Water shortages threaten the American West lifestyle
Institute of the Environment and Sustainability Director Glen MacDonald is quoted in a Miller-McCune magazine article about water shortages in the western United States.
Aerial view of the Colombia River. Photo credit: Flickr, Nemo's great uncle.While not every dire prediction has come true, amid swimming pools and thirsty crops, the hard truth remains that the American West cannot maintain its spendthrift ways of using fresh water.
Glen MacDonald is the director of the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and an international expert on the effects of climate change and drought. He says that the best climate models that exist predict the 21st century is likely to be increasingly arid if greenhouse gases increase. But discounting that, MacDonald says we can expect more severe and longer-lasting droughts than occurred in the 20th century.
“It all adds up to the fact that we have to do some very, very serious long-range water resource planning,” he says.
To read the full article by Arnie Cooper click here.
Published: Monday, May 16, 2011
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