The same everywhere

Growing up in the Midwest, water was something I took for granted all my life. There were huge "Great" lakes full of it where I lived and I was never, ever admonished to use less or conserve the stuff.

Then, as an adult, I moved to California. Southern California, where there's only enough water to satisfy a colossal and increasing thirst by importing water from hundreds, no, make that thousands, of miles away. Emphasizing the disparity of abundance even more, we moved a growing family into the middle of a declared state of drought. Soon after we set up housekeeping we found ourselves in the midst of water restrictions, increased use fees and a propaganda campaign to create an awareness of how little water we had and how great was the need to conserve. Eventually the rains came, the drought ended and California once again returned to its artifically maintained, lush green self. But never again did I let the water run while I brushed my teeth or the hose run for no good reason while trying to green up my own little slice of LA. I did have to maintain our pool and agonize I did over the thousands of gallons of water we routinely poured into that cement pond, only to have it evaporate into the heavens. But I became a water-watchdog in our house and kept vigilance over potential water wasters with less enthusiasm for conservation that I.

Fast forward to last year when we moved to the East coast and back to the land of plenty, water-wise. Or so we thought. The big surprise in store for us was than within 6 months of arriving we were back in a declared state of Extreme Drought, and once again under water restrictions and a propaganda campaign to conserve "our precious resource".

What does this have to do with climate change? All of this is a long winded way of saying the weather, seasonal rain patterns and water distribution are changing. And just like the global economy that ties the fate of everyone, everywhere together financially, we now live in a time when clean, usable water throughout the world is fast becoming something we cannot take for granted, even here in the U.S. Upstream use and waste has an effect on down-stream users. And, development near our lakes, reservoirs and rivers can taint the resource for hundreds of thousands of people in our growing cities. The lesson I learned quickly after leaving the arid West is that even in places we once thought would never run dry, would never wonder how the thirst of many would be sated by a seemingly endless resource that, at times, just falls from the sky, water can be in short supply.

Our drought, here where I live in North Carolina anyway is just about over we're told. And if the rains continue to come we'll be able to once again water our grass every day, let the faucet run mindlessly and ignore those old 6 gallon per flush toilets just a little longer. 

Which brings up the issues of wastewater and it's treatment and.......... Don't get me started.