Introduction
El Paso Water is dedicated to providing the community with the water it will need today and in the future. El Paso has relied on groundwater and river water for its municipal water supply for over a century and today proudly provides 97 percent of the county’s municipal water (Kounang, 2018). To maintain a diverse water source portfolio and address future water supply concerns, El Paso Water continues to evaluate and seek various water supply possibilities.
Community Water Sources
Groundwater is typically more stable and needs less treatment before use, but surface water is more vulnerable to climate change and potential surface pollutants. El Paso is supplied by both surface water and groundwater. The Rio Grande provides river water or surface water, which represents approximately half of El Paso’s source of drinkable water. Snowmelt runoff in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico is the main source of the diverted Rio Grande flows in the El Paso region. The Hueco-Mesilla Bolsons Aquifer serve as a source for groundwater pumps (Talchabhadel et al., 2021). Groundwater exists in unconsolidated fluvial, alluvial, and lacustrine sediments. A section of Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua are all surrounded by these basins, making the water supply in El Paso more reliable and stable. With the acquisition of land and water rights, El Paso Water is making progress toward ensuring the city’s long-term water supply. This is accomplished by making investments in water importation and other plans that will provide El Paso with a reliable and sustainable water supply in case of population growth.
The Quality of Community Water
Water quality refers to the state of the water, including its chemical, physical, and biological qualities. It is the condition of the water about the needs of one or more biotic species and/or any human need or purpose (Hassan Omer, 2020). El Paso water is placed at the highest state for drinking. It is tested to ensure its compliance or go beyond the state and federal standards. Contamination of drinking water can result from spills, leaking underground gasoline storage tanks, or other releases from inappropriate chemical waste disposal (Costruvo, 2018). According to El Paso Water Annual Report of 2018, contaminants that may be present include; microbial contaminants from wastewater treatment plants, inorganic contaminants from a natural occurrence or domestic wastewater discharge, and radioactive contaminants which can be naturally occurring or as a result of oil and gas production and mining activities in the community.
The water utility should implement rainwater collecting techniques to gather and store rainwater for use as drinking water or as a recharge for the aquifers, provide home-water treatment capabilities and promote low-cost solutions to improve water quality. To advocate for water improvement, the state should improve stormwater management, proper chemical disposal, and air pollution prevention (Costruvo, 2018). Finally, to minimize the risks due to contamination, home water treatment should be employed by using filters, solar disinfection, and flocculants to make safe water for domestic use.
Users of Community Water
The main source of water for El Paso and Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua, Mexico, is the Hueco Bolson. El Paso gets around half of its water from the aquifer in a typical year. Water extracted from the aquifer is used by households, companies, and the general public in about 90% (Pastor & Fullerton, 2020). Currently, the increase in population and a large number of agricultural and industrial users all rely on the water supply in El Paso. This puts pressure on the demand thus incurring more supply to accommodate all the users adequately. If the population continues to grow in the El Paso community, there would be an increase in water demand. This is because there would be an increase in the domestic, agricultural and industrial use of water. To prevent strain on the water supply in the future, the state should put up a recommendable strategy that would meet the water supply for each municipality in 10 to 25 years to come.
Future Outlook of the Community Water
The current water status in the El Paso community is pivotal. According to research conducted in El Paso, there is a unidirectional causal relationship connecting real income growth and water use (Pastor & Fullerton, 2020). The major concern was how the usage, supply, and demand of water would affect the community. The research demonstrates that while water usage increases with wealth development, the opposite is not true. Water conservation is a constant concern of local public policy in El Paso because the city is located in a semi-arid region of the southwest of the United States. These findings imply that El Paso’s continued use of water conservation measures won’t harm the city’s ability to thrive economically. El Paso water is concerned with placing the water supply in a good state for agricultural, domestic, and industrial use. This builds an element of trust among community users. With both surface and underground sources for water supply, El Paso’s water supply is believed to be stable and is at low risk of water crisis during the drought period. Generally, El Paso water is seen as stable and reliable to the community.
Personal Reflection on the Future of Earth’s Water
Fresh water supply is rapidly changing around the world, posing a risky future that calls for attention from the public and policymakers. Access to drinking water and water for irrigation will be more restricted as a result of changing water availability patterns and declining groundwater levels, with significant socioeconomic and political implications (Chen & Rodell, 2021). By 2025, more than half of the world’s population will live in water-stressed areas, with over 2 billion people already without access to safe drinking water at home. If the expected paths for climate change and population growth are matched or exceeded, these figures will considerably rise.
Considerably, El Paso and other New Mexican communities would be affected by the climatic changes as well as other United State communities. Water scarcity is a crisis that affects access to clean water for drinking and maintaining basic hygiene at home, in schools, and healthcare facilities. When there is a lack of water, sewage systems may malfunction and cholera outbreak risks increase. Additionally, the cost of scarce water increases. An individual can improve the community’s water situation by creating awareness of water pollution and addressing the effects of the water crisis on the community (Talchabhadel et al., 2021). Sustainable water management is a key role in improving the water situation in the United States and all over the world. As efficient and effective use of water is an essential element of sustainable water management, improving water infrastructure must be a top concern. Smart irrigation systems and solar desalination are good examples of environmentally friendly water management technology.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is a need for water conservation. Water conservation is the first step in the process of managing water to solve the problem of water crises. We could save thousands of gallons of water annually per person if we avoid wasting so much water. There is also a need to use the limited water resources carefully. In the El Paso community, water is mainly sourced from the ground.
References
Chen, J., & Rodell, M. (2021). Applications of gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE) in global groundwater study. Global Groundwater, 531-543. Web.
Cotruvo, J. (2018). Water quality parameters. Drinking Water Quality and Contaminants Guidebook, 117-132. Web.
Hassan Omer, N. (2020). Water quality parameters. Water Quality – Science, Assessments and Policy. Web.
Kounang, N. (2018). El Paso to drink treated sewage water due to climate change and drought. Web.
Pastor, D. J., & Fullerton, T. M. (2020). Municipal water consumption and urban economic growth in El Paso. Water, 12(10), 2656. Web.
Talchabhadel, R., McMillan, H., Palmate, S. S., Sanchez, R., Sheng, Z., & Kumar, S. (2021). Current status and future directions in modeling a Transboundary aquifer: A case study of Hueco Bolson. Water, 13(22), 3178. Web.