As the West’s water resources become stretched ever thinner, the mentality of zero-sum gain becomes more entrenched. People downstream see any and all activity having to do with water upstream of them as a threat. This does not need to be so, especially in the case of rainwater harvesting. As with all resources, water’s usefulness not only depends on its quantity but also upon the efficiency by which it is used. When rainwater is harvested from a roof the water can be directed or stored locally. This is far more efficient than letting the water run downstream evaporating along the way only to be sent back up a chain of leaky pipes using massive amounts of energy to the place the water first fell. If consumers downstream can see that for every gallon of water harvested from a roof it is one less gallon harvested from their river hopefully places like Colorado revise their policy regarding our most important resource.
When the land starts to subside because you’ve pulled so much water from beneath your feet, it might be time to consider additional options. As neighbor races neighbor chasing water further into the earth, the only winner seems to be the one selling the means to get there. This is a great article from the New York Times that talks about what happens when a precious resource is unregulated.
The banks of the Santa Fe River were swelling with water and people. It was raining (again!) and the City Different’s children’s fishing derby had lured a quietly effervescing crowd of anglers. If they came fishing for food, fun, and sport, they got all three.