"Let's not rebuild this weird system that wastes water, wastes energy, and compromises human health."G: Well, you can't tell people where to move.RG: People are going to move and you need to figure out what to do about it. I have no illusion about that. You could ask, Well, what about the entire population policy of this country? We have a population policy that gives tax incentives to people with more kids, for example. That doesn't make any sense. Government should take away that tax break. I would favor incentives for people to limit the number of kids they have. I would make birth control readily available. Population planning, that's way beyond the scope of the book, of course, but population is a huge issue.G: What else can the government do?RG: The first thing the federal government needs to do is to have a much stronger data-collections system. Right now we are spending about $10 million a year on groundwater. Groundwater constitutes one-quarter of the nation's water supply and that's all we're spending to figure how much water there is, who is using it, and where it is? Take Georgia, for example. The first thing Georgia should do is say, No new wells without a permit. Think of the water supply as a giant milk-shake glass and each demand on the supply as a straw in the glass. Georgia and many other states permit a limitless number of straws in the same glass. That's just a recipe for disaster.G: What can the average person do?RG: Conservation, definitely. We use water in some surprising ways-even something as simple as washing fruits and vegetables in the kitchen sink or using the food disposal. I also think we need to figure out a better way to dispose of human waste than flushing it down the toilet.
G: What would replace toilets?RG: There are waterless urinals that work very well. Sports parks have them. For fecal matter, there are very high-quality composting toilets now that do a really good job and have pretty much solved the odor problem. It requires the homeowner to empty it. It's easier to look at this for new construction rather than retro-fitting because of the plumbing problems. My point is, very simply, let's not rebuild this weird system that wastes water, wastes energy, and compromises human health. Let's now move down a different path.G: Would Congress spend money on this?RG: If you are looking to stimulate the economy this would be one piece of the equation. Maybe there aren't as many "shovel-ready projects," but these types of infrastructure overhauls are the kind of things that Obama is proposing. The bigger picture is, we did not get into this crisis overnight and we will not get out of it overnight. We don't want the crisis to become a catastrophe.G: Are you confident we can avoid the catastrophe?RG: Absolutely. This is not rocket science. We are [now] reallocating water in the United States. Some states are now saying, If you want to put a new straw in this milk-shake glass then you need to pinch someone else's straw. You need to purchase and retire an existing water right. We can do it. We absolutely can do it. We just need to make it a priority.Photo by Mike Slack
