Last September FAIR released a report about escalating water shortages throughout the United States. We pointed out that an inadequate supply of fresh water is not just a problem in the arid Southwest. A recent article from the Star Tribune in Minnesota illustrates this phenomenon.
…[M]any regions in the state have reached the point where people are using water — and then sending it downstream — faster than the rain and snow can replenish it.
Last year, Minnesotans used a record amount of water, fueling a rising number of conflicts…Now state regulators, who have never said no to a water permit, for the first time are planning to experiment with more stringent rules that will require some
local communities to allocate scarce water.“It’s scary,” said Dennis Healy, who runs the Pipestone Rural Water System in southwest Minnesota. “The time is coming that there is going to have to be some rationing.”
Ensuring that we protect and preserve our natural resources is one of the reasons why the United States needs to reduce immigration. Many Americans fail to realize the stress that rapid population growth is placing on our nation’s water supply system. Journalist Josephine Marcotty explains well how the problem has arisen in eastern Minnesota:
The most visible example [of water depletion]is White Bear Lake. Since 1980, nearby communities have more than doubled the volume of water they pump from the Prairie du Chien aquifer they share with the lake, primarily because of higher residential demand. Now, the lake drops even during wet periods.
Once neighbors use that water — for showers, cooking, watering lawns — it becomes wastewater and is sent to the Pig’s Eye treatment plant near St. Paul, where it is cleaned and released into the Mississippi River — short-circuiting the natural system that keeps water in the lake. The U.S. Geological Survey found recently that it would take annual rainfall that is 4 inches above normal just to keep White Bear Lake where it is now.
It is inevitable that the United States will face up to this crisis at some point, but our national “leaders” steadfastly refuse to even talk about resource depletion. You would think that even politicians could figure out that water is kind of important for the economy. Maybe they’ll just bring in more H-1B workers to help out with thirst management.