As the field of hydrology approaches the millennium, one
expects more and more noticeable water resource impacts on society
resulting from increasing world population, political and economic
instabilities increasing regulatory pressures and possibly
anthropogenic driven climatic change [ Wallis, 1993]. When
one reads the titles of a few recent treatises on water problems:
Water---The International Crisis [ Clarke, 1993],
Water in Crisis [ Gleick, 1993], one obtains an attitude of
doom. Some of the facts support this view. A 1975 survey by the
World Health Organization (WHO), which covered 90% of the
developing countries (excluding China), showed that only 35% of
the global population had access to relatively safe drinking water
and only 32% had proper sanitation. In other words, about 1.2
billion people lacked safe drinking water and about 1.4
[4]
billion people lacked sanitation [ Clarke, 1993]. Total water
use in the world has quadrupled during the last fifty years [ Clarke,
1993]. Gleick [1993] compiles enough up-to-date statistics
on our planet's demand for, and supply of water to resolve most
debates on the subject. Clarke [1993] documents an
international water crises, yet U.S. water problems are quite
different. Environmentalists tend to see our own water resources
in dire straits yet those who favor economic development see no
need to restrain further usage. Rogers [1993] argues that
when one examines each case in detail, whether irrigation, domestic
supply, or wildlife support, there are usually good alternatives
available to us, often at a small cost, hence the U.S. does not
face a water crises when compared to the entire globe.
Moreau [this issue] documents the relative stability of U.S. water policy over the past decade as evidenced by level spending for water projects and declining support for wastewater treatment plants in an effort to reduce the federal budget deficit. In contrast, spending by local governments and sewer services continue to rise. Yet concurrently, there have been few reductions in the requirements for drinking water safety or protection of overall ambient water quality.
After the disastrous 1993 Mississippi river flood,
[4]
Moreau [this issue] documents that the federal government
increased its attention to zoning, relocation, floodproofing and
restoration of natural storage in the nation's wetlands instead of
reliance on levees and other flood control structures. Demand
management programs and overall water-use efficiency programs have
become accepted practice and effective for long-term water supply
planning in lieu of the tradition of using them only in drought
emergencies. Moreau [this issue] further documents that
nonpoint sources are now the leading cause of pollution in streams
and lakes in the country, with agriculture cited as the dominant
source. An emerging theme in U.S. water policy and management
appears to be a return to what was once called integrated or
unified river basin management and is now couched in terms of
watershed management and sustainable development [ Newson,
1992].