Drilling and Mining Endangers Western Water Supply
One in 12 American’s water supply comes from the Colorado River. Increased mining and drilling for oil, natural gas, and uranium on its shores is threatening that supply.
[Creative Commons photo by Wolfgang Staudt]
The areas along the river are already suffering from drought, and getting at the resources there uses and pollutes the precious remaining water. Research at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography estimates that the river could dry up in as little as 13 years.
Drilling and mining has increased in the name of energy independence and national security. According to Abrahm Lustgarten at Scientific American:
In the eight years George W. Bush has been in office, the Colorado River watershed has seen more oil and gas drilling than at any time in the past 25 years. Uranium claims have reached a 10-year high. Last week the departing administration auctioned off an additional 148,598 acres of federal land for gas drilling projects outside Moab, Utah.
As still more land is leased for drilling and a last-minute change in federal rules has paved the way for water-intensive oil shale mining, politicians and water managers are now being forced to ask which is more valuable: energy or water.
What about water security?
Part of the problem is how the river is managed. While the Bureau of Land Management, part of the Department of the Interior, gives out leases for the land, it’s the EPA that’s responsible for making sure companies adhere to environmental guidelines. There are already fears of uranium contamination in the river from mills that closed over 20 years ago.
In our haste to secure domestic energy sources, we are endangering our most important natural resource. Jeffrey Kightlinger, General Manager for the Metropolitan Water District who manages the water supply for Los Angeles and San Diego, summed it up well: “We have other sources of power. We don’t have other sources of water.”
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About the Author
Becky Striepe Hi there! I'm Becky Striepe, a green crafter and vegan foodie living in Atlanta, Georgia with my husband and two cats. My mission is to make eco-friendly crafts and vegan food accessible to anyone who wants to give them a go. If you like my work, you can also find me on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.
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