Glennon Proposed Market Based Solution to America’s Water Crisis

Anyone wondering who will save America from its water crisis or who needs to comprehension on “energy-water nexus “and the best way to manage the country’s water supply has to read Robert Glennon’s “Unquenchable”. Glennon illustrates the America’s recent water crisis history in three sections and points out the potential technical solutions in details. Just before making his concluding remarks with a succinct “Blue Print Form,” he gives new policy recommendations to help save the precious but scarce resource (Manganiello, 1).  To save America from the current water crisis, the solution offered by Glennon will go a long way in achieving this goal but its implementation may not be as easy de to political reasons. Consequently, this paper will argue that Glennon’s solution is good but it may not be politically feasible due to some malicious interests and irregular legislation.

One of the two important topics discussed in the “Unquenchable” is provision of advice to people at multiple levels with authority over energy and water policy. Using the tradition of Island, Glennon’s target is a broad audience due to the easy to follow lessons and explanations for all individuals with an interest in conservation of water without or away from their homes. The book is a very good tool for promotion of water literacy among Americans of today and generations to come. In his first phase, “The Crisis,” he goes through a litany of wasteful water use, scarcity and stupidity. He gives examples like Palm Spring consumer with a water bill of $33, 000 annually, uncontrolled development within the arid West, watering loans and flushing waste using drinking water, reductions in ground water levels among others (Glennon, 10).

Manganiello (2) observes that through his recognition of the intimacy energy and water, Glennon employs the example of the much talked about ethanol fiasco to demonstrate how much water is required to manufacture a gallon. Additionally he calls upon the hi-tech industry and how it depend son water and he uses Intel as a good example.

The second bit after dong an overview of the current state of wasteful water use and the looming crisis, he presents the “Real and Surreal Solutions”. This is arguably a very interesting section of this book as Glennon discusses some of the obvious ways but frequently ignored ways that individuals can easily use in line with programs of water conservation. He talks about traditional programs for water conservation while citing areas of successful attempts such as San Antonio, Albuquerque and Tucson. He talks of water harvesting as one of the approaches to be encouraged. Another important approach that he discusses is the use of gray water and he strongly encourages it although he comments that restraining plumbing codes can promote bootleg system and discourage installation. Glennon adds that reclamation of wastewater has to be practiced to full potential (Manganiello, 200).

It is very apparent that the solutions he offers are very good because other than just stating the approaches, Glennon further uses locations that have successfully employed the strategies to conserve water resources. He goes ahead to dismiss some of the solutions such as cloud seeding, additional diversions, more dams and additional ground water pumps while offering cultural, environmental and economic reasons as to why each of them is obsolete.

In part 3, Glennon presents the attention of his readers to examples like municipal policies, rate structures and legal tools that he collectively refer to them as “A New Approach” to dealing with scarcity of water. For instance Glennon call upon municipalities initiate block-rate structures charging clients higher fees due to increased usage of water. He also calls upon them to adopt rates structures that can be adjusted seasonally to target luxury uses like gardening or filling swimming pools. He demonstrates this using multiple municipalities in Utah and New Mexico that have been successful from the use of “wet growth regulations” necessitating developers to obtain and submit accepted water rights whenever they apply a new building (Manganiello, 70). Others include water trusts that are conservation minded which were developed after the concept of the land trust, cooperating with farmers to change water rights elevate in-stream flows to benefit bottom lines of farmers and ecosystem services. There other several examples throughout the book that illustrate potential methods of increasing the country’s water supply.

Lastly, according to Manganiello (1), Glennon concludes by “A Blue Print for Reform” where offers that if implemented, the looming American water crisis will be brought to an end. Briefly Glennon talks of measures such as use of price signals, reconsideration our modes of human waste disposal, developer s have to pay, separation of sewer from storm water, appreciating the link between water and energy, creation of market incentives, and recognizing the crucial role water plays in the economy among many more.

Even though Glennon as a water rights defender is determined to help America conserve and mange its water resources properly, there is a problem with solving it as he explains. He explains as the country is faced with water crisis, their roots and solutions differ by geographical, cultural, environmental and most importantly political location. He acknowledges how uneven the crisis is but he gives a single appropriate solution (Glennon, 80). He succinctly discusses the inherent disparities in controlled riparian and earlier appropriation laws and how they both fail to sufficiently protect fresh supplies of water.

Glennon adds that congressional action is inevitable due to the magnitude of the water crisis and interagency cooperation’s failure. For regulated market, he again fears due to its bureaucratic reallocation and as a preventive measure he begs the Congress to approve a national and all-inclusive water supply survey (Manganiello, 1).

To sum up this whole discussion, Glennon’s book “Unquenchable” is an accomplishment in the nationalization of the water supply crisis of the United States of America.  This is because most of his policy recommendations and technological solutions are practical and successful. The book is a very important tool that can be used not only in America but also globally.