BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Water scarcity is slowly becoming a fact of life in increasingly large areas. The summer of 2006 was the second warmest in the continental United States since records began in 1895, according to the National Climatic Data Center. Moderate to extreme drought conditions were evident in about 40 percent of the country. When Constance Brown moved from Arizona to Indiana two years ago, she was struck by a major difference: people in Indiana don’t think about water every day the way people in Arizona do. The difference shows up in many ways. In Arizona, Brown said, if you drop a piece of ice on the kitchen floor and ignore it, in a few minutes it will be gone — melted and then evaporated. In Indiana, if you drop a piece of ice on the floor and ignore it, the water will just stay there until it’s wiped up. In Arizona, she said, if you need a particular garment on short notice and it’s in the laundry, you can wash it by hand and hang it outside. It will be dry in 15 minutes. Not in Indiana. In semi-arid environments such as the […]