Bone dry, water poor

I just checked our outdoor humidity guage, which is registering 8%. And that's pretty dry.

If you wonder whether I've questioned the wisdom of living in Vegas, I have, and primarily because I just can't see the boom continuing. Lack of water will eventually limit growth, just as it will across much of the Southwest.

Wired has a great article entitled "Peak Water," a nod to the looming peak oil problem. The article has some surprises about water usage around the world. Who knew it took nearly 2,900 gallons of water to make a pair of jeans, for example.

Here's an excerpt:

This is not to say the world is running out of water. The same amount exists on Earth today as millions of years ago — roughly 360 quintillion gallons. It evaporates, coalesces in clouds, falls as rain, seeps into the earth, and emerges in springs to feed rivers and lakes, an endless hydrologic cycle ordained by immutable laws of chemistry. But 97 percent of it is in the oceans, where it's useless unless the salt can be removed — a process that consumes enormous quantities of energy. Water fit for drinking, irrigation, husbandry, and other human uses can't always be found where people need it, and it's heavy and expensive to transport. Like oil, water is not equitably distributed or respectful of political boundaries; about 50 percent of the world's freshwater lies in a half-dozen lucky countries.

Freshwater is the ultimate renewable resource, but humanity is extracting and polluting it faster than it can be replenished. Rampant economic growth — more homes, more businesses, more water-intensive products and processes, a rising standard of living — has simply outstripped the ready supply, especially in historically dry regions. Compounding the problem, the hydrologic cycle is growing less predictable as climate change alters established temperature patterns around the globe.

Thanks for the tip, Jack.

ON A VERY MUCH RELATED NOTE, here's an article from the New York Times about the pollution and climate impact that results from shipping food around the world. Since it's much easier to ship food than water, the global food trade is one way we deal with the problem of the inequitable distribution of fresh water. But it's also a result of the American consumer's desire for cheap food... and fresh produce in the dead of winter.