Indianapolis is My Home

19
Jun

Does Indy Have a Water Shortage?

Author: Jason Bean, Category: News, Weather

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Lot’s of talk recently about the apparent shortage of water in Indianapolis over the past few weeks. The truth of the matter though is that there’s not a shortage of water at all, there’s a shortage of production of clean water.

I was driving home from work this evening and heard a great explanation and story about the “shortage” on WIBC. The producer, Matt Hibbeln, was frustrated with the statement of “shortage” and Steve Simpson gave the illustration of a funnel.

The top large part of the funnel represents the reservoirs, there’s plenty of water there. He stated that under the funnel is a medium sized bucket that the funnel is trying to fill up. Only so much water can come through the skinny part of the funnel at any time. The problem now is that the bucket underneath the funnel is much, much larger now. It doesn’t matter how much water is available in the top, it’s still got to come through the skinny part of the funnel.

As Steve Simpson went on to say, nobody is really using any “more” water than we used to. At least not since the invention of water hoses and sprinklers. The problem is that there are more people using the same amounts of water and the water company and/or city haven’t prepared for the increased demand.

I think the interesting point to remember though is that they’ve been collecting the monthly bills from more and more people without any problems. Where’s all the extra money gone? I’m sure the costs of cleaning water have increased, but I’d also imagine the efficiency of doing it has also increased.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against conserving water or using it intelligently, but I don’t think blaming the population for using “too much” water is an accurate representation of the problem at hand. This misrepresentation of reality couldn’t have been said more ignorantly than the following headline on the Indianapolis Star, which Steve Simpson also got a chuckle out of:

“Long drought would amplify water woes”

YOU THINK? You may be onto something there Captain Obvious!