Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America.
The Nature Conservancy, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Mar 4;15(3):e0229798. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229798. eCollection 2020.
Climate change is exacerbating drought and water stress in several global regions, including some parts of the United States. During times of drought in the U.S., municipal governments, private water suppliers and non-profits commonly deploy advocacy campaigns and incentive programs targeting reductions in residential water use through actions including: repairing leaks, shutting off taps, and installing new water-saving appliances. We asked whether these campaigns have the potential to alleviate water stress during drought at the county scale by estimating the potential impact of full adoption of such actions. In 2010, we show that the maximum potential use reductions from these residential actions may only alleviate water stress in 6% (174) of U.S. counties. The potential impact of domestic programs is limited by the relative dominance of agriculture water withdrawal, the primary water user in 50% of U.S. counties. While residential actions do achieve some water demand savings, they are not sufficient to alter water stress in the majority of the continental U.S. We recommend redirecting advocacy efforts and incentives to individual behaviors that can influence agricultural water use.
气候变化正在加剧包括美国部分地区在内的全球多个地区的干旱和水资源紧张。在美国发生干旱时，市政府、私营水供应商和非营利组织通常会开展宣传活动和激励计划，通过包括修复漏水、关闭水龙头和安装新的节水设备在内的行动，针对减少居民用水。我们询问了这些活动是否有潜力通过估计全面采用这些行动的潜在影响，来缓解县一级的干旱期间的水资源紧张状况。2010 年，我们表明，这些居民行动的最大潜在用水量减少，可能只能缓解美国 6%（174 个）县的水资源紧张状况。国内项目的影响受到农业取水量相对主导地位的限制，农业取水量是美国 50%县的主要用水者。虽然居民行动确实实现了一些用水需求的节约，但不足以改变美国大陆大部分地区的水资源紧张状况。我们建议将宣传工作和激励措施重新引导到可以影响农业用水的个人行为上。
