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ysabetwordsmithUN declares Earth has entered a period of 'water bankruptcy' that is likely impossible to reverse
A new report from the United Nations warns humanity has entered an era that researchers call “water bankruptcy.” In many regions, yearly rainfall and river flows are no longer enough to meet demand.
In response, countries are increasingly drawing down groundwater reserves that can take centuries, or even millennia, to refill.
No, it's not irreversible. Water management is an area where we have a LOT of options. Some of them are cheap and easy, others are harder and more expensive. Some are things people really don't want to do, but will eventually be forced to do if nothing else is done. So let's look at some options...
* In many places, people are living beyond their local water budget. This is dangerous. While some things can be done to increase supply safely, it is much faster and more effective simply to move people from areas of water shortage to areas of water abundance. Coercion is a poor choice of motivation, and very risky. But governments could certainly create policies to discourage people from moving into dry areas and encourage them to move into wetter areas. In the interest of water-wise mobility, governments should improve parameters for internally displaced persons and international refugees, most critically recognizing and supporting the category of environmental refugees who will dominate the future. People often resist moving, but if an area continues to dry out, eventually environmental foreclosure will force them to leave. It's better to get ahead of that. On a personal scale, individuals don't need to wait for intervention or environmental foreclosure. They can simply look at the local water supply and, if it's low, consider whether it's feasible for them to move somewhere wetter.
* Usage varies around the world, but household use is one of the smallest contributors to water demand. Agriculture is usually the biggest, followed by industry. Therefore, the biggest improvements come from requiring those to move from drier areas to wetter areas. Among the best approaches is simply to quit subsidizing anything in dry areas, and move the subsidies to wet areas. In particular, ban extraction of groundwater for bottled water in areas with a water shortage. Efforts to reduce water demand through more efficient systems or reclaiming used water may also be helpful. Focusing on household use is misleading because even eliminating that entire category wouldn't solve the shortage, since it isn't causing the shortage in the first place.
* Another option is expanding use of dryland crops that require little or no irrigation. This is something you can do at home if you have space for a garden and your locale gets little rain. Here's a list of drought-resistant crops and cultivars. See all the Native American names? Most cultivars descended from tribal sources will be hardy survivors, so if you spot them in a catalog, it's worth a try. Sunchokes in particular don't care about drought; I've seen mine flourish when everything else including the weeds was wilting.
* Many rivers suffer from human interference. To improve watershed functionality:
-- Remove dams to restore natural flow and wildlife access.
-- Where waterways have been straightened, rewiggle them to create more waterfront and slow the flow. Identify and restore older channels that may have been removed.
-- Where waterways have been sealed (e.g. concrete-lined drainage ditches), remove the sealant to improve permeability and groundwater restoration.
-- Avoid cutting forests upslope from waterways because that increases runoff and erosion.
-- Minimize or eliminate withdrawing water from rivers for human use.
* Humans have done a lot to wreck the water cycle. Much of this can and should be undone.
-- Identify where wetlands have been drained and restore those. Wetlands provide many benefits; most relevant to this topic is that they store surface water and replenish groundwater.
-- Identify wetland engineers in the wild, then restore them to as much of their historic range as possible. On the plant side, mangrove is a type of tree that creates spectacular brackish wetlands. On the animal side, beavers and water voles enrich and expand wetlands. These keystone species are precious because once established they work for free, without requiring human labor, cash, or other inputs.
-- In areas where rain runs off quickly, take steps to slow the flow. This prevents erosion, stores water in the landscape, restores habitat, and replenishes groundwater. Use local resources. If what you have is rocks, use gabions. If what you have is brush, use gully-stuffing. Permaculture uses swales to slow water traveling downhill. Swales can be long trenches dug on contour, or small "fish scale" arcs.
-- Hugelkultur uses trenches or pits filled with wood to store water, either for restoration efforts or agriculture. This also makes good habitat for creatures that like rotting wood, such as insects and salamanders. You can compost wood chips, limbs, stumps, even whole trees this way. In some habitats, new growth occurs primarily or exclusively on or around nurse logs. Wherever you observe this, check the amount of deadwood. If it is low, that slows regeneration, and the problem can be fixed by adding large deadwood, above and/or below ground. As a related trick, if you have some felling to do -- say, thinning a doghair thicket or removing invasive species -- then you can also retain water by laying the trunks and/or brushrows parallel to the contours of the slope. Much like the berms in a swale system (but without the digging) these will slow the downward flow , collect sediment and leaf litter on the upslope side, and encourage the growth of plants that will form long-lasting, living barriers.
-- Permaculture uses thoughtful water management methods aimed at self-sufficiency. Earthworks aid in water interception and storage. Greywater can be filtered through a mini-wetland or mulch pit, then used for irrigation or filling a pond.
-- Municipal water systems in most areas need to adapt. Think in terms of an integrated system from home rain barrels and rain gardens through drainage ditches lined with wetland plants to marsh filters and catchment ponds or lakes. As much as possible, replace solid surfaces like concrete or blacktop with permeable ones such as porous pavement, gravel, or mulch to allow rainwater to soak into the ground below. Aim to separate rainwater from the blackwater sewer system so that it stays fresh, usable water. Encourage the use of native species that require little or no irrigation after establishment over water-hungry lawns.
-- Consider historic water technologies. Stepwells work in areas that sometimes get torrential rain and other times are dry. Given how climate change is driving extreme rain events, this is promising. Ollas are unglazed clay pots buried to provide water directly to roots underground, which avoids evaporation loss.
-- Forests can make their own rain when large enough. Protect large forests so they keep doing that. Where forests are fragmented, work on reconnecting them; this improves habitat for wildlife as well as boosting the water storage and rain generation abilities. Protect riparian zones around water, which usually includes at least a strip of forest even in dry areas.
There are a lot of problems that are difficult to solve because there are few solutions and/or the solutions are slow and expensive. Water is not one of those. Don't panic over it. Pick a method and start working on it. And what if everyone did that? We'd solve the problem within a human timescale.
A new report from the United Nations warns humanity has entered an era that researchers call “water bankruptcy.” In many regions, yearly rainfall and river flows are no longer enough to meet demand.
In response, countries are increasingly drawing down groundwater reserves that can take centuries, or even millennia, to refill.
No, it's not irreversible. Water management is an area where we have a LOT of options. Some of them are cheap and easy, others are harder and more expensive. Some are things people really don't want to do, but will eventually be forced to do if nothing else is done. So let's look at some options...
* In many places, people are living beyond their local water budget. This is dangerous. While some things can be done to increase supply safely, it is much faster and more effective simply to move people from areas of water shortage to areas of water abundance. Coercion is a poor choice of motivation, and very risky. But governments could certainly create policies to discourage people from moving into dry areas and encourage them to move into wetter areas. In the interest of water-wise mobility, governments should improve parameters for internally displaced persons and international refugees, most critically recognizing and supporting the category of environmental refugees who will dominate the future. People often resist moving, but if an area continues to dry out, eventually environmental foreclosure will force them to leave. It's better to get ahead of that. On a personal scale, individuals don't need to wait for intervention or environmental foreclosure. They can simply look at the local water supply and, if it's low, consider whether it's feasible for them to move somewhere wetter.
* Usage varies around the world, but household use is one of the smallest contributors to water demand. Agriculture is usually the biggest, followed by industry. Therefore, the biggest improvements come from requiring those to move from drier areas to wetter areas. Among the best approaches is simply to quit subsidizing anything in dry areas, and move the subsidies to wet areas. In particular, ban extraction of groundwater for bottled water in areas with a water shortage. Efforts to reduce water demand through more efficient systems or reclaiming used water may also be helpful. Focusing on household use is misleading because even eliminating that entire category wouldn't solve the shortage, since it isn't causing the shortage in the first place.
* Another option is expanding use of dryland crops that require little or no irrigation. This is something you can do at home if you have space for a garden and your locale gets little rain. Here's a list of drought-resistant crops and cultivars. See all the Native American names? Most cultivars descended from tribal sources will be hardy survivors, so if you spot them in a catalog, it's worth a try. Sunchokes in particular don't care about drought; I've seen mine flourish when everything else including the weeds was wilting.
* Many rivers suffer from human interference. To improve watershed functionality:
-- Remove dams to restore natural flow and wildlife access.
-- Where waterways have been straightened, rewiggle them to create more waterfront and slow the flow. Identify and restore older channels that may have been removed.
-- Where waterways have been sealed (e.g. concrete-lined drainage ditches), remove the sealant to improve permeability and groundwater restoration.
-- Avoid cutting forests upslope from waterways because that increases runoff and erosion.
-- Minimize or eliminate withdrawing water from rivers for human use.
* Humans have done a lot to wreck the water cycle. Much of this can and should be undone.
-- Identify where wetlands have been drained and restore those. Wetlands provide many benefits; most relevant to this topic is that they store surface water and replenish groundwater.
-- Identify wetland engineers in the wild, then restore them to as much of their historic range as possible. On the plant side, mangrove is a type of tree that creates spectacular brackish wetlands. On the animal side, beavers and water voles enrich and expand wetlands. These keystone species are precious because once established they work for free, without requiring human labor, cash, or other inputs.
-- In areas where rain runs off quickly, take steps to slow the flow. This prevents erosion, stores water in the landscape, restores habitat, and replenishes groundwater. Use local resources. If what you have is rocks, use gabions. If what you have is brush, use gully-stuffing. Permaculture uses swales to slow water traveling downhill. Swales can be long trenches dug on contour, or small "fish scale" arcs.
-- Hugelkultur uses trenches or pits filled with wood to store water, either for restoration efforts or agriculture. This also makes good habitat for creatures that like rotting wood, such as insects and salamanders. You can compost wood chips, limbs, stumps, even whole trees this way. In some habitats, new growth occurs primarily or exclusively on or around nurse logs. Wherever you observe this, check the amount of deadwood. If it is low, that slows regeneration, and the problem can be fixed by adding large deadwood, above and/or below ground. As a related trick, if you have some felling to do -- say, thinning a doghair thicket or removing invasive species -- then you can also retain water by laying the trunks and/or brushrows parallel to the contours of the slope. Much like the berms in a swale system (but without the digging) these will slow the downward flow , collect sediment and leaf litter on the upslope side, and encourage the growth of plants that will form long-lasting, living barriers.
-- Permaculture uses thoughtful water management methods aimed at self-sufficiency. Earthworks aid in water interception and storage. Greywater can be filtered through a mini-wetland or mulch pit, then used for irrigation or filling a pond.
-- Municipal water systems in most areas need to adapt. Think in terms of an integrated system from home rain barrels and rain gardens through drainage ditches lined with wetland plants to marsh filters and catchment ponds or lakes. As much as possible, replace solid surfaces like concrete or blacktop with permeable ones such as porous pavement, gravel, or mulch to allow rainwater to soak into the ground below. Aim to separate rainwater from the blackwater sewer system so that it stays fresh, usable water. Encourage the use of native species that require little or no irrigation after establishment over water-hungry lawns.
-- Consider historic water technologies. Stepwells work in areas that sometimes get torrential rain and other times are dry. Given how climate change is driving extreme rain events, this is promising. Ollas are unglazed clay pots buried to provide water directly to roots underground, which avoids evaporation loss.
-- Forests can make their own rain when large enough. Protect large forests so they keep doing that. Where forests are fragmented, work on reconnecting them; this improves habitat for wildlife as well as boosting the water storage and rain generation abilities. Protect riparian zones around water, which usually includes at least a strip of forest even in dry areas.
There are a lot of problems that are difficult to solve because there are few solutions and/or the solutions are slow and expensive. Water is not one of those. Don't panic over it. Pick a method and start working on it. And what if everyone did that? We'd solve the problem within a human timescale.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-02-21 01:36 am (UTC)Now, if only there was some industry that knew how to do that, and really could use some good PR (not to mention Karma) right about now. Heck, I think most people would even be ok with them charging for it, which would be great for an industrial sector that was staring down the barrel of corporate extinction as their revenue stream dried up.
Thoughts
Date: 2026-02-21 01:52 am (UTC)Sure, lots of places rely on glacial meltwater.
>>Now, if we could only use that to our advantage... oh say, by installing a floating coffer-dam around where the fresh water is coming off and pumping it out into tankers or pipelines, to be used where it'll do some good.<<
Catching the water should be feasible. The question is whether it's profitable -- or subsidizable -- to move that water to where it's needed.
>>Now, if only there was some industry that knew how to do that, and really could use some good PR (not to mention Karma) right about now.<<
*laugh* Well reasoned.
Sigh
Date: 2026-02-21 01:36 am (UTC)I lived in a drought for a quarter century, and NO it isn't recovered even NOW, no matter what the official line was in California politics. That was just an excuse to demand more water from Northern California be shipped down to the LA basin.
I hate the idea that I'll have to go back to the water-saving measures that I used there every single day, because they matter not one whit when the used car lot across down WASHES ALL THEIR CARS every other day with a hose and absolutely no regard for the drought.
I'm done. I'm fed up with the nonsense politics that keeps making the problems WORSE.
Re: Sigh
Date: 2026-02-21 01:58 am (UTC)Well, yeah. I visited California in junior high. I could already see the coming Water Wars. Been there, done that, used the T-shirt to make Molotovs. Most people looked at me like I was crazy. Only a few grasped the approaching horror.
>>and NO it isn't recovered even NOW<<
Not even close. The whole western 2/3 of America is drying out. Some of that is climate change, but I think more of it is several centuries of stupid decisions about water.
>> I'm done. I'm fed up with the nonsense politics that keeps making the problems WORSE.<<
I know that feel.
I take individual actions because they benefit me, and my immediate environment, and because they ground my right to say "I fucking told you so" in concrete actions. Not because I think household use changes can fix a problem caused by massively bigger industrial and agricultural demands.
Interestingly, today's project was hauling more logs behind the log garden to create an enclosure where I can dump dead leaves. It's kind of inspired by the compost core that appears in banana circles and some keyhole gardens. One of its several functions will be trapping moisture.
Re: Sigh
Date: 2026-02-21 02:34 am (UTC)It's impossible to escape, and I don't think things will improve within my lifetime.
That lack of hope burns.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-02-21 01:04 pm (UTC)Bastards.