Wondering After a Winter Break

(Originally posted on waterefficiency.net)

By Elizabeth Cutright
Editor
Water Efficiency

I’ve just returned from a trip to Spain, a country that’s certainly seen its share of water woes. Spain has suffered a water shortage for almost two years, and by spring of 2008 it had only received a third of the average seasonal rainfall. With reservoirs less than half full, the country is gripped in its worst drought since the 1940s. And in Catalonia the situation is even worse: Reservoirs are less than a fifth full, and, in April, Barcelona – a city known for its efficient infrastructure – was forced to import water by ship and train to prevent a water crisis prompted by extreme drought. The water was brought in from Marseilles, France and from desalination plants in southern Spain. And Barcelona is not alone, for many years now the island of Mallorca has depended upon imported water to meet its needs – especially the spike in demand during tourist season.
I was lucky enough to spend some time in Barcelona and Mallorca, as well as a few other destinations in southern Spain. What struck me while I was visiting was the ubiquity of low-flow fixtures throughout the region. Every hotel – whether it was a small, family-owned pension or a large, commercial chain – had bathrooms outfitted with dual-flush toilets and low-flow showerheads. In larger cities, like Madrid, the hotel rooms were also adorned with the requests for conscientious water usage that we often see here in the US.
Unfortunately, many times that’s as far as it goes – just a postcard asking you to hang up your towel and maybe turn the faucet off while your brushing your teeth. And yet, the traveler is an important demographic when it comes to public outreach and water efficiency. Studies have shown that when people are on vacation they tend to throw caution to the wind and put aside daily habits – including their normal water conservation efforts. It’s certainly an unwanted twist on “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”
Tourism is big business in the US. According to a report by the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration, in 2007 “56 million international visitors from 213 countries during 2007, up 10% from 2006.” And that’s just international travelers. When you add domestic tourism to the mix, you can begin to see how much impact water-wasting tourists can have on a local economy and water parched region – be it California, Nevada, Georgia, Florida, National Parks, and just about any city, town, or hamlet situated near an attraction or interstate.
If the people of Spain are willing to mitigate the impact of tourism on their water resources by investing in water-saving technologies and low-flow fixtures, shouldn’t we, in the US, be doing the same before it gets to the point where our most water-starved communities are actually forced to import water to meet their needs?