Dry regions weigh carbon footprint of water pipelines

How do you move 80 million gallons of water a year 45 miles, all up hill?

No, this isn’t a hypothetical middle school math question. This is what engineers and policymakers in Colorado Springs are wrestling with as more water users are moving to their dry region.

The answer to the question is enough energy to power around 250,000 homes, according to a study by Western Resource Advocates. This and four other water pipeline projects in the U.S.’s southwest will cost a total of around $8 billion. All that, just to move water.

Here’s what Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera has to say about the project:

“I want to build on the legacy of the visionaries before us, so that our children and grandchildren have the same quality of life we enjoy today. To accomplish that, we must secure water for our future. A Southern Delivery System will provide clean, reliable water for generations to come.”

Dry regions are always going to have to balance how much responsibility they place on their residents. If residents are forced to conserve water, less people may move to places like Colorado Springs. On the other hand, the environmental impact of massive pipeline projects is widespread, both because of the construction and all the energy it takes to pump such a huge amount of water.

At some point, these water projects are just making things worse. Here is the cycle: global warming leads to drought, which leads to pipeline projects, which leads to increased energy consumption, which leads to greenhouse gas emissions, which leads right back to global warming.

Western Resources Advocates water analyst Stacy Tellinghuisen offers a few key recommendations: pursue water conservation, use renewable energy for water projects and utilize rainwater harvesting where possible.

Yes, people need water to survive. But the citizens of dry areas must understand watering their lawns doesn’t just take water – it also takes massive amounts of infrastructure and energy. At some point, these regions will have to face the harsh reality: If you want both long showers and environmentally conscious cities, you need to lower your water consumption.

As awareness grows on this issue, more individuals, cities and governments will hopefully feel pressure to decrease their water footprints.