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FROM THE FIELD
December 2007
Water, Droughts & Kitchen Equipment
Everywhere you go these days, people around the world are coming to grips with concepts such as "carbon footprint," "sustainability," "green building" and so on. We've got huge environmental issues to deal with. But what part of your environmental strategy is most urgent?
Hint: If you're not scrambling for ways to save water in your steamers, icemakers, warewashers and other water-using equipment, you'd better get on it.
Water shortages are looming larger than most of us realize. And we're not just talking about the kinds of shortages that come from poor water management, overpopulation and pollution, although they all contribute.
Drought data from around the world are pretty alarming. Sure, dry periods come and go, and always have. But chronic, persistent drought appears to be on the rise, according to climatologists from nearly everywhere. You've probably read news stories and scientific articles here and there, but put them together, and the picture demands attention.
In China, for example, prolonged lack of rain is one reason the Gobi Desert is expanding at an alarming rate—by 900 to upward of 1,200 square miles per year, according to various estimates.
Australia, meanwhile, has been laboring under a widespread drought for a decade now, the worst there in a century. Newspapers and business publications across that country report water shortages impacting lifestyles and economics. Wine, wood and paper producers are among those industries paring back expansion plans and profit forecasts.
Europe, too, has seen drought this year in the Netherlands, Greece and Romania, and EU Ministers last month met in Ireland to discuss drought trends and water-management strategies.
Here in the United States, the U.S. Government Accountability Office in 2003 released a report that said water authorities in 36 states were expecting shortages within 10 years.
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"Start putting all the drought reports together, and the picture demands urgent attention."
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It appears the GAO and state officials were on target. The U.S. Drought Monitor, produced by the University of Nebraska in cooperation with several federal agencies including the National Climatic Data Center, reported in November more than half the country was experiencing some level of drought. Figures for the contiguous 48 states were even higher, just short of 58%. You can check a color-coded map at www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html.
Most of the affected areas, of course, are not facing emergencies at this point. But some are. Of the five levels of drought defined by experts, the two most severe categories—"extreme" and "exceptional"—tend to fluctuate from about 10% to 20% of drought areas.
Which may or may not sound like a lot, until you consider where they are. The populous and growing Southeast for 18 months has been undergoing the worst drought it's seen in more than 100 years. Some authorities last month predicted Atlanta, with an area population of around 5 million, could run out of water as early as first-quarter 2008 if rain doesn't come. Lake Lanier, a major water source for the region, was down 17' from normal levels. Area rainfall, normally about 50" per year, was running closer to 33".
Some 150 miles to the northwest, 40 miles west of Chattanooga, Tenn., the small town of Orme, Tenn., has already run bone dry. The local fire truck delivers water from another town, and Orme runs water only a couple hours a night for cooking, washing, etc.
Over in the Southwest, Arizona, with Phoenix and Tucson metro populations totaling 4.6 million, is entering its second decade of varying degrees of drought, which makes one wonder what constitutes a drought in an area that's normally desert anyway. Across the state border, in Southern California, meanwhile, 24 million people are enduring a drought that's currently rated "extreme." The river that both areas depend on, the Colorado, is shrinking every year.
So the challenge is on. Many of you have locations that are already on rationing in one area or another, and if you don't, you soon might. Fortunately, suppliers have been responding. Low-flow spray heads, connectionless steamers, water-sipping warewashers and more are hitting the market, and the rush is on. Check them out. Shop vigorously. Ask questions. Push.
And watch the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program. Energy Star has announced it'll be moving full-speed into water-efficiency standards in the months ahead.
Brian Ward
Chief Editor
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