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High and dry. Here in Arizona, the all-out effort to preserve something very precious and scarce. Now to a hot story back here in the desert southwest where reminded of a quote often attributed to Mark Twain. And it goes like this. “Whisky is for drinking. Water is for fighting over.” Well, it’s true. Water is a fighting word here in Arizona. As natural resources go in this part of the country, water is precious and contentious말썽이 있는. As part of our weeklong series on Our Planet, our chief environmental affairs correspondent Anne Thompson has our report tonight from Flagstaff.
In the high desert of northern Arizona where the drought is in its 15th year, conservation is now a way of life. Nothing gets wasted at Chuck McDougal’s organic farm in Flagstaff. The turkeys eat leftover barley보리 from a local brew pub자가제품 선술집. Fruits and vegetables grow in repurposed tubs욕조 and bins광 watered by rain collected from the greenhouse roof. A drought so bad, some wonder about the future of this city of 65,000. Abe Springer is a local geologist. “Is Flagstaff in danger of running out of water?” “Flagstaff has enough water to get it into the near future, but there are concerns about the supply out to the year 2050.”
Those concerns are hard to miss. Believe it or not, this is a lake, or it was, lower Lake Mary, a dire illustration of the problem. But a problem officials think they can manage long into the future. The key is conservation. Jim Ryun is Flagstaff’s deputy city manager. “Believe it or not, that is a dam. And on a good year, the water should be bumping up against the top of that dam.” Today, it is only one third full, not ideal, but enough. This decade, even as Flagstaff’s population increased 21%, its water consumption fell 37%. That’s the formula to make Flagstaff viable for the future, because drilling 2,000 feet down into the red rock to get water is very expensive.
Julie and Mark Lancaster say conservation has cut their family’s water bill in half. There’s a button to pause the shower. Water used to wash clothes can be directed to apple trees or the sewer. And the landscape is all native plants. Making conservation second nature in an area where nature’s water is scarce. Anne Thompson, NBC News, Flagstaff.
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