2012 3rd Place Scholarship Winner Cole Booze's Essay

Cole Booze

The Importance of Water Conservation

Since water isn't a renewable resource, conserving it should be at everyone's utmost attention. The Ogallala Aquifer is one of the world's largest aquifers and stretches over eight states. Water from the Ogallala Aquifer provides irrigation for approximately twenty-seven percent of farm land, and also provides for eighty-two percent of drinking water in the aquifers area. Protecting and conserving this jewel called the Ogallala Aquifer is very important to those who live in the area.

Residential Use. For several years now, residents of the Panhandle have enjoyed a prosperity that our grandparents or great-grandparents would never have imagined. The physical evidence of this prosperity has been the "age of landscaping". Homeowners are making investments, not only in their homes, but also in their yards. Once this landscaping investment is made, then the homeowner must protect and preserve that investment. This comes at a cost to the homeowner and to the Ogallala Aquifer. Research has indicated that in some parts of the United States more than half the water used is from landscaping and lawn-watering. Research indicates that the use of a greywater system could be and excellent solution to this excessive use of our natural resource. Untreated greywater can be used for several water consuming activities, but mainly irrigation and can be utilized successfully for maintaining landscaping if properly treated. Many families growing up in the country in the Midwest had their greywater simply draining off into the pasture or field. My parents both recall growing up with this situation, without adverse effects. This simpler way of life seems to be full of common sense in their use of greywater. More importantly, greywater systems could be developed in the cities, beginning with new housing projects that capture the greywater, run it through a treatment system, and then distribute it for lawn irrigation at a price cheaper than water available through the municipal water system.

Municipal. Building on the issue of consumption by the landscaping or lawn maintenance sector, the water utilities could implement a stratified pricing structure that contained two levels of pricing. A base rate (price per gallon) could be established for a residence's personal use utilizing a floor price method; a secondary rate could then be utilized when gallons consumed exceeded a certain base level. This base family or residence usage would be at a lower price per gallon and then another tier of pricing would be implemented on gallons of usage above that base at a price that is maybe double the base price. This pricing structure would encourage people to conserve and to also invest to implement a greywater system for their landscaping maintenance.

Commerical Use. Several strategies can be put into place to help save the water. Windmills use wind to pump the water out of the aquifer. If a windmill turns and pumps water for ten hours a day then there is a large chance that water is being over flowed into a dirt tank that isn't sealed. Living in the Texas Panhandle where the wind blows constantly, this occurs quite often for the water is then turned into mud and ultimately not used. The solution to this problem could be using electrical pumps monitored by a float that keeps water at a constant level. The float would stay at water level but when it drops to a certain height the float would turn on the valve pumping water into the tank. To stop overflow, the valve would shut off at a certain height keeping water from exiting the tank and being wasted. Also, the electric timer can monitor how many hours a day the electric pump is turned on. This is just one idea that can be utilized commercially.
 

Water Rights. The severing of our water rights from the land has become a very important issue now that we are experiencing times of drought. Separating our water rights from the land and the people that live on the land, puts at risk the legacy of generations of family fanning and ranching. We need to keep our water in the Panhandle to be used by generations of panhandle residents.

In conclusion, there are so many basic steps that each person can do to conserve water during all times not just during seasons of drought. What this drought has taught us is that our water supply is not infinite. Even if we experience a substantial recharge to the Ogallala Aquifer, having been through these last few years has taught our generation that we know not what tomorrow brings.