Water efficiency declining in US’ rural areas

A new study claims that while water efficiency is improving in urban areas of the US, it is declining in the country’s rural counties.

"Understanding water use is becoming increasingly important, given that climate change is likely to have a profound impact on the availability of water supplies," said Sankar Arumugam from the University of North Carolina, lead author of the study. “This research helps us identify those areas that need the most help, and highlights the types of action that may be best suited to helping those areas."

Arumugam’s paper was prepared as part of a National Science Foundation-funded, interuniversity research project into understanding how water sustainability has changed in the US over the last 30 years. For their study, Arumugam and his team looked at water use efficiency, measured as per capita consumption, in 5 year increments in the 48 contiguous states of the US.

"This is the first systematic evaluation of water use across the continental US," Arumugam said. "And we found that some states - including Washington, Pennsylvania and Wyoming - were becoming more efficient every five years. Meanwhile, other states - such as South Carolina, Oklahoma and Mississippi - have gotten worse every five years."

Shockingly, county level data revealed a trend where most rural counties are getting less water efficient while most rural ones are improving.

"In other words, as we are facing a more uncertain future regarding water resources, rural counties are being left behind," Arumugam explained.

"Rural counties appear to lack the resources, the political will, or both, to keep pace," 

Another important finding of the study is that technologies and strategies focused on efficiency - as opposed to large-scale projects, such as building new reservoirs - have been extremely successful, allowing urban areas to avoid sharp increases in water use despite their growing populations.

"There may be a role for huge infrastructure projects at some point, but these findings underscore the value of focusing on efficiency measures - and the need to pursue those measures in rural counties," Arumugam concluded.