"Gonna Be in a World off Trouble'

Water shortages plague much of the U.S.

A:ross the Colorado Rockies there has been no major snowfall since late November, and the once bustling ski resort at Breckenridge was closed down on Dec.

29. In New York City restaurant patrons must now ask for glasses of water--a conservation measure last applied in 1963.

In Lambertville, N.J., homeowners are being urged to use toilets three or four times before flushing. Throughout the Midwest, farm land that was left parched and crumbly by 90DEG to 100DEG temperatures last summer remains arid because so little snow has fallen on the Plains states.

Laments Bob Swanson of the Minnesota department of agriculture: "This is the dryest winter since 1883."

Indeed, over the past few months a dry spell has plagued much of the U.S.; if heavy snows and drenching rains do not hit before summer, a drought of near biblical proportions could affect some areas.

Much of the dryness stems from the far-below-average precipitation of last spring and summer, which has continued. So far, 1981 has begun no more promisingly. In the West, a ridge of high pressure has hovered nearly 800 miles off the California coast for the past two months, blocking the usual flow of moist air from the Pacific and keeping the area dryer (and warmer) than usual. Meanwhile, the jet stream that moves eastward across the continent and down from Canada is bringing dryer (and colder) air than usual to the northeastern U.S. The stream has not looped south far enough to sweep up warm air from the Gulf of Mexico, as it did during the relatively balmy winter of 1979-80.

Central and Southern California are receiving only 20% of normal rainfall, and the situation in Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona is about the same. In Colorado the snowpack is just half as deep as usual by now, and only the expensive snowmaking machinery installed after the disastrously dry season of 1976-77 is salvaging a share of the state's ski business this year.

Many Midwestern farmers, still suffering from the crop losses caused by the summer drought, now gaze forlornly over their bare, frozen land. In Minnesota, where about 5 in. of snow should have fallen by now, only a light powder covers the earth. Says Ed Grady of the state's farm bureau: "Our concern is that the frost may penetrate the ground more deeply than it would with a snow cover," thus damaging crops planted this winter. "This is about as dry as I can remember," observes Eldon Merklin, an Oklahoma farmer who planted 1,200 acres of wheat last month. "I had to plant some of it twice after it died because of lack of moisture." Adds South Dakota Agriculture Secretary Rodger Pearson, who reckons that his state's farmers lost $600 million worth of crops in the summer drought: "If we do not receive some moisture in the spring, we're gonna be in a world Of trouble."

The reservoirs of the Delaware River Basin supply parts of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and eastern Pennsylvania with water. With the system's three most important reservoirs now filled to only 32% capacity (75% is normal in winter), the Delaware River Basin Commission last week declared a "drought emergency" for the area; the Governors of the four states will meet in Trenton, N.J., this week to hammer out restrictions on water use. New Jersey officials, for example, are already considering closing certain industries that use great amounts of water, such as breweries, and they are looking into the feasibility of pumping water from old mines. Says DRBC Spokesman Dawes Thompson: "This is one of the worst, if not the worst shortages we have ever been in."

New York City gets 45% of its water from the Delaware Basin, and its other sources are also draining fast; the city's 18 reservoirs, usually at 80% of capacity at this time of year, are only 34% full, the lowest level since 1963. For the past two months, Mayor Edward Koch has been pushing voluntary conservation measures, but city officials now expect he will impose mandatory water rationing within the next few weeks.

The dry arctic air across the central and northeastern regions of the country that has sent temperatures plummeting to record lows over the past two weeks has not helped the shortage, for water evaporates more quickly in such weather. The nation's dryness also serves as a reminder of the country's profligate use of its water resources. During 1980, Americans used 235.5 billion gal. of fresh water every day. Nearly half of this amount, or 105.2 billion gal., was not replaced by snow or rainfall. To make up the difference, wells are now tapping underground reservoirs, some of which contain fossil water 25,000 years old; this is gradually depleting immense subterranean reserves like the Ogallala aquifer, which stretches nearly 160,000 sq. mi. beneath the Great Plains. Before long, the country may painfully learn the wisdom of one proverb that Benjamin Franklin included in his 1746 Poor Richard's Almanack: "We know not what the well is worth till it is dry."

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