Addressing the Problems management of drought situations. Where water

3. Addressing the Problems management of drought situations. Where water

is delivered through a distribution system that is

of Water Scarcity: Managing constantly active the enforcement of rationing

Water Demand schemes can be problematical since indoor uses of

water are particularly difficult to regulate. Yet, as the example suggests rationing can be tailored to

Urban water users have only recently begun to

a variety of circumstances. Thus, it can be made confront the reality of intensifying water scarcity.

to work in the longer run where available water is While existing water supplies appear to be adequate

stored at the site of usage and it is the quantity of to serve existing levels of population in most storage that is rationed. In addition, as the Jordanian instances the forces of economic and population example shows, the tendency for rationing to growth fuel demands for additional water supplies to

beget black markets can be countered by creating serve growing populations and regional economies.

legitimate markets through which users can In the face of these growing demands, supplies augment available supplies through purchase. It in many areas remain static or are in decline. The

is obviously undesirable to employ rationing in supply situation is rendered uncertain by the specter

circumstances where basic needs for drinking, of global climate change and the consequences of

cooking and sanitation maybe jeopardized. such change for water supplies across the regions

Education: There is clear evidence showing of the nation. Although water scarcity is present that water use tends to decline when consumers to some extent throughout the country, it is most

know where their water comes from and how much intense in the arid and semi-arid western regions of

they use. Further, evidence suggests that the more the country where the extent of urbanization and

consumers know about the origin, nature, treatment the rates of growth are the highest in the nation.

and costs of the water on which they depend, the Historically, urban water supplies were extensively

more careful they are in economizing on use. Bruvold developed in the face of population growth by (1988) shows that metropolitan water consumers constructing dams and canals to capture and store

in California who are well informed about all water and transport it to the urban areas in question.

aspects of their water supply will economize on its The strategy of developing new supplies in this use. The Bruvold analysis was extended to major manner is no longer viable both because the costs

communities in the western United States by have risen and because available supplies in most

Michelsen, et al (1999) with similar results. basins are fully appropriated and unencumbered

In major metropolitan areas, utilities sometimes water is unavailable. There are nevertheless attempt to educate people about where water

a number of means to address urban water comes from, the impacts of drought, the quality of scarcity. These involve both supply augmentation water supplies and the impacts of treatment and and demand management strategies. Demand disinfecting systems. Such efforts may be only partly