In 1774, Ben Franklin said, \u201cWhen the well\u2019s dry, we know the worth of the well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was wrong,\u201d author Robert Glennon told an audience of about 100 Tuesday at the Alumni Memorial Union at Marquette University.\u00a0 Even as \u00a0wells and water supplies move ominously closer to dry in parts of the United States, the public and many policy makers are not responding in ways that could avert major impacts, warned\u00a0 Glennon, whose books include Unquenchable: America\u2019s Water Crisis and What to Do About It<\/em>, published last spring.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t value water in the United States,\u201d Glennon told the session, part of the \u201cOn the Issues\u201d series hosted by Mike Gousha, Marquette Law School Distinguished Fellow in Law and Public Policy.<\/p>\n Wisconsin is not standing at the precipice of a water crisis to the same degree as \u00a0metropolitan Atlanta and much of the western United States, but it would still be wise to undertake public education efforts here and to make more effective water use decisions, Glennon said.\u00a0 <\/p>\n He also said the Milwaukee area was doing \u201dpretty well\u201d \u00a0in building itself as a center of water-related economic development, thanks to the number of businesses in the area connected to water use, \u00a0the growing involvement of universities, and the presence of Lake Michigan.<\/p>\n Glennon, Morris K. Udall Professor of Law and Public Policy in the Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona, said water is a finite and exhaustible resource that needs major public attention similar to the way petroleum is regarded. \u201cWater lubricates the American economy just as oil does,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He said droughts in recent years in some parts of the country were not much different than those in the past. What is different, he said, if the number of people living in places such as Las Vegas, Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Policies and practices have not changed to keep up with the demand on water as some water tables and aquifers decline in major ways. \u201cYou can\u2019t keep putting more straws in the glass and expect things to get better,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe humans have an infinite capacity to deny reality,\u201d Glennon said. He said many Americans follow \u201ca hydro-illogical\u201d cycle when it comes to concern about water, and he likened some decisions \u2013 or the absence of decisions \u2013 in places such as Georgia, where there remains almost no control on how many new wells are drilled, to operating \u201ca circular firing squad.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople who think business as usual and some engineering solutions will solve this crisis are not thinking,\u201d Glennon said.<\/p>\n But he said he was \u201cincredibly optimistic\u201d that solutions would come. He advocated steps such as greater re-use of water, increased water conservation, and increased desalinization of water in coastal areas.<\/p>\n \u201c\u201dI want to take a fresh look at the human toilet,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need to figure out a new way of disposing of human waste\u201d that does not use nearly as much water, he said.<\/p>\n He also called for pricing water more realistically for consumers, which would mean substantial price increases for many people and businesses.<\/p>\n But he suggested the biggest steps are likely to involve a combination of government regulation and free market forces. \u201cWe are entering an era of water re-allocation,\u201d Glennon said. \u00a0\u201cThere is no alternative.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n Glennon, who described himself as coming from the left side of the political spectrum, described instances where farmers and land owners had found it financially attractive to reduce their water use in exchange for payment from others who wanted to use or conserve that water.<\/p>\n \u201cThe critical ingredients are moral courage and the political will to act,\u201d Glennon said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In 1774, Ben Franklin said, \u201cWhen the well\u2019s dry, we know the worth of the well.\u201d \u201cHe was wrong,\u201d author Robert Glennon told an audience of about 100 Tuesday at the Alumni Memorial Union at Marquette University.\u00a0 Even as \u00a0wells and water supplies move ominously closer to dry in parts of the United States, the 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