Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-02-16


they mey neeessitets.
added. the figure for urban popu-
lations is about las gallons per
day. BY 1875. when the United
States population is expected TO hit
around 225 million. Secretary
: Seaton estimates the country
will need 450 billion gallons Of
fresh water daily-twice as much
as Is now being consumed.
America Is o water-happy coun-
try. We take more and bigger
baths (25 gallons or so eachJ,
more showers Is gallons per
minute). install more indoor
toilets a gallons per fiush), laun-
der more clothes GO gallons per
load. wash more dishes auto
matically 90 gallons per batch),
and so on. They now use such
additional greedy water users as
garbage grinders and lawn sprink-
ling systems. There is q marked
trend to private and neighbor-
hood swimming pools. notorious
water hogs.
But the real gluttons are agri-
culture and industry. Today wa
ter consumed by individuals re-
portedly accounts for 10 or IL
per cent of the total. Industry
and irrigation account for about
As per cent each. BY 1875 it is
estimated the ratio will be some
thing like 10 per cent individual.
IS per cent irrigation. SIS per cent
industry big industrial con-
sumption jump which may top
ESQ billion gallons per day.
In 1900 there were only about
7 million acres Of land under
irrigation. Today over 81 million
acres are irrigated. And the soil
rich but water starved lands Of
the West are attracting developers.
as new methods Of irrigations APP
pear and new water sources be-
come available. The result has
been q tremendous burst In profit
able arid-land farming and a con-
comitant drain on our water re-
sources.
At the same time. as our popu-
lation expands and urban growth
spreads, many acres Of good
farmland are lost. Productive soil
is buried beneath wide express
ways. airport aprons and runways,
shopping centers, housing develop
ments. BY 1875, say the forecast
ers, 20 million acres Of present
farmland will disappear while 60
million more American mouths to
feed will appear-which means
more production from less land.
more water required, less water
controlled.
Rapid water consumption rates
are said to be developing in in
dustry, partly as population and
security needs advance, partly as
American consumers develop new
tastes. demand new products, and
finance new factories.
Voter TobIes Dropping
Most fresh water consumed in
the United States, 80 to 90 per
cent of it. comes from precipita-
ton run-off. Since the daily run
of is estimated by some experts
at around 1900 billion gallons,
the 450-billion-gallon daily con-
sumption figure projected by Sec
rotary Seaton may not seem cru
cial. However, we now have stor-
age capacity for only about ITO
billion gallons of the run-off. and
water engineers say it will never
be possible to capture and store
a big percentage of the rest.
Meanwhile underground water
tables are dropping at a discon-
certing rate. and erosion and salt
water invasion are running a great
deal more.
Then, too, there is the fact that
we seem to have decade of so of
wet" weather followed by an
equal period Of dry" weather dur
ing whDh precipitation may fall
on as much as 20 per cent. The
hemisphere is supposed to be in