Water Infrastructure, Disasters, Water Scarcity & Security, Potable Water, & Conflict — “We Love Our Children, Don’t We?” – CleanTechnica

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

---

Water-related disasters currently make up over 90% of all disasters on Earth, with record-breaking floods and droughts making headlines around the world. Over the past ten years, the number of fatalities from these catastrophes has doubled. Climate change, warming surface water temperatures, and more aggressive hurricanes making their way up to some of the planet’s oldest mountains in North Carolina have all contributed to a growing awareness that rising temperatures have disrupted the entire water infrastructure of the Appalachians.

For a mountain city, the recovery is multi-layered. I used to worry that the next generation would have to go through this, but now I wonder whether it will be much worse.

The city of Asheville has worked tirelessly and diligently to do a good job in an unexpectedly unfortunate and difficult crisis. Climate change has made the weather more changeable and unpredictable, and Asheville has done its best with infrastructure that needs much improvement. The city had actually made preparations for flooding a while back (video below). It could have been worse. Of course, it can also be improved. And thanks to the Biden administration, more care will be possible.

The video below demonstrates how many more people might have been harmed or killed if things had gone differently. It’s a brief but intriguing overview.

I quote Jeff Bridges in my title because of a documentary, Living in the Future’s Past, between him and Susan Kucera that was touching and relevant. Susan and I talked for well over an hour about the documentary, an interview I will never forget. Bridges questions our hearts, not cheap attitudes of miseducation. Sometimes I digress too easily, but with water, everything is connected. Bridges addressed our hearts and how they respond to climate change, rather than our complacence, greed, ignorance, or denial.

After nearly two weeks without showering — three weeks for some — many people in Asheville were relieved. Water, yet unsafe, began to flow again. The backed-up toilets could flush. Calls, texts, and emails came four times a day to remind us not to allow children to sip or drink water while they were taking a shower. The city was still finding bacteria in the water. During the experience, I was more distraught about Gaza, Sudan, and all the conflict zones where water might never reappear. The floods that left the damage reminded me of images of Libya last year. (4,300 people died in Libya, while more than 8,500 went missing.)

Because of the shock, the perspiration, and the deprivation of water for my face, hands, feet, and teeth, I kept thinking about what children in war zones have to deal with on a daily basis. Asheville would get the water back on. Those children may spend most of their lives with a difficult relationship to daily water supply, baths, and hydration.

And the toilets. I considered people like Beloved Asheville, Patricia Arquette, and others who work for nonprofits that supply toilets to those in need around the world. Patricia Arquette founded GiveLove in January 2010 after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Besides building the toilets hands-on, they are teaching and promoting ecological sanitation and composting. Beloved Asheville came to anyone’s aid, whether they had an ID or not. (How do you have an ID in an unexpected flood that destroys your property and sinks your car?)

Like many boomers who grew up watching Vietnam on television, I know conflict also affects who gets water and who decides if some children need to be overlooked or worse. Long before “reality TV,” there was footage of actual reality on our black-and-white TVs. It was starkly vivid. At the age of 10 or 11, we boomers saw children running naked and burning alive; these images were etched in our memories, and we were taught at an early age that war created a lack of compassion and humanity. Climate change is also caused by conflicts and causing conflict.

Day 60 in Asheville, Circa 2024

Solutions

First of all, to really dive into this topic, download The Pacific Institute’s brief Water Resilience.

Environmentally, Biden and Harris are doing nicely with their work in this field. Their administration will be noted for its continued focus on climate and the environment. See: “Biden-Harris Administration Announces $125 Million Investment for Large-Scale Water Recycling Projects.” The Department of the Interior has announced a $125 million investment into five projects in California and Utah that will help create new sources of water and improve drought resiliency.

“These investments support the Department’s new Large-Scale Water Recycling Program, launched in 2023 with new funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The new program incentivizes conservation projects at a larger scale, with no cap on project size, and will play an important role in helping communities develop local, drought-resistant water supplies by turning unusable water sources into clean, reliable ones.

“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda represents the largest investment in climate resilience in the nation’s history and is providing much-needed resources to enhance Western communities’ resilience to drought and climate change. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Reclamation is investing a total of $8.3 billion over five years for water infrastructure projects, including rural water, water storage, conservation and conveyance, nature-based solutions, dam safety, water purification and reuse, and desalination. Since the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was signed in November 2021, Reclamation has announced more than $3.5 billion for more than 530 projects.

“The projects selected are:

• • $60.4 million for the City of San Buenaventura’s Ventura Water Program. It is estimated to produce 3,600 acre-feet of recycled water annually.
  • $30 million for the Los Angeles Groundwater Replenishment Project. The project is estimated to produce 26,000 acre-feet annually.
  • $26.2 million for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Pure Water Southern California. The project is estimated to produce 118,590 acre-feet annually.
  • $10.8 million for the Inland Empire Utilities Agency of California Advanced Treatment of Recycled Water to Enhance Chino Basin Resiliency Project. The project is estimated to produce 15,000 acre-feet annually.
  • $641,222 for the Washington County Water Conservancy District, Utah’s Regional Reuse system, which is estimated to produce 28,373 acre-feet annually.

“This second round of funding builds upon the announcement of $179 million in May. This funding also advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to ensure that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain climate, clean energy, and other federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.”

Sponge Cities

Modernizing water safety through the use of natural techniques, such as sponge cities, is another partial solution. Using more environmentally friendly technology in water infrastructure is a lot to think about. Creating a “sponge” deals with the two issues that cement- and asphalt-laden urban centers create and thus contend with — more heat risk and flooding risk. Imitating nature in the concrete jungle is a key solution. For more, see: “Berlin & China Creating ‘Sponge Cities’ — Landscape Architects Help Cities Absorb Water, Cool Down.”

Please leave more solutions in the comments.

Asheville Recovering

Asheville residents are now also in the process of emotional rehabilitation. I have survived numerous hurricanes on the Gulf Coast of Florida, and I can tell you that the people in Asheville are different, the crisis is different, and, most importantly, Asheville is kind. Below is one of many posts in Asheville about people employing kindness, from “@witchesforhope.”

“We keep us safe! Repost from @them “You know our systems are broke when 5 gay DJs can bring 10k of supplies back before the national guard does,” read a viral meme, referring to the work of mutual aid efforts in NC after the storm. It’s true. Long before FEMA had any presence in Western North Carolina, an all-trans group called the Pansy Collective (only two of whom are actually DJs) distributed six truckloads, two trailers, and a box truck filled with non-perishable food and crucial supplies to various hubs, including remote mountain locations where residents were unable to leave. Pansy Collective (@pansy.collective) was founded in 2016 as a response to the rising fascism in the US following Donald Trump’s election, with the mission to support those most affected by oppressive policies and hateful ideologies. Initially, the group organized punk shows, workshops, and teach-ins while also providing mutual aid funding for community members in emergencies. But after Hurricane Helene, the collective, along with other queer-run businesses and groups, became a lifeline for many Asheville residents affected by the storm.”