Peter Gleick is the President of the Pacific Institute out of Oakland, California. The Pacific Institute is a non-partisan research group that does policy analysis on water issues, climate change, sustainable development etc. They make policy recommendations to municipalities of California and ultimately to the state. The President, Gleick, is also a blogger and wrote a highly informative piece today on population and water. Please read his post.
In brief summary, his main points are the following:
-as populations grow, the water policy approach should be demand focused, not supply. For example, using water pricing and by-laws for controlling demand versus building desalination plants and reservoirs to expand water capacity
-Technology has made water use more efficient, however this will not be enough to deal with drastic population increases
-water use per capita has decreased since the 1970s.... do not let this deceive you. It has gone done not necessarily because of greater conservation efforts, but because the population has increased making overall water supply less per capita
To read more, check out the post.
Key message: Water will be the indispensable resource of the 21st century. Population challenges will only make it more precious.
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