Sarah Katz

1/16/09           

Period 1

AP Language and Composition

 

Water: It’s a Terrible Thing to Waste

 

Dear Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger,

            My name is Sarah Katz and I am a senior at El Segundo High School in Southern California.  I am here to bring to your attention an important issue that many have spoken about, but that few have made actions towards.  This issue is the current California Water Crisis.  Water is essential to California’s quality of life. “"In the water business we are facing the biggest challenges here in over half a century … there is no way any knowledgeable person could contest that."”[1]  Our strong economy depends on it. Our families and communities cannot thrive without it. And it is an integral part of California’s physical beauty and diverse environment.  Unfortunately, California’s water system is in a crisis. For the first time in the state’s history, the water supply and delivery system may not be able to meet our growing needs. At the same time, critical environmental resources are in peril. From aging infrastructure to population growth to climate change, we face a complex set of problems that threaten the future of California’s population, economy and environment and the one that we need to start focusing on is the water crisis.

            “…Fifty years from now our lives in relation to water- the basis of life on the planet- will look very different than it does today.”[2] 71 percent of the Earth’s surface is covered in water and the water crisis in California will soon be the start of a serious amount of chain reactions across the globe.  Scientists’ research shows that the city of Los Angeles, California, from which I am from, “has approximately 25 years left of an adequate and safe water supply.”[3]  This is a very devastating statistic for not only the residents of California, but also for the state’s economic status.  Without water in Los Angeles, many inhabitants will move to cities such as Tucson, Arizona, where “Politicians there have allowed irrigation water to be shifted away from farming operations to cities and suburbs…”[4]  Tucson is abundant in freshwater supplies, but it is sad to think that we are living a life of luxury when people in New Delhi for example are struggling to survive, “Although the area gets a fair amount of rain every year, [inhabitants] wake up to the blare of a megaphone announcing that the freshwater will be available for only the next hour.” [5]  This is how important water resources are to the people of this world and I believe that the state of California needs to step it up and learn how to conserve water efficiently.

            “A multitude of energy efficient equipment, technologies and operating strategies are available to help you take a bite out of your energy costs in water and wastewater facilities.”[6] One just needs to be educated on the subject and understanding of the effects each water conservation method has on the environment. Some of these methods include “…using drip irrigation, raising water prices, using waterless composting toilets, using water meters and charge for all municipal water use, redesign manufacturing processes, collecting and reusing household water to irrigate lawns and nonedible plants, and landscaping years with plants that require little water.”[7] All of these methods of conserving water are extremely important steps to not waste valuable water sources. To go more into depth of how to conserve water sources, I believe that an approach called “Xeriscaping” is one way to start. “Each region of California has different resource conditions, such as available water, soil type, temperature ranges, and lighting.”[8] Xeriscaping is the process in which homeowners and businesses that are in water-short areas, such as California, copy nature by replacing green lawns with exotic plants to lawns with vegetation that has adapted to the dry climate.  This process would reduce water use from 30-85% which would also lead to a sharp decrease in the amount and use of money for fuel, labor, and fertilizer.  Xeriscaping would also reduce the polluted runoff which travels into California’s aquifers and lakes, air pollution, which leads to more serious cases of climate change, and yard wastes which pollute groundwater in wells. “The current approach to study the effect of climate change in water resources…considers determining and using signals of climate change that are based on the results of historical and projected general circulation modeling of Hydrological processes”[9]  Therefore, if the hydrological processes of California and the rest of the world are in a downward spiral, global climate change will become more and more of a problem each and every day.  This is something we need to stop. We need to stop this now.

            California water and wastewater agencies spend more than $500 million each year on energy costs.[10]  This is way more than any state needs to spend on water and water treatment facilities.  One specific way in which we, as a state, can change this statistic is by charging an increased price for water.  Lately too many people see water as a free resource that is of a never ending supply, but the harsh reality which they will have to come to realize will be a rude awakening for all parties involved.

            California is ready to be changed for the good of the people and the good of the environment.  I believe that if we all work together to help conserve water efficiently and use the methods and tools provided for us to take advantage of, we can save the world.  We just have to take it one small drop at a time. “The impact of even one more dry season could be devastating -- we cannot afford to wait any longer.”[11]

           

 

 

Bibliography

California Integrated Waste Management Board, “Xeriscaping," California Integrated     
      Waste Management Board, http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/organics/Xeriscaping/,   
      Accessed 13 January 2009.

Francis, Chung. “Incorporating Climate Change into Hydrological Data for Planning     
      Models.” (2008): World Environmental and Resources Conference Journal 316, 521.

Flow. DVD. Dir. Irena Salina. (2007); Oscilloscope Laboratories.           

Miller, G. Tyler Jr., Living in the Environment, eds., 14th ed., Pacific Grove: CA:
      Thomson Learning, Inc., 2005.

Postel, Sandra. “In Harmony with Earth’s Water Cycle”. 50 Years from Today: 60 of the World’s Greatest Minds Share Their Vision of
         the Next Half Century. Tomas Nelsen, Inc. Tennessee, 2008.

Rogers, Peter. "Facing the Freshwater Crisis." Scientific American Magazine, (August
           2008), 46.

Schwarzenegger, Arnold and Dianne Feinstein, "Turning the tide in the water crisis," Los
         Angeles Times, 31 July 2008.

The California Energy Commission, "Process Energy-Water/ Wastewater Efficiency,"
       The California Energy Commission, http://www.energy.ca.gov/process/water/,
      Accessed 14 January 2009.

The California Energy Commission, " Process Energy - Water/Wastewater Efficiency:   
     Water Supply," The California Energy Commission,
      http://www.energy.ca.gov/process/water/watersupply.html, Accessed 14 January
      2009.

Wood, Daniel B., “Water Crisis Squeezes California's Economy," The Christian Science Monitor, 12 September 2007.