The Water team is part of the overall League of Women Voters U.S. Climate Team. The team is currently assembling an overall understanding of critical issues regarding freshwater in the continental U.S. It is a very large topic combining science, societal norms, history, and policy. For example:

• Complex systems of treaties, regulations, and markets governing the sharing of river water systems – upstream, downstream, along the banks, upper watersheds, deltas, and dams,
• Lakes, enormous and small, with complications of runoff causing problems such as algal blooms, shoreline issues, recreation, sewage treatment,
• Wetlands and swamps as carbon sinks, water storage, storm surge protection,
• Water conveyance – moving water via canals, aqueducts, and tunnels,
• Drinking water availability and purity,
• Groundwater, overdraft of aquifers, saltwater intrusion along ocean coastlines, fracking,
• Desalination and water markets to meet the ever-increasing demands,
• And conservation, the cheapest water available.

League of Women Voters – Regions of Work

The League of Women Voters has a solid background in water issues, with major efforts in California, the Upper Mississippi River Region, and the Great Lakes Region.

California: The League of Women Voters of California (LWVC) has studied and advocated for water issues since the late 1950s with members of the Water Committee participating from across the state.

With its largely Mediterranean climate, California has come to rely heavily on transferring water for both irrigation and urban uses.  Rain and snowfall in the northern and eastern parts of California; the Sierra Nevada snowpack has historically been the state’s largest reservoir, although that is changing with global warming.  Areas to the west—the urban Bay Area and the Central Coast—as well as Central Valley agriculture and metropolitan Southern California, depend on precipitation that falls mostly in the the northern or eastern parts of the state or that is delivered to Southern California from the Colorado River.

Drought, multiple demands on scarce water resources, and reduction of groundwater resources are key challenges for California.

Lake Michigan Region (LMR) is an interleague organization (ILO) made up of 48 local Leagues and state Leagues of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. Their work includes education on stormwater and watersheds, toxic algal blooms that threaten drinking water and wildlife, and working to protect the Clean Water Act.

Upper Mississippi River Region (UMRR), an interleague organization (ILO) consisting of local leagues in the states of Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin located within the Upper Mississippi River Region. The first focus of the UMRR ILO is working to reduce nutrient pollution.

United States: Our U.S.-wide team is building off the work already underway. We have an excellent foundation, but we are just beginning to build our knowledge in the mid-Atlantic, and need further expertise for our team from the entire Gulf Coast, and Midwest.

The Water Team is looking at freshwater in the continental U.S. We also have the Oceans Team which is looking at sea level rise among other related issues. Together the two teams combine to look at coastal issues, like hurricanes, storm surges and coastal flooding.

Freshwater Uses Across the U.S.

Freshwater use in the United States was estimated to be about 322 billion gallons per day (Bgal/d) in 2015 which was 9 percent less than in 2010. But more of it came from groundwater. While surface-water withdrawals were down by 14 percent from 2010 to 2015, fresh groundwater withdrawals were up by about 8 percent in the same period. The bar chart below from the USGS shows 2015 uses of freshwater by state, moving from the West on the left, to the East on the right.

The obvious trend is that most water is used for irrigation (agriculture) in the West, and more for cooling of thermoelectric power plants as one moves east. In the 2010 to 2015 period, total withdrawals for thermal power plants decreased, but total irrigation increased.

Thermal power plants use water, including brackish or saline water, predominantly for cooling, sometimes returning a portion of that water to the source. The water-energy nexus is complex and important. Water is needed to produce and refine energy, and energy is needed to move water.

An interesting omission in the USGS analysis of water use is the water needed by nature – meadows, wildlife, forests, birds, fish. All living things need water.

Climate Impacts on Freshwater

The water cycle (or hydrologic cycle) is shown in the figure below. Warming of the atmosphere and ocean has profound effects on atmospheric water vapor concentrations, clouds, precipitation patterns, runoff and stream flow patterns.

As air gets warmer, it can hold more water vapor which can lead to more intense storms and flooding. Further, with warmer temperatures, more precipitation is falling as rain rather than snow.

In what seems like a strange converse, since warmer air can hold more water vapor, a “thirsty atmosphere” increases evaporation. Combined with changes in the jet stream, these elements are causing increasing drought conditions in the western U.S. This high evaporative demand, especially in summer and autumn, causes soils to lose moisture faster, vegetation to dry out, and air temperatures to increase, so wildfire, once started, can burn faster and hotter.

Sea level rise affects fresh groundwater resources in low lying coastal areas with an advance of saline groundwater (saltwater intrusion). For example, this is an increasing problem San Jose, California at the foot of San Francisco Bay.