningful legislation that cuts global warming pollution and allows the US to exercise global leadership on the issue.”
The findings in this NRDC report are further indication that the era of cheap and easy access to water is ending, and that water management is now a core business issue.
County- and state-specific maps detailing the report findings (including a Google Earth map), are available at http://www.nrdc.org/globalWarming/watersustainability/ and http://rd.tetratech.com/climatechange/projects/nrdc_climate.asp.
