While much attention has been paid to our planets limited oil reserves, experts are warning that water may soon eclipse black gold as earth’s most precious commodity.  There is a growing concern that fresh water supplies are falling short, which could lead to disastrous consequences.  A thorough report from the UK Guardian explains:

Global population, economic development and a growing appetite for meat, dairy and fish protein have raised human water demand sixfold in 50 years. Meanwhile, supplies have been diminished in several ways:

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When it comes to water conservation, a little effort makes a big difference.   Here are six things you can do to takepart:

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The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

Katie Halper:

Brigitte Bardot Fine: Top 5 Bardotisms That Got Hot Sex Symbol In Hot Water

Obama Pound: In Historic Moment, White People Exposed To Fist Bump For First Time

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Nicole Hughes:

Get a Job: Top 10 Guides to Finding the Perfect Eco Career

Schwarzenegger Declares Drought in California

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Andy Kondrat:

Barcelona Fines Citizens for Using Drinking Water in Pools and Gardens

Coal Power Plants Waste Two-Thirds of Energy Input

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Jon Popham:

Megabus Expanding to the East Coast

Egyptian Blogger Freed from Prison

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Giulia Rozzi:

Diamonds In The Rough: A Ugandan Hip Hop Revolution

Cluster Bomb Ban

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Gina Telaroli:

Interview with Nina Davenport, Director of Operation Filmmaker

KidZui : Internet for Kids (and Those Young at Heart)

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a statewide drought in California on Wednesday, citing below-average rainfall and court-ordered water restrictions meant to protect wild fish as the leading causes of the short supply of water this summer. The Gov issued an executive order to speed the transfer of water to areas that need it the most, boost conservation efforts in other parts of the state, and to assist farmers. Here’s more from the L.A. Times article:

The governor stopped short of declaring a water emergency. Administration officials say Wednesday’s move is a first step, putting Californians on notice that large-scale rationing could be coming if the situation does not improve. Some areas of the state are more vulnerable than others.

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In Barcelona, the local government is taking drastic measures to protect the increasingly-scant water resources available, and is now issuing fines to citizens that use potable water for uses other than drinking. The fines, which were implemented in April of this year, can be levied for a number of different offenses. From the press release on the City of Barcelona’s website:

Minor sanctions will be applied in the case of using drinking water to wash cars on the road, water gardens of between 250 and 1,000 square metres, or filling pools up to 12 metres deep by six wide.

Using drinking water to water gardens between 1,000 and 3,000 square metres is considered a serious offence, and will carry fines of 800 euros.

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Georgia’s Governor, Sonny Perdue, tried a faith-based approach to Atlanta’s water shortage last November, staging a public prayer session to ask God for rain. Perdue stood on the steps of the state capital and declared “We come together for simply one reason, for one reason only - to reverently and respectfully pray up a storm.”

Atlanta received just enough rainfall to prevent 2007 going down on record as the driest year ever, but Georgia’s water crisis continues.

Maybe Governor Perdue should consider something a little more proactive than praying”say, consulting with rainwater recapturing expert Brad Lancaster, author of Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond. Lancaster was on NPR’s Morning Edition today explaining how easily and efficiently rainwater can be harvested and used for irrigation, instead of wasting precious drinking water.

With so many states facing record drought, why not capture whatever rainwater we do get, instead of letting it run, like money, down the drain? No doubt God would approve”after all, as Benjamin Franklin noted, “God helps those who help themselves.”

While the rest of Atlanta worries about running dry, Steve Carr’s collecting enough rainwater in two 500-gallon stainless steel tanks to give him all the water he needs for daily showers, drinking, and washing his dishes and clothes.

The tanks are hooked up to the plumbing system of the industrial warehouse this self sufficient, “gainfully unemployed” nonconformist has called home for the past sixteen years. Carr estimates that he consumes about 10 gallons of water daily, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which notes that “that’s about one-tenth of what an average Atlantan might go through.”

Carr told the Atlanta Journal-Constituiton, “I’ve got more water available to me than I can possibly use” I’m thinking about a sauna and hot tub.”

To learn more about conserving water with rainwater barrels, go to rainbarrelguide.com.

Palm Springs, that jewel of a jetset getaway, is studded with golf courses and swimming pools. It’s also a desert, which is why choosing to locate 120 water-guzzling world-class golf courses there looks like a world-class miscalculation now that the west’s drying up.

Parts of the legendary resort’s Coachella Valley “have sunk more than a foot in a decade as groundwater was sucked up to feed a thirsty economy,” according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, which adds that even as the ground is literally sinking, Palm Spring’s population
“has ballooned by 25 percent in just five years.”

Steven Robbins, the Coachella Valley Water District’s chief engineer, told the Inquirer:

“We have a problem, and we have to deal with it. But our goal is to not have water be a constraint to growth. We don’t want to be the ones to say ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ to growth.”

I guess they’re not really about to run out of water after all; looks like that river we call “de-Nile” runs right through Palm Springs.

Eight years of record droughts have left western states squabbling over who gets how much water from which rivers, but now California, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico have signed a historic twenty-year plan to share their dwindling dams and rivers more or less equally.

The plan spells out how the states will cope with reductions during droughts, but it doesn’t go far enough for some conservationists, who question why there’s no effort to limit growth in a region where resources are already stretched so thin.

As John Weisheit, conservation director for Living Rivers, asked NPR’s Ted Robbins, “What’s wrong with saying, “I’m sorry, we ran out of water, you can’t live here?”

Learn more about how you can help conserve water here.