Possibly, but we have to back up and rethink what is being done with the water that does exist first.
The problem
Increasingly water is getting scarcer and climate change is only worsening the problem. Increased population in places that are by geographic definition deserts (and have no existing water) and increased claimants on the “rights” to the existing water. Those arguments are not what this is about, as complex as they are. The argument here is there is a tremendous wasting of existing water, little reuse and reclamation and as the scarcity gets worse, this is only making it worse. At the risk of over simplification, the three large uses of water are 1) people (showers, consuming for cooking, drinking, toilets, also think of hotels in this category, landscaping, etc, etc) and 2) agriculture, horticulture, livestock, etc., and 3) industrial (think cooling large server farms, buildings, manufacturing, etc.). Some of this water can’t be reclaimed, but any that goes through sewers for “water treatment” is a candidate. And that is a lot of water.
Again, taking the risk of oversimplification, after “water treatment” from any sewer source, the vast majority of this water is later dumped into a river, ocean or other body of water. Essentially thrown away. Primarily because it is easy and importantly because it can often contain all sorts of undesirables: viruses, bacteria, hormones (e.g. birth control), antibiotics, metals, antidepressant drugs, etc. This list is enormous and would take up half the blog just to list.
However the amount of water wasted each year is hundreds of millions of gallons of water per year. When the system was designed, there was no concept of water shortage. More than half the water used in the southwest and Midwest. More than half the water used each year in the regions that are presently in water shortage.
A suggestion
A paradigm change in the waste water infrastructure.
Instead of just throwing it away, reclaim it with a natural method to clean it, and replenish the aquifer. The present system is based on cheap and easy: Basically you just need a large pipe system to get it to the river or ocean.
However forests will clean the water of many if not all of the contaminants of concern (see first blog on “will forest help climate change”) and let it refill the aquifer. Allowing wells into the aquifer to get it back in the future. In the increasing scarcity of water, natural aquifers have been tapped beyond their ability to replenish and are being exhausted. With the long droughts and increasing risk of worse with climate change the aquifers are not being replenished, increasing the risk of exhausting the aquifers with potential communities (personal or agriculture) trying to adapt to “no water”. This is frightening as MANY people and large sections of agriculture DEPEND of these aquifers for their water.
The suggestion requires a paradigm shift in infrastructure. The paradigm shift in thought is to change where the waste water is sent. Instead of dumping it in rivers or oceans, dump it on forests. It is clearly not the perfect solution for forests (they would certainly prefer clean rain). However, the forest floor, with the filtering capacity of fungal, bacterial, insect, trees roots, etc., and the full activity on substances by these groups will act as an active, almost maintenance free agent. The remaining water will filter down to replenish the local aquifer and over time be available for REUSE by the same communities that originally used it and sent it for “treatment”.
The concept it somewhat similar to a drainage/leach field from a septic tank, except on a massive scale: with the addition that the water will be reclaimed and reused in the future. And will require identifying forest land to hydrate. Yes it will require massive infrastructure support, but will allow REUSE of more than half the water that is now being used in these communities. If someone were to say they could identify an additional 50-60% MORE water, the west should jump at the chance. The Midwest is nearing a similar problem, and again can use a similar strategy to replenish the aquifers. When they find they no longer have easy access to water (coming soon to a state near you), this is one solution to add to the complex problem