water quantity

Too Little or Too Much?

The answer depends on where you are, when you need it and what quality you need. Rainfall is highly variable. It can rain heavily in one part of town and be dry a few blocks away. Rainfall also differs annually and seasonally. These variances in rainfall can sometimes result in shortages or surpluses of water.

Shortage of Water = Drought

When there is a shortage of water we experience a drought - typically caused by below average rainfall. However, water shortages can also be triggered by excess demand for available water, even under average rainfall conditions. Farmers need water to grow crops and raise livestock, while ethanol plants and other industries also rely on water to produce energy, food, and many of the items we use every day, not to mention the water needed to sustain life in a healthy ecosystem. Parts of Iowa have been in drought conditions from 2021 to 2023—the trend of increasing demand and climate change may lead to future water shortages and rationing if we don’t take steps now to prevent them.

Surplus of Water = Flood

When too much rain falls or it falls too quickly, the result is a powerful force that can cause significant damage and forever change how a river flows. For example, the 2008 floods in Iowa resulted in an estimation of over $3 billion in total damages to private property and infrastructure. In March 2019, Glenwood saw its water treatment infrastructure severely damaged by Missouri River flooding, caused by an extreme “bomb cyclone” storm, in which heavy rain fell on top of accumulated snow and rivers became clogged by ice jams, leading to rapid water level rise. Residents faced multiple weeks of boil orders and pleas for water conservation, with 275,000 to 300,000 gallons of water being delivered daily by truck from the nearby communities of Red Oak and Shenandoah.

In addition, with heavy rainfalls and flooding, large amounts of soil and other pollutants are swept away and negatively impact our water quality. By protecting the soil with residue (living or dead), implementation of wetlands, and proper utilization of flood plains, we can lessen the impact of large rain events.

As we have seen in Iowa, droughts and floods can be economically devastating for crop and livestock production. The decreased supply of grain causes prices to rise to meet a new supply-demand balance, triggering an increase in prices at both the grocery store and fuel pump.