After living on the west coast for several years one thing I remember was that residents always had water on their minds.

Water, fresh potable water is something that we all take for granted in our everyday lives. We drink it, bathe in it, use it in our industries and yes, even fish in it. With the United States’ population continuing to grow we're faced with an ever-increasing demand for clean freshwater.

South Alabama is now down more than 20 inches of rainfall for the year andcounting. It had been and is affecting agriculture yields and the growth of forest products. I sat outside at 10 p.m. one night night and not a single mosquito visited me. This means that our standing water has fallen to near nothing and I live next to a swamp.

The decline in mosquitoes and other insects due to the lack of water will have impacts on species that utilize them as a part of their diet — birds and bats not being the only ones.

In the western states the majority of freshwater comes from the melting snow pack in the Rocky Mountains. During the past 35 years the average annual temperature across the west has increased one to three degrees. These warmer conditions have resulted to the snow pack melting up to three weeks earlier than normal.

With the creation of early wet conditions caused by warmer temperatures, there has been a surge in the growth of woody plants in the west.

Because the western states have increased their water use and due to the changes in water availability, water conservation districts in the west are instituting water rationing for farmers and residents.

If the drought in the southern states continues, we can expect to pay more for the water we use and face restrictions in its usage.

Taking as an example what has been done in the western states, some of these restrictions may include no watering of lawns, washing your car once a week and no water for swimming pools.

Within the last two weeks there was a giant dust cloud in the southwest that's reminiscent of the dust bowl era in the mid-west.

Water usage regulations both enacted and proposed are only short-term actions that will not do anything to increase the amount of water available.

California is taking a more long-term approach to the problem through the building desalination plants. There are currently 20 desalination plants of various capacities under construction in the Golden State. The largest is a proposed plant in San Diego that will produce 50 million gallons of drinking water a day. Desalination is not cheap and an acre-foot of desalinated water costs about $1,000. An acre-foot of water is about enough to supply an average family for a year. If all the desalination plants planned were to come on line, the needs of only about one million California residents would be met.

Even though the Gulf Coast states seem to have all the water they need for drinking and other uses at the moment, it may be time to start thinking about how we will conserve it if the drought continues.

Think Global – Act Local!

Dr. “Skip” Lazauski's television show “Eco-Bites”, can now be seen on youtube.com. To reach Dr. Lazauski for questions and comments, send e-mails to *IchiOrca@yahoo.com* <IchiOrca@yahoo.com>. For more information, see his Web site, *www.drskiponline.com* <http://www.drskiponline.com/>*.