Speak Out

Are we water wise? I don’t think we are. We have ruined our valuable water resources just like all the other essential ingredients for healthy life: air, forests, wetlands and plant and animal diversity. We pollute our waters and treat water supplies as if they are endless. We allow our cities to grow beyond sustainable limits and wonder why our smaller neighbors get upset when we try to take their water.

Some parts of the world believe it is illogical and wasteful to flush our waste with treated drinking water. I agree.

Alabama has the opportunity to protect our water resources and our citizens. By learning from the mistakes of other states and countries, we can develop a policy that will protect our waters in a sustainable way — through conservation, comprehensive policy and sound planning.

People say we are fortunate to have so much water in Alabama. While that might be true in recent years, we must realize that our supply of fresh water is finite.

The first part of a water protection plan is a robust conservation program. We seem to conserve water only when there is an emergency, and even then with reluctance. To prevent or reduce the impacts of drought, we must learn to practice conservation at all times.

Water boards should change their pricing structure to better reflect the high values we place on our water supply and to encourage better conservation. We must stop wasting water through our piping systems. Leaks must be repaired and be a priority of any water-supply maintenance program. We also need to appreciate the beauty of native plants and flowers. Using native, drought-tolerant plants in landscaping can greatly reduce the amount of water used for home and business irrigation, the largest use of treated water.

Conservation programs can reduce water demand by up to 30 percent. If a big city like Boston can do it, why can’t we?

With no meaningful water quantity policy in Alabama, we are in a position to develop a comprehensive policy to address our water issues: drought, withdrawals, flooding, irrigation, basin-to-basin transfers, conservation and consumption. In the face of “water wars” with Georgia and the all-too-real impacts of drought, it is inconceivable why Alabama hasn’t tried harder to protect the lifeblood of society through comprehensive policy.

There have been stories in the media about irrigation plans to help farmers, usually related to the expanding biofuel market. The irrigation plans must be carefully considered, as there are likely to be numerous impacts to the streams, creeks and rivers that would support irrigation withdrawals.

We also need to consider the net energy and environmental impacts of crops used to produce ethanol. The ethanol buzz in Alabama has focused on corn, but corn is a water-intensive crop and doesn’t produce as much energy as other crops, such as switch grass. Getting the most bang for our water buck is important. Wise crop planning and water usage is essential for any irrigation plan and alternative fuel project.

High population growth is a reality in the Southeast and will continue as people move north from Florida and east from the arid, western regions. To have enough water to meet the growing demand we have to think about it now. More dams and reservoirs are not the only solutions and certainly are not the most desirable. We can preserve our environment and maintain sustainable water supplies if we get water wise.

I don’t want Alabama cities to end up like Atlanta, in a constant struggle to meet growing water demand. I am ready to help Alabama become water wise and protect this essential, yet fragile resource. But it is going to take all of us to make it work, including our state agencies and elected officials. It is worth the effort. After all, water is life.

April Hall, a professional civil-environmental engineer with the Alabama Rivers Alliance, lives in Irondale.