El Paso to drink treated sewage water due to climate change drought

Video: Sanjay Gupta assesses climate change impact 04:20 (CNN)

The people of El Paso, Texas, are resilient. Living in the middle of the harsh Chihuahuan Desert, the city has no other choice. On average, 15 days every year spike over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The city gets little relief with annual rainfall of just about 9 inches.

It’s one of the hottest cities in the country. One of its prime sources of water is the Rio Grande. Typically the river can supply as much as half of the city’s water needs. But climate change is making that increasingly difficult and is pushing the city to look for new sources of water. Now, El Paso is on track to become the first large city in the United States to treat its sewage water and send it directly back into its taps.

Increasing temperatures will make the dry region even more vulnerable to drought, according to the federal government’s most recent national climate assessment. Already challenged with balancing the demands of about 700,000 thirsty El Pasoans along with agriculture and industry needs, El Paso must also face the fact that climate change is literally drying up one of its major sources of water.

Analyzing tree ring records, scientists have been able to reconstruct the climate history of the region as far as the late 1500s and have found that as temperatures have risen, the amount of snow melting and feeding the Rio Grande has dropped.

“We’re getting less runoff now than we would have gotten as recently as the ’80s or ’90s,” said J. Phillip King, a professor of civil engineering at the University of New Mexico. King has tracked the river’s water levels for the past 27 years as an adviser to the Elephant Butte Irrigation District. The district manages the water distribution of some 90,000 acres of farmland along the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico and Texas.

King told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta that there is simply less snowmelt coming from northern New Mexico and southern Colorado to feed the river. Since 1958, the amount of early April snowmelt going into the Rio Grande has dropped 25% due to less snowpack and evaporation.

What’s happening in the Rio Grande is not unique. It’s a […]

Full article: El Paso to drink treated sewage water due to climate change drought

More about El Paso, Texas, and water:

El Paso Water Works to Beautify Facilities Throughout City

Avoiding outdoor water waste: Coping with Texas summers

Why are Texas’ smaller utilities not cleaning up drinking water?

Accused: Veteran’s Administration medical center, of dirty water conditions