by Hyon K. Rah – Chair, Environment & Sustainable Development Committee

February 2021

It’s been a while since I left my hometown of Seattle. Family ties, friends in the area, and making annual visits have helped me stay in the loop about the changes in and around the city. Change is inevitable anywhere, as much as I’d like some things to stay the same. That said, there is one change that’s been worrying me more and more: the drought.

I know that might sound crazy – after all, Seattle has a reputation for being wet. Locals often joke that there are only two distinctive seasons: summer and rainy days. The rain in Seattle is of the drizzly variety though and, for how often it rains (over 150 days a year), the actual amount of rainfall is less than most places in the South and the Midwest. The average annual rainfall in Seattle is just over 37 inches, about half that of sunny Miami (61.9 inches per year).

Some people I know are happy to see less rain. I can easily see the appeal of having continuously dry days in December and January over the usual grey and dreary ones. That said, I’m worried. I am worried because I regularly look up the map like the one you see below:

As you can see, a large portion of the U.S. is in severe to extreme drought. Unlike extreme weather events and disasters such as hurricanes, storms, and tsunamis, droughts grab hold of a region gradually, locking in harmful impacts on the water supply and the ecosystem by the time they become noticeable. Dry conditions also provide thriving grounds for wildfires.

Scientists predict many regions in the U.S. will see water supplies cut by a third within the next 50 years¹. Because aquifers and watersheds are connected, it’s not only the dry regions that are in trouble. A U.S. government-backed study predicted as many as 96 out of 204 watersheds in the country are at risk of shortages over the next century; 83 of them could see shortages within the next 25 years².

So, what can we do? Water does not come out of thin air, and many attempts to engineer our way out of trouble can create more complications for the future. Drastic measures such as desalination and long-distance water transfer have detrimental long-term impacts. Various low-impact solutions exist to replenish used groundwater and avoid depletion. On a municipal level, leakage from established water supply systems results in a huge waste of water. London, for example, loses over 20% of its treated water through leaky pipes. Detecting and repairing these faults, as well as regularly maintaining the water infrastructure, is important.

At home, water conservation is something all of us can do immediately without much hassle. Taking shorter showers and not leaving the faucet running while brushing your teeth or soaping your dishes in the sink are some of the small actions you can take. Other measures include installing aerators in your faucets and showerheads and choosing native or adapted plants that don’t require additional irrigation instead of water-intensive non-native species such as Kentucky bluegrass, which requires large amounts of water and is now commonly used on the West Coast. Placing a rain barrel to store rainwater that drains off your roof or gutter to use for watering your lawn and flowerbeds is another solution.

There are also larger scale issues we can all address through raising awareness and advocacy, starting with learning about where your water is coming from and how the distribution and treatment infrastructure is being managed. Every water authority has an annual report documenting this accessible to the public. Knowing how water is being used in your own county or region is also helpful. I encourage you to check out the U.S. Geological Survey’s interactive data visualization for more information: https://labs.waterdata.usgs.gov/visualizations/water-use-15/index.html#view=USA&category=total.

¹ http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2019/widespread-water-shortage-likely-in-u-s-caused-by-population-growth-and-climate-change/

² https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2018EF001091