Water woes

Thanks to ChatGPT for the title suggestion

Growing up, I lived in a house in the country with an old and shallow well. Forty feet deep type of shallow. Eventually, we had a new well dug (800 feet), but we would still have to be careful not to run it dry. During droughts we stopped watering the gardens (which is when they needed it!) and were even more careful about water usage. As a result, today I take fast showers, turn the faucet off when I’m brushing my teeth, and am always cognizant of droughts.

In St. Louis we were on city water, which was great. And with the city at the junction of the Mighty Mississippi and the Missouri rivers, I was a lot more confident in long-term water availability. That’s something I’m very attuned to - how global climate change will affect reservoirs and aquafers.

Global climate change impacts where rain falls. Some places will get more than they are used to. And many will get less. After a lot of amateur research, it seems clear to me that parts of this world are simply going to run out of water. Changes and innovations may slow the loss, but as of now, some folks in the know are estimating only 50 more years of water for parts of the Southwest.

Do you remember the water scarcity scare in Cape Town, South Africa? It was the first major city to face a water crisis. During the worst of the 2017 - 2018 drought, Cape Town announced when Day Zero would be - the date that there would be no municipal water. People would have to queue to get water - 6.6 gallons of water per person per day. To put that in context, in case you’re not someone who measures your water usage, the average American uses 100 or more gallons a day. At one point, Day Zero was under 90 days.

More recently there have been towns scattered throughout the southwest United States that are almost out of water, and others that have run out. Magdalena, AZ; Teviston, CA; Coalinga, CA; Rio Verde Foothills, AZ; Caney, KS. I could go on, but you get the idea. Those folks are not getting water primarily because the aquafers are drying up.

But what about the Colorado River? Sure tons of people get water from that important river. So do all the farmers in California, the largest producer of much of the US’s food. A 23-year drought¹ has reduced this waterway to a shell of its former self. It’s listed as the most endangered river in the world.

I think a lot about the many changes we will see as the climate continues to react to how we’ve treated this amazing world God gifted us with. It’s pretty much a done deal that at some point the southwest will run out of water. Which makes you think: Where are the people who live there now going to go? That’s a lot of people. Let’s assume they all head north. How are housing stock, infrastructure, government programs going to handle such a massive influx of people? It’s also a lot of valuable cropland that is going to go fallow. Where is the rest of the United States going to get its food?

Now, the funny thing is that I have all my life had people say that I’m too Pollyanna - looking on the positive all the time. So it feels a little weird to be talking doom and gloom!

So how does Portugal stack up here?²

When we first arrived in summer of 2022, Europe experienced a significant drought. Hunger stones³ were popping up all over. It was said to be the worst drought in 500 years. Oof.

Europe as a whole is experiencing faster climate change than other areas of the planet. Tip for those of you weighing Spain vs. Portugal: Spain is not the place to be. As small a country as Portugal is, there are distinct zones of dryer and wetter areas. Want sun and hot and no rain? The south is for you. Want cool and wet? The north has got you covered. We originally were looking in the north. While we first planted ourselves in Lisbon, we were assuming we would end up in the north precisely to try to hedge our bets on long-term water availability. Then we actually went to the north in the winter and ran screaming back to Lisbon. Cold + wet = miserable, for us.

Portugal’s share of that historic drought was uneven. Here we have the level of drought for August and September 2023. Thanks to https://www.sulinformacao.pt/en/2023/10/algarve-baixo-alentejo-estao-em-seca-severa-e-com-pouca-agua-no-solo/ for the maps.

Recently I saw in the news that the Algarve asked demanded that the north of the country send their water to them, via a “water highway.” The North said, um, no. The Algarve is also desperate for another desalinization plant (they already have one under construction) to be built. The European Union has a Water Resilience Plan, and expects its member nations to follow it.⁴ The topic is more frequently discussed and many different measures are being considered. Demand for action - strategic action - is increasing.

How this plays out is anyone’s guess. We gambled that being in Lisbon would be between the two extremes, water wise. Time will tell.

There is hope; plans are afoot. Portugal can do a lot to reduce water usage by updating its infrastructure so less water is wasted. Growers in the Algarve will likely switch to crops that don’t require heavy, year-round water usage. Many technological innovations are being researched here.

I’ll leave you with one example that some US cities, including LA, are trying:

That’s all for now.

Love from Lisbon,

Amy

1. In 2022, California’s drought was the worst in 1,200 years.

2. When looking up this information, it’s important to remember that what date the information was published matters a great deal, as climate change models seem to be doing one thing: rapidly becoming outdated by new and even scarier studies and models.

Finding reputable and easily understandable information on Portugal’s water situation is not quite as easy. First, it’s a smaller country. There are reports on Europe and America and…. It’s sort of like finding specific current and future water stress information for just one of the U.S.’s states. Plus, it’s either in academia-speak or in Portuguese.

3. Hunger stones are stones embedded in a river during periods of extreme drought. They are there to give warning to people that when the water is that low, hunger will follow.

4. Just 21 hours ago from this writing, the plan has been placed on hold. It’s Big News here.