Sept 7, 2021
Over the years, America’s water usage has changed immensely. At times, its citizens have experienced highs and lows, from water abundance to extreme droughts.
Saline water or saltwater contains more sodium than freshwater; both are unsafe to drink. Freshwater can only be drinkable when filtered, boiled, and disinfected.
What factors have played into the increasing and decreasing amounts of water in the United States? Read more to find out.
Significant Years in U.S. Water Supply
Droughts are a normal occurrence in a range of climates. In the United States, one of the major droughts took place in the 1930s and was coined as the Dust Bowl. Even though different states have experienced large-scale droughts in recent years, these droughts will never compare to the Dust Bowl.
Regarding floods in 20th century America, many claimed lives and caused billions of dollars in damage. One of the most dangerous kinds of floods is a flash flood. Flash floods can be deadly because of their rapid rate of growing water levels. Due to the water increasing quickly, this allows little to no time for people to evacuate to a safe location.
One of the monumental floods in America took place in 1927 in Mississippi. The Great Mississippi River Flood displaced about 640,000 people in Illinois and Louisiana. Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources reported that “Floodwaters can fully inundate water wells for days or weeks. The force of floodwaters can also disrupt or damage the well or water supply infrastructure and directly introduce the contaminated water into the well.”
Provide Fuel for Employee Vehicles After the Storm
In areas where power outages are widespread, fuel pumps do not work. That means that even if roads are passable, people can’t get fuel to drive back and forth to work. If you need your people available to keep your business operating, providing fuel for their vehicles is a great way to get them where they need to be. Also, if your business needs delivery drivers, route drivers, etc., you’ll want to keep those vehicles fueled to serve your customers’ needs.
Factors that Influence Water Supply
The increase and decrease of a water supply can occur for various reasons. All reasons have a common element, though: climate. Other causes that can influence water supply include:
- Heavy Rain: Many people are under the impression that floods only occur in certain parts of the U.S. Truthfully, though, floods have the potential to happen anywhere, especially when there is heavy rain. Storm drains can become clogged and plugged by remains in the road or buildings. Places such as parking garages, underpasses, and basements can become danger zones during a flood.
- Quick-melting snow: When temperatures rise quickly after the winter, snow has the potential to melt rapidly. Rapid melting snow can flood into homes, causing water damage to furniture, and floors and also causing electrical issues. Due to quick melting snow, floods can be prevented if structural issues and sealing up cracks where water can seep into.
- Little to no rainfall: “The contiguous U.S. average annual precipitation was 30.28 inches, which is 0.34 inches above the long-term average, ranking in the middle third of the historical record”, stated the National Centers for Environmental Information. States that experience severe droughts are those in the West, including California, Nevada, and Arizona.
- Heat and dry weather: Little rainfall is not the only cause of the drought. Extremely hot weather increases the likelihood of water evaporating from nearby rivers and lakes. When evaporation occurs, soils can lose moisture, and plants that generally retain water can die.
Solutions for Limited Water Supply
How can you prepare for events such as natural disasters? Tank-Depot has a wide range of emergency water tanks that are durable and can be stored outside.
Emergency plastic water tanks can be used to store drinking water, collect rainwater, and also for irrigation purposes. Contact Tank-Depot and browse through our large selection of plastic water tanks.
