[pas]

aquifers deplete, the water table lowers, wells dry up

sustainability, availability and maximum marginal price matters, just as with electric power generation

[chemotaxis]

Depletion of local water resources is a good thing to measure. But by and large, this is not what we're measuring. Instead, we're coming up with absurd statistics that imply any water put to beneficial use just disappears forever.

If your tap water comes from a river and flows back to a river, leaving it running mostly just wastes energy.