Water Shortages are Avoidable, Book Argues

Review of Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What To Do About It, by Robert Glennon (Island Press, 2009), 432 pages, ISBN-13: 978-1597264365

A few years ago I reviewed Robert Glennon’s previous book, Water Follies: Groundwater Pumping and the Fate of America’s Fresh Waters.  I praised Glennon’s detailed descriptions of multiple groundwater problems around the nation, but I disagreed with most of his conclusions.

Glennon is a liberal, and I am a libertarian, so that would be expected. But in this book I can state I agree with 90 percent of his conclusions about the problems and solutions to America’s water supply problems.

A New Standard-Setter
Many years ago the book Cadillac Desert, by Mark Reiser, took the water-concerned public by storm, and it has been considered the best description of the American West’s water problems ever written. But Unquenchable will easily replace all others as the most important book on water policy.

Whether he is recounting water problems in Las Vegas, Atlanta, South Carolina, Idaho, Montana, or Arizona, the depth and detail of Glennon’s research are both comprehensive and fascinating. The book is truly a page-turner.

I’ll admit I am prejudiced. In 1954 I was walking down the street in college one April day when I spied a copy of U.S. News & World Report on a newsstand, with the cover headline, “Is the U.S. Running Out of Water?” I bought it, read it, changed my major, and went on to get the nation’s first Ph.D. in groundwater hydrology.

Warming Alarmism
But before I give you the excellent highlights of this book, I must warn you: Glennon has been totally taken in by the global warming alarmists, and I have yet to succeed in bringing him into the light. He also spends most of a chapter promoting waterless toilets, which the nation will never embrace. But no one is perfect.

Glennon’s retelling of the history of Las Vegas water is alone worth the price of the book. He recounts the amazing story of casino impresario Steve Wynn, the man most responsible for the city’s growth over the past 30 years. I have met Steve and have worked with people in efforts to persuade Steve to promote construction of very deep wells into some of Nevada’s fracture systems which transmit large quantities of water from megawatersheds.

Glennon, by contrast, tells the story from the point of view of Pat Mulroy, the general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, whom he calls “an anomaly in the good-old-boy water world.” Mulroy has done an excellent job against all odds, but more needs to be done.

Unwise Pricing
Glennon quotes Ben Franklin as saying, “When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.” Yet Glennon correctly points out the United States is blessed with plenty of water. The book details an appalling number of occasions when government policy unnecessarily created water problems by  providing it at a fraction of its actual cost.

In addition, the price structure of water often does not differentiate between those who waste huge amounts of water and those who use it frugally. In many areas water is sold in limitless quantities for a flat rate.

Glennon describes the vast quantities of water required to produce ethanol, and compares that to the amount required for various types of products and power generation. He brilliantly points out water does not necessarily flow toward its most efficient use. For instance, one ton of alfalfa requires 135,000 gallons of water and sells for $110, while a $400 microprocessor chip requires 10 gallons of water to produce.

In other words each acre foot of water (365,000 gallons) used to grow alfalfa generates $264 while the same acre foot generates $13 million when used in chip production.

Balanced, Well-Told Stories
Glennon is a movie buff and frequently uses movies to help users understand this often-complex subject, as when he writes about Robert Redford’s film The Malagro Beanfield War.

Glennon offers a well-balanced discussion of whether water should be a public or private good. Although he is a liberal, his understanding of capitalism and free markets is exceptional and on point. He clearly favors a free market, but he argues we cannot have a truly free market given political realities.

Similarly, while recognizing the insanity in how some water is allocated and used in agriculture, Glennon is a strong proponent of the importance of our nation’s farms and the value of being self-sufficient in food production.

Glennon ultimately offers a long list of solutions to our nation’s water problems, which, as an optimist, I am confident will be carried out before water shortages become a national crisis rather than a series of local crises. Such solutions include more frequent use of price signals, creating marked incentives, requiring developers to pay their own way, separating storm water from sewer water, removing barriers to water transfers, and better water metering.

If you are even remotely interested in how our nation provides water for human uses, or just enjoy reading and learning from well-written nonfiction books, Unquenchable will not disappoint.

Jay Lehr, PhD. (lehr@heartland.org) is science director of The Heartland Institute.