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How does this impact our water
supplies?
How are water and energy linked? In my book
Understanding Water and Terrorism, I note that two of our nation's
critical infrastructures are the water supply systems and the electrical
grid. A third major infrastructure is the transportation system.
Simply put, without energy most of our nation's water supply would
cease to work. Energy in the form of electricity, diesel and natural gas
is used to pump and process our raw water into clean drinking water.
Chemicals and supplies for our water treatment plants and our water
distribution systems are transported by truck, air and rail.
"But I am in a rural community or live on a farm, far from the large
city water supplies," you say. Your community still has to pump the
water into the distribution lines and maintain line pressure. If you
life on a farm or in a rural setting, you probably have a pump, which
uses energy.
Another issue is fire protection. One of the main uses of water is to
fight fires, whether building fires or wildfires. A good example of the
problem that lack of water for fire protection is Hurricane Katrina in
New Orleans. Part of New Orleans was burned as there was no water or
water pressure to fight the fires.
Water and agriculture around the world is very closely linked. We can
not grow food without water. Water is critical to our food supply. Much
of the water used to irrigate our crops is pumped from the ground, or
pumped from rivers and lakes onto fields. In California, water is pumped
through long irrigation canals stretching hundreds of miles from the
Colorado River to the fields. Modern irrigation systems are very
dependent on electricity, diesel or natural gas.
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