Clean Water Advocacy - Newsroom - AMSA in the News
Water Quantity Seen as Pressing Issue,
Advocate, Government Officials Agree
BOSTON--Water quantity is going to become as much of a Clean Water Act issue
as water quality as more people move to regions where natural resources are
already stressed, an environmental advocate and state and local officials said
July 17.
Increased development activities, particularly in coastal areas, mean less
impervious surface area for rain to seep into the ground and recharge
groundwater that feeds many rivers, Robert Zimmerman, executive director of the
Charles River Watershed Association, said.
He spoke at a meeting of the Association of Metropolitan Sewerage Agencies.
Regional planning, he said, should look beyond demographics and transportation
corridors and focus on how to "protect areas that sustain us and learn to build
around them."
The Charles River, which is 80 miles long and flows through Boston, is fed
largely from groundwater, he said. As communities spring up outside the city but
within the river's watershed, the amount of impervious surface area is expected
to increase significantly, which will mean less water is available for recharge.
In addition, it means more water withdrawals, he said.
"We are dewatering Eastern Massachusetts," he said. Increased development also
means sewer systems have to be expanded, which may mean wastewater and
stormwater are carried off to other locations for treatment, he said.
Margaret Nellor, assistant department head for technical services at the Los
Angeles County Sanitation District, said she thinks water quantity will soon
take precedence over water quality as the driver for water programs because the
population is moving to areas that are more "stressed" in terms of water
resources. In addition, people are living longer.
"This will create a conflict between land use and water quality," she predicted.
Zimmerman blamed current municipal engineering practices for the "dewatering"
crisis. "Rainwater is treated as a liability," he said, adding that larger pipes
and expanded storage facilities are built to address contamination of rivers,
lakes, and streams from stormwater runoff.
His organization and other groups have been trying to work with cities to
improve their management of resources including development of alternatives that
would allow wastewater or stormwater to be returned to the ground.
At the residential level, options include systems to capture runoff from roofs
and store it until it can be used to water lawns or wash cars.
Cynthia Giles, assistant commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of
Environmental Protection, said water use increases 200 percent to 300 percent in
the summer because of people watering their lawns. She agreed that new land use
approaches are needed, including low-impact development and designs that reduce
water use.
Wastewater management, water supply issues, and land use management are too
often not addressed in a coordinated way, she said. Instead, separate agencies
or divisions within agencies are focused on those issues without considering
their important relationship. "You can't just focus on one," Giles said.
Nellor predicted that as planners begin to understand the link, treatment
systems for stormwater and wastewater will become more decentralized, and home
water distribution systems will be separated to create a dedicated line for
cooking and showering, and a separate line for other uses, such as watering
lawns and washing cars.
She also said municipalities will become more involved in wastewater and
stormwater reclamation.