Water Shortages Likely by 2050

A study sponsored by the Natural Resources Defense Council has concluded that one-third of counties in the US will experience a high risk of water shortage by 2050 as a result of climate change. Tetra Tech, the company that performed the study, has found that more than 400 counties, including many within the Florida peninsular, will face an extremely high risk of not being able to achieve water sustainability within the same time frame. Other areas of the US in jeopardy are the populated regions of the South Atlantic region, the Mississippi River basin, the Arizona/New Mexico region and Washington DC area.
The report did not consider current water conservation programs or water reuse but it seems clear that there should be increased development of ground water supplies that are currently unsatisfactory for potable or industrial use. Agriculture uses the largest amount of available ground water and much farm land sits above untapped aquifers containing brackish water. Golf Course properties, hotels and resorts may also have access to unusable water supplies but have to purchase vast amounts of municipal supplied potable water.

The way to reduce consumption of scare potable water sources and increase the use of what is now considered unusable water, is with the use of brackish water reveres osmosis systems. The use of RO is not new but as present greatly underutilized. Brackish water RO systems are relatively inexpensive to operate and will produce, typically, low TDS potable water from high TDS, example 5000 ppm, ground water. These systems make water that was otherwise unusable into a valuable resource while reducing the demand placed on municipal water supplies.