The Big Thirst, page 46
One well-regarded source puts the 2010 population of urban Delhi at 23.2 million, ranking it fifth. According to City Population, which includes a list of adjacent areas encompassed in its population calculation, the top 10 metropolitan areas are
1. Tokyo, Japan
34.0 million
2. Guangzhou, China
24.2 million
3. Seoul, South Korea
24.2 million
4. Mexico City, Mexico
23.4 million
5. Delhi, India
23.2 million
6. Mumbai, India
22.8 million
7. New York, U.S.
22.2 million
8. São Paulo, Brazil
20.9 million
9. Manila, Philippines
19.6 million
10. Shanghai, China
18.4 million
Thomas Brinkhoff, “The Principal Agglomerations of the World,” City Population. http://www.citypopulation.de/world/Agglomerations.html.
34. Garima Sharma, N. K. Mehra, R. Kumar, “Biodegradation of Wastewater of Najafgarh Drain, Delhi Using Autochthonous Microbial Consortia,” Journal of Environmental Biology, October 2002, vol. 23 no. 4, pp. 365–71. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12674375.
Sharma et al. report the flow from the first enormous drain into the Yamuna as 1,668 million liters a day—441 million gallons a day, or 1 million gallons every 3.25 minutes.
35. “State of Pollution in the Yamuna,” Centre for Science and Environment, May 2009, p. 8 (PDF). http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/State%20of%20the%20Yamuno_0.pdf.
This is a clear explanation of the U.S. EPA E. coli standards from the Willamette Riverkeeper:
“E. coli Monitoring,” Willamette Riverkeeper. http://www.willamette-riverkeeper.org/programs/ecoli/e_colimain.htm.
36. The number of buses and auto rickshaws in Delhi comes from a 2007 study of the CNG fuel conversion, for EMBARQ, an NGO focused on environmentally sustainable urban transportation:
Monica Bansal, “Clean It Up, Don’t Throw It Away: Greening Delhi’s Para-transit,” EMBARQ, World Resources Institute, Washington, DC, 2007 (PDF). http://www.embarq.org/sites/default/files/Monica_Bansal_Delhi_Paratransit.pdf.
The number of taxis in New York City:
Annual Report 2009, New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, p. 9 (PDF). http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc/downloads/pdf/tlc_annual_report_2009.pdf.
37. Vijay Singh, “Top Celebs, VIPs Get Notices from Navi Mumbai Cess Dept,” Times of India, January 25, 2010. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/Top-celebs-VIPs-get-notices-from-Navi-Mumbai-cess-dept/articleshow/5496470.cms.
9. IT’S WATER. OF COURSE IT’S FREE
1. Many hotels provide their own house brand of bottled water, as if a half-liter bottle of water with the Ritz-Carlton lion-crest logo on it somehow confers a richer hotel experience, or a richer water experience.
The most exotic version of this I’ve ever encountered was at the Hilton Hotel in Clear Lake, Texas, down the street from NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Years before water was actually discovered on the Moon, the Hilton was offering “Luna” water, with a crescent moon logo, a beautiful blue glass bottle, and the story of the Clear Lake Hilton on the back. (The hotel’s restaurant is named Luna.) “Luna” water costs $8 for a one-liter bottle and, as of summer 2010, was still for sale at the Hilton Clear Lake.
2. Starwood Four Points hotels explains free bottled water in hotel rooms here. http://www.starwoodhotels.com/fourpoints/index.html#/quad1/water/.
3. The average U.S. monthly water bill—just water, not including sewer service—has been hard to calculate, but the American Water Works Association has used usage and fee surveys to estimate that it is about $34 per household.
The average price of 1,000 gallons of tap water for residential customers in the U.S. is $3.24, according to the 2008 AWWA survey—10 gallons of water costs about 3 cents.
If you flush a 3-gallon-per-flush toilet 100 times, you’ve used 300 gallons of water—97 cents’ worth in the typical U.S. home.
For comparison, if you wanted to flush the toilet once with bottled water, you’d need a full 24-pack of Deer Park half-liters (3 gallons). One flush would cost you at least $4, as opposed to the single penny a typical flush costs.
Water in other developed countries is more expensive than in the U.S., although still inexpensive compared with either bottled water or, say, cell phone service.
In Sydney, Australia, in the midst of that nation’s water crisis, municipal water cost homeowners A$18.86 (US$16.97) for 1,000 gallons, five times what it cost in the U.S. A single U.S. penny would still buy four half-liter bottles of water.
In Germany, the average price of water was 6.99 euros (US$8.92) for 1,000 gallons. A single U.S. penny would buy eight half-liter bottles of water.
Thames Water has 8.5 million water customers, out of a total UK population in 2010 of 61 million people—14 percent of the population. The company posts its average water bills here:
“Our Business: Facts and Figures,” Thames Water. http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/corp/hs.xsl/4625.htm.
4. Municipal water rates are accessible for most places online. You just need to be careful about units of water being measured. Some utilities provide rates per 1,000 gallons; some use cubic feet (1 cubic foot = 7.48 gallons); some use an industry unit, CCF, that is, cost per 100 cubic feet (748 gallons).
All rates are current as of July 1, 2010.
The Las Vegas Valley Water Authority provided the average bill, at $23.62 per month.
The LVVWA has an online bill calculator that estimates your bill, based on water consumption. http://www.lvvwd.com/apps/rate_calculator/index.cfml.
Water rates for Atlanta come from the city of Atlanta’s water department Web site, which also includes an online bill calculator. http://www.atlantawatershed.org/billcalculator.
The water rates for “suburban Philadelphia” are for my own home in Wyncote, PA, where we are customers of the company Aqua American, and the numbers come from our bills.
5. The Imperial Valley, in Imperial County, is the 11th most productive agricultural producing county in the U.S., and the 10th most productive in California.
2007 Census of Agriculture: County Profile: Imperial County, California. National Agricultural Statistical Service, USDA (PDF). http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2007/Online_Highlights/County_Profiles/California/cp06025.pdf.
6. How do we know the water for a 3-pound bag of carrots from the Imperial Valley cost the farmer 1 penny?
The math works like this—references are at the end of the note.
Typical productivity of carrot farmers is 15 tons (30,000 pounds) per acre.
The Imperial Irrigation District reports that the district delivered 2.5 million acre-feet of water to its farmers in 2008, and that the district’s farmers irrigate about 430,000 acres of farmland: 6 acre-feet of irrigation water for each acre of farmland.
The IID charges $19 per acre-foot, so the water for one acre of carrots costs $114.
Which means that the water to grow 30,000 pounds of carrots costs $114, which is one penny for three pounds.
Carrot farm productivity:
Joe Nuñez et al., “Carrot Production in California,” Vegetable Production Series, UC Vegetable Research & Information Center, p. 1 (PDF). http://ucanr.org/freepubs/docs/7226.pdf.
Water per acre in the Imperial Valley:
2005 Annual Water Report, Imperial Irrigation District, p. 32 (PDF). http://www.iid.com/Media/2005IIDWaterAnnualReport.pdf.
2008 Annual Report, Imperial Irrigation District, p. 21 (PDF). http://www.iid.com/Media/iid_annual_08_web.pdf.
Water rates in 2010 for Imperial Valley farmers were $19 an acre-foot. Those rates are set to rise to $20 an acre-foot in 2011.
7. As noted above, the IID reports that the district delivered 2.5 million acre-feet of water to its farmers in 2008, and that the district’s farmers irrigate about 430,000 acres of farmland: 6 feet of irrigation water for each acre of farmland.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority reports that total water demand for Clark County, Nevada, is 553,000 acre-feet of water.
Water Resource Plan 09, Southern Nevada Water Authority, 2009, p. 41 (PDF). http://www.snwa.com/html/wr_resource_plan.html.
Clark County is 5.1 million acres (8,012 square miles). http://www.accessclarkcounty.com/depts/public_communications/pages/About_clark_county.aspx.
So the county uses 0.1 acre-foot of water per acre of land per year.
The farmland uses 60 times as much water per acre as the resort land does.
8. Total value of agricultural products produced in Imperial County:
2009 Annual Agricultural Crop and Livestock Report for Imperial County Agriculture, Imperial Valley Agricultural Commissioner, June 2010, p. 1 (PDF). http://imperialcounty.net/ag/Crop%20&%20Livestock%20Reports/Crop%20&%20Livestock%20Report%202009.pdf.
In 2009, carrots produced for routine consumption (as opposed to for processing into other foods or for feed) were worth $54.6 million, and Imperial County farmers grew 242 million pounds, three-quarters of a pound of carrots for every person in the country, just from Imperial County (p. 4).
Total gaming revenue in Las Vegas is from the University of Nevada / Las Vegas Center for Business and Economic Research.
“Historical Economic Data for Metropolitan Las Vegas,” Center for Business and Economic Research, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2010. http://cber.unlv.edu/snoutlk.html.
9. Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, ed. Edwin Cannan (New York: Modern Library, 1965), p. 28.
10. All the price comparisons for 1912, 1963, and 2010 use the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics online comparative “buying power” calculator. http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl.
The average spending on alcohol in 1960 comes from:
100 Years of U.S. Consumer Spending, 1960–61, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2006, p. 32 (PDF). http://www.bls.gov/opub/uscs/1960-61.pdf.
The complete 100 Years of U.S. Consumer Spending is available here (PDF). http://www.bls.gov/opub/uscs/report991.pdf.
The cost of telephone service in 1963 is from:
“Historical Charges for Individual Residence Telephone Service,” Appendix B-5, in Local Telephone Rates: Issues and Alternatives, staff working paper, Congressional Budget Office, January 1984, table B-3 (PDF). http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/109xx/doc10952/84doc01b.pdf.
The $5.65 for a single telephone line in 1963 equates to a cost of $40 a month today.
11. The Indianapolis resident who said she gets nothing for her water rates is quoted in:
Brendan O’Shaughnessy, “Fountain of Debt May Soak Water Users,” Indianapolis Star, April 12, 2009.
The Indianapolis resident who said she pays “hellacious water rates” is quoted in: Brendan O’Shaughnessy, “Bond Woes Could Soak Indy Water Users,” Indianapolis Star, February 20, 2009.
12. The El Dorado Irrigation District water rate information is from:
El Dorado Irrigation District Proposed Rate Increase—Key Issues, El Dorado Irrigation District, January 2010 (PDF). http://www.eid.org/doc_lib/02_dist_info/2010_rate_increase_fact_sheet.pdf.
John Fraser, “Viewpoints: El Dorado Water Board Trying to Make Up for Past Neglect,” Sacramento Bee, February 4, 2010. http://www.sacbee.com/2010/02/04/2511690/el-dorado-water-board-trying.html.
13. Washington, DC, rate increase information:
“DC WASA Board Approves 2011 Budget, Funding Critical Infrastructure and Environmental Protection,” news release, District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, February 4, 2010. http://www.dcwater.com/site_archive/news/press_release430.cfm.
Charles Duhigg, “Saving U.S. Water and Sewer Systems Would Be Costly,” New York Times, March 14, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/us/15water.html.
14. Plato, “Euthydemus,” trans. Benjamin Jowett, Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1598/1598-h/1598-h.htm.
15. “Household TV Trends Holding Steady: Nielsen’s Economic Study 2008,” Nielsen-Wire, Nielsen Company, February 24, 2009. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/media_entertainment/household-tv-trends-holding-steady-nielsen’s-economic-study-2008/.
16. For those skeptical that it is accepted wisdom that water use is inelastic in terms of price, below is a 2009 study from the California Energy Commission and the California Environmental Protection Agency.
The paper reviews the literature on the impact of price on water consumption, as well as doing its own analysis of California consumption and price data. It has fairly technical math, but here’s one summary sentence, p. 4: “Studies of the impact of water price on residential water use suggest that water use is price inelastic … that a given percent change in water price elicits a relatively small change in water use.”
And on p. 5: “Most studies suggest that water demand is inelastic.”
Larry Dale et al., Price Impact on the Demand for Water and Energy in California Residences, California Climate Change Center, August 2009. http://www.energy.ca.gov/2009publications/CEC-500-2009-032/CEC-500-2009-032-F.PDF.
17. This article in Water Efficiency, a trade journal, says that water utilities use 3 percent of the electricity generated in the U.S.:
David Engle, “Controlling the Power,” Water Efficiency, April 1, 2008, p. 1. http://www.waterefficiency.net/elements-2009/water-agency-costs.aspx.
This report from the California Energy Commission says 20 percent of the electricity used in the state goes to move and treat water:
Water Supply-Related Electricity Demand in California, Water and Energy Consulting and the Demand Response Research Center, California Energy Commission, November 2007, p. 3. (PDF). http://www.energy.ca.gov/2007publications/CEC-500-2007-114/CEC-500-2007-114.PDF.
The 2007 report below, from the Water Research Foundation, analyzing electricity use by U.S. water utilities, says water utilities are “the largest single user of electricity in the United States” (p. 7).
The report goes on to say that globally, water pumping and treatment consume 3 percent of total electricity generated worldwide; if agricultural uses are included, moving water consumes 7 percent of all electricity generated (p. 8).
Risks and Benefits of Energy Management for Drinking Water Utilities, Water Research Foundation, 2008. http://www.waterresearchfoundation.org/research/TopicsandProjects/execSum/PDFReports/91200.pdf.
The total number of power plants in the U.S. is 5,400, of which 3 percent is 162.
Frequently Asked Questions—Electricity, U.S. Energy Information Administration. http://www.eia.doe.gov/ask/electricity_faqs.asp.
18. The water rates for Santa Fe, New Mexico, are here:
“Rate Schedule 1A,” March 1, 2009, Sangre de Cristo Water Division, City of Santa Fe. http://www.santafenm.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DID=5269.
19. Thames Water is in the midst of a major campaign to install water meters, with the goal of having 50 percent of London-area residences on water meters by 2015.
“Your Water, Your Future,” news release, Thames Water, May 7, 2008. http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/corp/hs.xsl/6372.htm.
The statistic that just 22 percent of properties in Thames Water’s service area have meters comes from here:
“Lower Charges on the Way for Thousands of Customers,” news release, Thames Water, February 5, 2008. http://www.thameswater.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/corp/hs.xsl/4367.htm.
20. Mike Young has a Web site loaded with links to articles and presentations about water, economics, and his “robust water system.”
Mike Young and Jim McColl, “Water Droplets.” http://www.myoung.net.au/water/index.php.
An accessible explanation of his framework for allocating water is:
Young and McColl, “A Future-Proofed Basin,” University of Adelaide, 2008 (PDF). http://www.myoung.net.au/water/publications/A_future-proofed_Basin.pdf.
21. This 2010 New York Times story says that the flow of the Shatt al Arab is no longer enough to keep out salt water from the Persian Gulf, and that salt water has intruded almost 100 miles upriver from the ocean, devastating everything from fruit groves and fresh-water fisheries to drinking-water supplies.
Steven Lee Myers, “Vital River Is Withering, and Iraq Has No Answer,” New York Times, June 12, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/science/earth/13shatt.htm.
22. The Cleveland Plain Dealer’s coverage of the missing water fountains at the Q Arena is archived here:
Glenn Baird, “Cleveland Cavaliers Will Reinstall Water Fountains at the Q to Comply With State Building Code,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, February 26, 2010. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/02/cleveland_cavaliers_will_reins.html.
The Cavaliers’ statement about the water fountain removal is here:
“Quicken Loans Arena Water Update,” Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA.com. http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/qarena_100210.html.
The Cavaliers’ 2009–2010 schedule, showing 29 home games through the end of February 2010, is here:
“Cavaliers Schedule & Results,” Cleveland Cavaliers, NBA.com. http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/schedule.
23. The basic calculation for water required to grow food is that 1 calorie of food energy requires 1 liter of water to produce. So a daily 2,000-calorie diet requires 2,000 liters (528 gallons) of water to produce. See this 2007 report on water and food from the International Water Management Institute (p. 5):
David Molden, ed., Water for Food, Water for Life, International Water Management Institute, 2007 (PDF). http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Assessment/files_new/synthesis/Summary_SynthesisBook.pdf.
10. THE FATE OF WATER
1. It is hard to imagine geysers of water and ice crystals shooting from the surface of a moon with such force that they go out hundreds of miles, straight out into space.
Scientists haven’t figured out what is driving the geysers on Enceladus. The moon is just 311 miles in diameter—meaning that the circumference around its equator is 977 miles. The circumference of our own Moon is 6,786 miles; the circumference of Saturn, which Enceladus orbits, is 235,297 miles.
