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Health & Fitness

Water, Water, Everywhere? Not Always!

While we have water in America, we had better be aware it is even more precious than oil. Here are some factors to consider.

In my travels around the United States and China, I have been exposed to many great sources of water. 

Traveling through the South Pacific Ocean on a troopship proved to me the fact that 70 percent of the Earth's surface is covered with water, but deeper studies show that only 3/10th of 1 percent of all the world's supply of water is usable.

Recent news reports from Niagara Falls to our local Meramec River drownings and out to Yosemite Falls where three people got swept away with a more than 300 feet drop, and the flooding around the mighty Missouri-Mississippi River system, show the extent of water here in the United States.

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A great supply of water here, perhaps 20 percent of our supply, is contained in the Great Lakes and four of these drain and flow over Niagara Falls. I have seen figures that during the peak season, more than 100,000 cubic feet or 3,000 tons, of water go over these falls each second.

Snow pack in the Rocky Mountains leads to severe flooding on the Missouri complex and provides the water to supply Boulder Dam and the Redwood Forests. I have studied the aqueduct systems that move this much needed item to the dry Southern California and other desert regions of the West.

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But other regions of the Southland, from New Mexico through Texas to Florida, are suffering severe shortage and droughts today, causing great damage to crops and livestock in the area. In other nations, such as the horn of Africa, they have had no rain for three years, and millions of people will starve because of that.

Locally, in spite of our higher-than-average temperatures recently, our grass has not been affected as we had a carryover of deep moisture from which plants draw.

But the Ogallala aquifer, a tract of 174,000 square miles from South Dakota to Texas, covering parts of eight states is another treasure. I look down from my plane on each trip west to see the green circles showing the irrigation water's  effect, as it is pumped and used by center point irrigation systems. So much is being used, the level of overall water is being reduced very much.

So with continued population growth across the world, perhaps wars in the future will be fought to obtain water.

In earlier political campaigns, I stressed the importance of the Missouri River as the Ogallala is used up, and a system of aqueducts might be used to supply the present irrigation systems of the aquifer. 

According the World Health Organization, water scarcity affects one in three people, and will only get worse as needs rise with population growth.  In your home you probably use from 100 to 150 gallons per day, but that does not include the water used to provide the food you eat or the clothes you wear.

I feel fortunate to have been able to see most of the great water facilities in the United States, and am amazed how citizens take the great resource for granted by fouling up our streams. I have put in many hours, keeping the river outlets made by our Department of Conservation cleared. 

In my study of the water situation, I was happy to learn that the state of Maine is known widely for its supply of water, replenished annually by about 42 inches of moisture from rain and snow. When I drove through there, I was astonished to see how high the snow flags were above the ground as they got ready for winter.

So while we await a rainy spell to break this summer heat, be thankful we still have water to drink and bathe in! Take care of it as best you can.

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