NEW AGE OF THE SEA — YEAGER 389 



extra fresh water during the drought of 1957 — twice what they paid 

 for gasoline. 



The U.S. Government, through the Interior Department's Office of 

 Saline Water, is subsidizing research in this area at a rate of between 

 $1 and $3 million a year. Seven States — California, New Mexico, 

 Arizona, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and South Dakota — are also 

 spending tax money for the purpose. Compared to other government 

 endeavors, however, the total amount is negligible — so far. 



The average American family uses 550 gallons of fresh water a day, 

 the average apartment building 50,000 gallons a day, hospitals 50,000 

 to 100,000 gallons per day, large office buildings 120,000 gallons and up. 

 Total water use in the United States has increased from 40 billion 

 gallons a day in 1900 to 323 billion gallons in 1960, and will go to 597 

 billion gallons by 1980. Moreover, when we consider that the maxi- 

 mum dependable supply of natural fresh water in the United States, 

 if it were all captured, is 515 billion gallons daily — then we begin to 

 see the urgent need for new water resources. 



As the water engineers pomt out, we must look once again to the sea. 



THE SEARCH FOR CLIMATE 



The slight knowledge which humans have of weather forces can be 

 seen from the fact that at present we do not even know exactly how 

 rain begins. Learning to predict weather with great accuracy and to 

 modify it is something which geological forecasters take to be a 

 "must" in the years ahead. In this way we may be able to slow down 

 the soil erosion of arable land — that "geological inevitability which 

 man can only hasten or postpone." Like the fresh-water situation, 

 increased human demands upon the soil are creating real difficulties. 



The Russian steppes of Kazakhstan are providing the world with a 

 great contemporary dust bowl, reminiscent of that of the middle 

 1930's, when dust from the Great Plains stretched from Texas to 

 Saskatchewan. Poor land-cultivation policies, drought, and strong 

 easterly winds have combined to produce the trials of southern Russia. 

 So great is the extent of this disturbance that the dust cloud has been 

 identified in photographs taken by American weather satellites at 

 altitudes of 400 miles. 



Of course, wind erosion is only one of the processes whereby the 

 earth's arable land is diminishing and the deserts increasing ; erosion 

 by water also sweeps away the soil. But insofar as the dust bowl 

 of the Soviet steppes has diminished food resources at a time when 

 the number of mouths to feed is increasing rapidly, it is a rather 

 ominous indication of more serious troubles to come. 



How long, the geologists inquire, can the world afford floods and 

 dust bowls? The answer, obviously, is not much longer. Not, at 



