A Conversation with Journalist Alex Prud’homme: The Ripple Effect and the Fate of Freshwater in the 21st Century
On January 25, 2012, journalist Alex Prud’homme spoke to members and friends of the North Country Garden Club and North Shore Land Alliance about his latest book, The Ripple Effect. The Fate of Freshwater in the TwentyFirst Century.
Prud’homme began his presentation with a series of thought-provoking questions. Will there be enough drinkable water to satisfy future demand? What is the state of our water infrastructure—both the pipes that bring us fresh water and the levees that keep it out? How secure is our water supply from natural disasters and terrorist attacks? Can we create new sources for our water supply through scientific innovation? Is water a right like air or a commodity like oil? Will the wars of the twenty-first century be fought over water?
The answers to these questions were not so easy. As the climate warms and world population grows, demand for water has surged, but supplies of fresh water are static or dropping, and new threats to water quality appear every day.
Prud’homme pointed out that only when a catastrophe hits do people start to think about their water. From the impacts of this summer’s storms, it’s easy to see that our world is increasingly subject to weather and its effects, something that Prud’homme calls global weirding: like flooding in the plains, drought in the south and west.
He took the issue from a macro government level to the impacts occurring here on Long Island. Local communities nationwide have had to take the responsibility of lobbying for better screening of drinking water. Even though it seems natural that governments would respond to protecting drinking water, the costs are staggering.
USGS models predict that Nassau County will be the hardest hit county in the state from the impacts of rising seas. Additionally, on Long Island, the quality and quantity of our drinking water is particularly relevant because we get our drinking water from one source: underground aquifers. Our aquifers replenish themselves from snow and rainfall. The permeability of the land above the aquifers will impact how easily rainwater travels to complete its cycle. As sea level rises salt water further intrudes into the aquifer polluting our drinking water source.
Maintaining open space as recharge areas for drinking water as well as stormwater absorption for bays and ponds is critical to protecting both our ground and surface water resources.
