The Associated Press
It is time people started changing the way they think about water, a California water expert said Friday at a national xeriscaping conference in Albuquerque.
Peter Gleick, an expert on global fresh water resources, said it is possible to have nice gardens without using large amounts of water.
People need to focus their water needs elsewhere, said Gleick, founder and president of Berkeley, Calif.-based Pacific Institute Studies in Development, Environment and Security. He said the first global water priority should be to meet humans needs rather than satisfying wants.
Gleick said 1.1 billion people have no access to clean water for drinking or sanitation. In addition, 2 to 5 million people — mostly young children — die each year from diarrhea, cholera and other diseases related to poor water quality.
Gleick said water demands will increase as the population grows, but per-person water use has declined by 20 percent since 1980 in the United States.
Conservation efforts such as xeriscaping and low-flush toilets have contributed to the decline. Technological advances have also helped, reducing the amount of water needed in some manufacturing methods, for instance.
The key to proper water planning is finding more efficient ways to use and reuse water, he said.
Disputes over water use and environmental concerns can be a positive thing, he said.
"The good news is that such conversations wouldn't have happened 20 years ago," Gleick said.
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