Innovators can increase fresh water

In Washington, this year we’re fortunate to have escaped the historic droughts plaguing other parts of the world. The Columbia River basin water system has been at normal levels which is good for our agriculture, hydropower generation, barging, local water supplies, and fish and wildlife.

However, 20 years ago we faced the same severe drought that is afflicting the world’s major river drainages including the Colorado, Rhine, and Yangtze. That water scarcity is forcing factories to close, farmland to remain fallow, crops to perish, massive fish kills, barging on rivers to stop, and governments...