Tips Most of us take for granted an abundant supply of good, fresh water. We meet our daily needs when we turn on the faucet and get seemingly unlimited running water. However, this situation could change as the demand for water grows, especially in the spring and summer months.
Water shortages are certainly inconvenient and even scary.
At first, they are hard to understand when we know that the United States daily rainfall equals 4.2 trillion gallons. However, water is not always located where it is needed and demand keeps increasing. In the last 30 years, the United States' demand for water has grown faster that our ability to find new water sources. During this period, our population has grown 52 percent, but total water use has tripled. Studies show wide variations in different parts of the country and between urban and rural households.