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6 WASTEFUL WATER PRACTICES There is a serious lack of sound water conservation policies that could avoid or minimize demands on park waters. Demands to use the water that now supplies and sus- tains park resources would be reduced, and maybe avoided, if sound water conservation measures were implemented. Helpful measures often ignored may include reallocating water from existing marginal uses, requiring more efficient use of water by agricul- ture, and adopting a mix of conservation regulations and incentives. At Zion National Park, the threat of upstream dams might well be avoided if the nearby expanding communities instituted conservation mea- sures appropriate to their desert environment. - -- _.. --r - , ;;=~'s ~~ - ~,,y,;'' ~~ r`"~..~ - ~ ,~ -b. r Fr '1 . Y ~. ~} . t~ Similarly, demands for massive ground water withdrawals from the regional aquifer believed to supply water to springs in Death Valley National Monument could be vastly reduced if growth and related water consumption are restrained by water conservation policies appropriate to the area. Even in the better-watered East, continuing population growth and inadequate water conservation measures have stimulated demands that threaten our parks. In south Florida, for example, recent proposals to increase ground water pumping could further threaten Everglades' wetlands ecosystem. Immediate and fundamental changes in water use practices are essential to minimize the imminent damage to our parks, as well as to our larger environ- ment. The consequences of expanding population growth and virtually uncontrolled water use, espe- cially in the water-scarce environments of the West, inevitably will have to be faced. Creative water con- servation programs in areas where water consump- tion threatens park resources can be a precursor and guide to the more comprehensive changes needed to protect our larger environment from insatiable and destructive demands on water supplies. "n ,. J-. ~~ .- ~ ~" M. .~ V, ~ ~ r b f ~ .~ ~ ' s- ~~- ' ~- .~1.. 4 ~ Y ~~ J C. TT T~~4{ { ~~ ~ ~! .rY~'.{ry3 ~ J ~~ ~ ~ - p ,~ ~, ~ E Poor water conservation efforts and consumptive landscaping exacerbate demands for water needed to sustain our parhs. 32