Low level in Truman Lake is a sign we should act now to prevent water crisis

I recently drove over Lake Truman and saw islands and trees that I had never seen before. Coupled with restricted barge traffic on the Mississippi, the Colorado River water crisis, lower and lower water tables, it might well be time to begin water conservation to stave off probable water shortages in the future.

The fact is that water shortage is a problem in the west of the U.S. and could be moving eastward. Because we have been blessed with abundant water it is hard to conceive of water shortages in the U.S. Yet the allocation of water from the Colorado River has several states, industries and agriculture at loggerheads trying to resolve the problem.

We haven’t thought much about water conservation in the Midwest, haven’t needed to. But temperatures are rising; weather patterns are changing globally and locally; and more areas are experiencing water shortages than since the Dust Bowl. We have two basic choices: 1) status quo — don’t do anything because we still have plenty of water or 2) begin conserving the water that we do have to forestall water shortages in our area.

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There are some simple steps that everybody can take to conserve water, some of which require little or no expense:

1. Reduce the number of times you flush the toilet — “If it’s yellow let it mellow. If it’s brown flush it down.”
2. When showering, get wet, turn off the water, soap up and turn the shower on to quickly rinse. During spring, summer and fall place a five-gallon bucket in the shower to capture water and use it to water plants and shrubbery.
3. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth and shaving.
4. When it’s bath time, use the same water for two or more people, then scoop it out into the five-gallon bucket and use it to water outside.
5. In the garden, plant plastic containers with holes in them next to your plants. Fill up the containers so the water irrigates the plants rather than soaking the entire garden. It might even cut down on the weeds.
6. The use of soakers and drip irrigators can substantially cut back on your water usage.
7. Wash your car at home.
8. Install low-flow faucets and shower heads. During a mission trip, nine people showered with five gallons of water, and the last person had the most water.
9. Install low-flush toilets. There are rebate programs from time to time that ease the expense.

If we in the Springfield area were to do these things, each family could easily save five gallons or more every day, which would amount to about 400,000 gallons daily for the city or almost 150 million gallons of water each year.