While it is little publicized, there is an issue at hand that is more urgent than peak oil;  Peak Water.  All known life forms on this planet rely on water to live.  Unlike oil, we don’t think very much about our water supply because most of us have it pumped into our dwellings for little to no cost, but what we don’t know, will hurt us.  In the Chicago-Milwaukee area, despite bordering with Lake Michigan,groundwater levels have plunged up to 900 feet farther down in the Earth over the last half century or so.  Lake Powell, created by the building of the Glen Canyon Dam, as of last year has dropped to a mere 39% of full.  Speaking of the Glen Canyon  Hydroelectric Dam, it is also of note that coal, most natural gas, nuclear, hydroelectric, most biofuel, and solar thermal power plants also require massive amounts of fresh water to operate.  Even the gas you put in your car consumes water in its refining, totaling a phenomenal 1 to 2 billion gallons everyday to create America’s supply.  I’m assuming you’ve also heard about the damaging practice of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, which is very water intensive as well.  Groundwater is vital to our current methods of food production, which is one of the major consumers of this precious resource.  We use up so much of our freshwater on a continuous basis, it is calculated to be responsible for approximately 25% of all rise in sea levels from evaporation which later rains into the sea or from pumping wastewater directly into the ocean.  Depleting our groundwater/aquifers is compounded by one of its effects, as we pump out groundwater in areas near the sea, saltwater gets pulled in by gravity to balance the levels and contaminates much of the available freshwater we have left.

One of the most common responses to the water crisis is,”There’s plenty of water, we can always build more desalination plants.” People who don’t already rely on desalination for fresh water seldom realize just how expensive it is or how little flexibility it has to meet changing demands.  It is also important to remember that desalination plants can’t provide sufficient water to support freshwater production for use in power plants at a level which would make desalination even remotely sustainable.

While much of our water is taken out of the ground, we harvest a great deal out of our lakes and rivers.  This has deleterious impacts in addition to the waning of the water supply itself.  Since water is one of the most basic requirements for life on this planet, it has a tendency to have ecosystems build and design themselves around it.  When we take away the supplies to our wetlands, rivers, and lakes, all the other forms of life that depend on it suffer as well.  Not only do our supplies of water run low, the wetlands disappear and no longer filter our water for free , the fish die out because the water becomes toxic and the ecosystem balance is ruined, and so on.

There are many types of greywater systems to choose from.  You can choose how far you want to go and what type you desire.  You can get a top of the line system with a specialized filter and professional installation, have someone help you design an organic stylebiofilter using various types of aggregate, bacteria, and plants to filter the water as well.  There are some simpler plans that some homeowners may be able to make and install themselves, or if you rent you can even just collect your greywater in a bucket under the sink or connected to the washer and use it to water your plants when it’s full.  You could even go the extra step and connect its ouput back into the house for the toilet, bathing, and other uses that don’t require potable water.  Some businesses have even found that they can save a good deal of money by treating their own blackwater (water containing human and animal waste products), a few going so far as to pump water out of the local sewers so they don’t have to buy purified drinking water from the city for anything other than drinking, reducing their water consumption by as much as 90%!

Whatever you choose to do, it is important to recognize that we are using up our water supply at a very unsustainable rate.  We can stay ahead of a real crisis and change our ways now, or wait and pay the price when the proverbial blackwater hits the fan.

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