A 'Mirage' in Oregon: Cynthia Barnett Visits Oregon State University

Cynthia Barnett, award-winning author of Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern  U.S., just left us at Oregon State University (OSU) after entertaining us for about 90 minutes with tales of water woes in Florida and elsewhere in the eastern USA.

We had a good crowd for a late Friday afternoon, and she also sold and signed some copies of her excellent book, which is now available in paperback, so you have no excuse for not reading it.

A brief aside: she commented on the dearth of home "For Sale" signs here as compared to Florida.

This is the third time I've heard Cynthia speak, all in the last six months. I told her that she is in my Robert Glennon class, meaning that I never tire of listening to her. Her style is more relaxed, as though she's having a cordial conversation with her audience. Very effective.

She again spoke of the merits of conservation, and how conservation is often given short shrift by politicians and water managers for a simple reason: no one makes much money from conservation projects. No big infrastructure, no grand engineering schemes, etc. She alluded to the fact that in Florida, state alternative water-supply grant money cannot be used for conservation projects.

To be sure, conservation can have its drawbacks. Customers get annoyed when their rates go up because conservation may drive utilities' revenues down. And those who save water are concerned that the water saved may just go for more development. Wastewater engineers worry about sluggish flow in sewer systems or lack of sufficient dilution.  But conservation should occupy a more prominent place in the water-supply toolbox.

She told the story of Orme, TN, the tiny (145 people) town on the TN-AL border 40 miles west of Chattanooga that ran out of water in 2007. The town temporarily survived by sending a tanker truck across the border to an Alabama town three days a week for water from the town's fire hydrant. The 20,000 gallons of water replenished the Orme's storage tank and allowed residents to use water from 6-9 PM each evening. Cynthia said that the story was big news and journalists descended upon the place, got the story, then headed home.

But they never came back to get the rest of the story. Here's what happened after the journalists left:

• volunteer plumbers and plumbing supply firms blitzed the town and fitted each home with water-saving devices free of charge;
• the town saved 140 gallons per household daily; and
• the water availability went from 3 to 12 hours per day solely because of conservation 

All in all, time very well spent with a person who has a great message.

And she brought some Florida sunshine with her.

"We use drinking water to grow our lawns, then spend the summer cutting it down using fossil fuels." -- Cynthia Barnett, Corvallis, OR, 2 May 2008

Comments

[Cynthia Barnett]

Aquadoc, thank you for inviting me to OSU. The campus and its community, Corvallis, were incredibly beautiful, walkable, friendly. The visit has me thinking a lot about the follow-up story (yes something journalists are not so good at sometimes). People seem to be searching for success stories and want to hear about them.
What about a collection of narratives (global) on water conservation successes that make you say "wow," like those I've compiled for my talks but on a larger scale: What community on this planet is a model for rainwater harvesting? (One of the questions on Friday night ... you won't find it in Florida, but where is that place?) What community has had eye-popping success lowering its per-capita consumption? Is there any place that once used drinking water to flush toilets that now has 100% retrofitted? Which place is the best model for proving that we can change the green-carpet lawn culture?
Perhaps your readers could give me feedback on whether a project like this, with stories of real people and communities & undeniable numbers, would make a difference. (Say, in public policy debates in places such as Florida, where state alternative water-supply grant money may not be used for conservation projects.) Also if you have any ideas for some of the success stories, send them my way. (cynthiabarnett@gmail.com)
This is one nice thing about giving talks ... invariably the Q&A, or some connection in the audience, leads to something else important. Cynthia.