500年來最嚴重的乾旱 看美國加州如何用新技術節水

More than 80% of California is now in a state of extreme drought, according to the latest assessment. The environmental conditions that residents are experiencing today actually began in 2011. Still, there seems to be no end in sight. Water costs are sky high, as you would expect, but Californians are paying the price in more ways than one. The state’s Central Valley agriculture industry, for example, stands to lose $1.7 billion this year as a result of what some believe is the worst drought to affect the region in 500 years. Some 14, 500 workers could lose their jobs in an area responsible for half of the state’s agriculture and five percent of the entire nation’s.

最新評估顯示，加州80%的地區目前處於極度乾旱中。當地居民如今正經歷的環境條件實際上2011年就萌芽了。但目前仍沒有緩解跡象。毫不意外，當地用水成本高得嚇人，但是加州所付出的代價，並非只是用水成本這麼簡單。加州中央谷地(Central Valley)農業今年將面臨17億美元的損失，原因在於該地區遭遇了據稱是500年以來最嚴重的旱災。這一地區的農業產值佔加州半壁江山，佔全美農業產值的5%，大約1.45萬名工人也可能因農業蕭條而失業。

How will California survive? For a problem of such massive scope, the solutions will be complex, experts say. One thing is certain: technology will play a key role.

加州的出路在何方？專家表示，對於如此大範圍的旱情來說，要找到解決辦法不是件容易的事。但有一點是肯定的：科技將發揮重要作用。

Halla Razak is the director of public utilities for the city of San Diego. Diversifying the water supply has been a top priority, she tells Fortune, because more than 90 percent of San Diego’s water has historically been purchased from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. It became clear in 1990, when there was another drought, that the existing plan wasn’t sustainable, Razak said. It prompted officials to take a fresh look at alternatives.

聖地亞哥市公用事業部門主管哈拉•瑞扎克向《財富》雜誌(Fortune)透露，水源多元化一直是該部門工作的重中之重，因爲聖地亞哥的九成用水都是從南加州市政水管區（Metropolitan Water District of Southern California）購買的。瑞扎克說，1990年也出現過旱情，當時我們明確地意識到現有的計劃缺乏可持續性。旱情迫使政府官員重新審視替代水源的問題。

Since 2007, per-capita water use in the San Diego region has decreased about 27 percent. Officials point to rebates, tools, and educational programs aimed at improving water-use efficiency as factors in the change.

自2007年以來，聖地亞哥人均用水量下降了27%。官員稱，旨在改善用水效率的返利活動、工具和教育項目都是導致這一變化的因素。

“These are low-tech solutions, ” Razak concedes. They are not like the brand-new and pricey reverse-osmosis desalination plant now under construction. The new Carlsbad Desalination Project, the work of the private developer Poseidon Water, is expected to open this fall. It will supply roughly 50 million gallons of water per day, which is about 10 percent of what the region uses each year, Razak says.

瑞扎克承認，“這些解決方案的科技含量較低。”這些辦法並非那種全新的、昂貴的高科技解決方案，例如目前正在建設的反滲透海水淡化工廠。瑞扎克還說，由私營開發商波塞冬水務公司(Poseidon Water)新建的卡爾斯巴德海水淡化項目(Carlsbad Desalination Project)有望於今秋投入使用。該工廠每日供水量約爲5,000萬加侖，大約是該地區年用水量的10%。

Desalination is something of a controversial topic. Though it is an established technology that has long provided drinkable water to many parts of the world, most notably the Middle East, it is also frequently criticized for its high energy demands.

海水淡化是一個具有爭議性的話題。雖然這是一種成熟的技術，而且長時間以來被用於爲世界很多地區提供飲用水，尤其是中東地區，但它經常因高能耗而受到詬病。

‘San Diego’s most expensive source’

“聖地亞哥最昂貴的水源”

“We’ve been desalinating water for over 100 years, ” says Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, a nonprofit that works with Fortune 500 companies on water solutions. “We know how to desalinate, but that’s not the long-term answer because it’s still extraordinarily expensive.”

非營利性組織太平洋研究所（Pacific Institute）所長皮特•格萊克表示，“我們從事海水淡化業務已經100多年了。我們對海水淡化技術瞭如指掌，但這並非長久之計，因爲這一技術仍然非常昂貴。”該組織致力於與財富500強（Fortune 500）企業合作開發水務解決方案。

Reverse osmosis technology has helped improve desalination’s energy footprint compared with past alternatives, Gleick says. Even so, the new Carlsbad plant “will be San Diego’s most expensive source of water, ” he says.

格萊克說，與之前的技術相比，反滲透技術已幫助改善了海水淡化的能源足跡。即便如此，新建造的卡爾斯巴德工廠將“成爲聖地亞哥最昂貴的水源。”

In Gleick’s view, the “more mundane” technologies that help people use water more efficiently, from efficient toilets to irrigation equipment, are far more important. “Drip irrigation is not a new technology, toilets are not new, but there are new versions that let us save a tremendous amount of water cost-effectively, ” he says. “They may not be sexy, but they’re frankly the smartest things we could be doing.”

在格萊克看來，那些“更世俗”的技術能幫助人們提升用水效率，包括節水馬桶和灌溉設備在內的這些技術遠比反滲透技術更爲重要。“滴灌並不是什麼新技術，節水馬桶也不是，但是也有新的版本能夠讓我們以低廉的成本節約大量水資源。這些技術並不怎麼吸引眼球，但它們實際上卻是當前我們能夠採取的最明智的辦法。”