WASHINGTON — The World Resources Institute (WRI) has released a new map of U.S. water stress in response to the premiere episode of Showtime's Years of Living Dangerously, which detailed the ways drought has devastated the small town of Plainview, Texas, according to a press release.
Although the drought was caused by a precipitous drop in rainfall, noted the release, Plainview is also located in the 13th most water-stressed river basin in the world, so even in non-drought conditions the area would have serious cause for concern.
WRI's Andrew Maddocks has published a new blog post detailing the water stress in Plainview, the release reported.
"In Plainview — and every other drought-stricken place across the United States — a precipitous drop in rainfall is only part of a much broader story," said Maddocks. "Underlying water stress is one important piece of that complicated puzzle. When drought strikes where baseline water stress is high, it exacerbates regions’ water woes."
Maddocks added, "WRI’s Aqueduct project recently evaluated, mapped and scored stresses on water supplies in the world’s 100 largest river basins. The Brazos ranked 13th most stressed among the world’s largest rivers. The river’s extremely high stress level means that 80 percent or more of its naturally available surface water supply is already being used by farms, homes, businesses and energy producers."
Read the full blog post here.
