BIG SQUEEZE: On the world's freshwater resources looms as populations mushroom and incomes rise.
Image: Cary Wolinsky
In Brief
- Global freshwater resources are threatened by rising demands from many quarters. Growing populations need ever more water for drinking, hygiene, sanitation, food production and industry. Climate change, meanwhile, is expected to contribute to droughts.
- Policymakers need to figure out how to supply water without degrading the natural ecosystems that provide it.
- Existing low-tech approaches can help prevent scarcity, as can ways to boost supplies, such as improved methods to desalinate water.
- But governments at all levels need to start setting policies and making investments in infrastructure for water conservation now.
More In This Article
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Infographic
Freshwater Crisis: Current Situation
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Infographic
Freshwater Crisis: Looming Shortages
A friend of mine lives in a middle-class neighborhood of New Delhi, one of the richest cities in India. Although the area gets a fair amount of rain every year, he wakes in the morning to the blare of a megaphone announcing that freshwater will be available only for the next hour. He rushes to fill the bathtub and other receptacles to last the day. New Delhi’s endemic shortfalls occur largely because water managers decided some years back to divert large amounts from upstream rivers and reservoirs to irrigate crops.
My son, who lives in arid Phoenix, arises to the low, schussing sounds of sprinklers watering verdant suburban lawns and golf courses. Although Phoenix sits amid the Sonoran Desert, he enjoys a virtually unlimited water supply. Politicians there have allowed irrigation water to be shifted away from farming operations to cities and suburbs, while permitting recycled wastewater to be employed for landscaping and other nonpotable applications.
This article was originally published with the title Facing the Freshwater Crisis.
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53 Comments
Add Comment"Scientists expect water scarcity to become more common in large part because the worlds population is rising and many people are getting richer (thus expanding demand) and because global climate change is exacerbating aridity and reducing supply in many regions."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTrue enough, but population growth will be checked by development, busy people have less children. I do not subscribe to taking contraceptives over development, I will argue that development is more important, I will always argue that, the more we work, the less time there is for children, I am not against contraceptives, I am against the idea that UN and club of Rome have that contraceptives is the way, sorry, those people need development, contraceptives by UN and Club of Rome litterally means they have given up on the poor, just limit their numbers they are too dumb to understand economics. Not so, there is lack of real leadership in a place like Africa, get real leadership and the continent will be off, who has time for six kids when tthey are doing meaningful employment. And development makes it expensive to have kids.
The crisis in world water supplies is indeed very real, as detailed in the August 2008 cover article, Facing The Freshwater Crisis, by Peter Roger. However, some of the suggestions to alleviate the problem strike me as far better in the abstract than in the reality.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes, water is wasted in the average home by design, but designing a home to minimize water usage will not be easy. First, potable water will need to be piped through a water heater and then on to all the sinks and bathtubs/showers and kitchen appliances, most notably the dish washer. The drains from all these sinks and tubs and the dishwasher must then be routed to a central filtration/pretreatment tank before this gray water can be pumped through a second set of pipes to the toilets. The gray water must be filtered and pretreated before reuse, as it contains particulate matter and soap residues that will readily clog the water pipes, especially in areas with hard water. Finally, the toilets must be drained through a second set of drains to another collection point, where solids are separated for composting and any remaining wastewater must be either disposed of or collected for agricultural use, along with the solids.
As a contractor specializing in home construction for the last 24 years, I can easily state that the costs involved will be substantial. In new single family dwelling construction, plumbing costs will easily be three times the current cost, and that does not even include the costs of the various collection and treatment systems. Further, energy usage related to plumbing will probably double as well, since the gray water will not pump itself back through the house. Costs to retrofit these systems to existing homes will be far higher, and costs to retrofit multi-story and multi-family units, such as apartment buildings, will probably be prohibitive. In other words, these advanced ideas will only be usable on new construction homes.
These concepts are not new. Robert A. Heinlein discussed them in detail in his 1966 classic The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. In this novel, lunar colonists revolt against their Earth based overlords, a revolution which, at the heart, is based on the misuse and wastage of water. However, the requirements of a capital intensive, energy intensive, resource constrained non-Terrestrial environment do not translate back to present day Earth except in the most extreme circumstances. It would be far better to invest a small amount in more efficient farming practices than plan on rebuilding the planets housing infrastructure.
Lawson Fowble
Sales Manager
G&I Homes, Oneonta
The crisis in world water supplies is indeed very real, as detailed in the August 2008 cover article, Facing The Freshwater Crisis, by Peter Roger. However, some of the suggestions to alleviate the problem strike me as far better in the abstract than in the reality.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes, water is wasted in the average home by design, but designing a home to minimize water usage will not be easy. First, potable water will need to be piped through a water heater and then on to all the sinks and bathtubs/showers and kitchen appliances, most notably the dish washer. The drains from all these sinks and tubs and the dishwasher must then be routed to a central filtration/pretreatment tank before this ‘gray water’ can be pumped through a second set of pipes to the toilets. The gray water must be filtered and pretreated before reuse, as it contains particulate matter and soap residues that will readily clog the water pipes, especially in areas with hard water. Finally, the toilets must be drained through a second set of drains to another collection point, where solids are separated for composting and any remaining wastewater must be either disposed of or collected for agricultural use, along with the solids.
As a contractor specializing in home construction for the last 24 years, I can easily state that the costs involved will be substantial. In new single family dwelling construction, plumbing costs will easily be three times the current cost, and that does not even include the costs of the various collection and treatment systems. Further, energy usage related to plumbing will probably double as well, since the gray water will not pump itself back through the house. Costs to retrofit these systems to existing homes will be far higher, and costs to retrofit multi-story and multi-family units, such as apartment buildings, will probably be prohibitive. In other words, these advanced ideas will only be usable on new construction homes.
These concepts are not new. Robert A. Heinlein discussed them in detail in his 1966 classic The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. In this novel, lunar colonists revolt against their Earth based overlords, a revolution which, at the heart, is based on the misuse and wastage of water. However, the requirements of a capital intensive, energy intensive, resource constrained non-Terrestrial environment do not translate back to present day Earth except in the most extreme circumstances. It would be far better to invest a small amount in more efficient farming practices than plan on rebuilding the planet’s housing infrastructure.
Lawson Fowble
Sales Manager
G&I Homes, Oneonta
no comment
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat about governments offering financial assistance for bathtubs to be replaced with shower units?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe central problem with the auhor's thesis of an impending "freshwater crisis" is that people do not use, consume or lose water in any real sense. They just move it. Mostly they do not move it very far.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe very complicated and expensive fixes envisioned by the Booz Allen crowd are superficially flawed, and therefore undeserving of much credence, because they do not resort to the simpler remediation methods, which involve understanding the planet's enormously efficient water cycle and taking better advantage of it.
The most logical solution to freshwater shortages for people in very arid regions is to avoid putting more people there than the available water will support. Growth in population, and the establishment of basic life support infrastructure, need to be synchronized.
The last thing we need is another manufactured "crisis" resting on superficial social analysis and poor understanding of planetary ecology.
I agree that a lot of the technology needed to conserve water in certain types of water use is very expensive and therefore may not provide practical or near term solutions. As the article pointed out irrigation, whether for lawns or for agriculture, is by far the largest consumer of water. It is also the largest waste of water. Aggressive use of chemical fertilizers is one of the major factors in food productivity and this requires large volumes of water to work. Coupled with leaky and/or inefficient methods of irrigation, 50% or more of water used in irrigation is not getting to the plants. Moisture sensors, smart controllers and more efficient forms of irrigation are available at a certain level of expenditure. However, there is another level of technology available that can be deployed quickly and easily. This technology offers a double digit % reduction in the need for irrigation water by making the plant more efficient in its use of water. A side effect of treatment with this technology is a reduction in the amount of fertilizer needed. This has the bonus of substantially reducing fertilizer runoff. The technology is a "stew" of photosynthetic bacteria and other natural material fed to the plant through the irrigation system. This can be applied through many existing irrigation systems to achieve immediate significant water use reductions with additional reductions achieved once old or inadequate systems are repaired or replaced. Information on this technology can be found at www.chemilizer.com under eco-irrigation and at www.inoculaid.com. Tim Dickson, Director of Business Development, Chemilizer Products, Inc.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEvery day I read about the ice caps melting and the horrible things all of this additional fresh water in the ocean will wreak.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy not collect the water that is melting and pipe it down here to refill the fresh water basins we have used up. We could refill the Great Lakes for example.
Water is not in a criss situation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this2/3 of the earths surface is covered by water.
Peter Rogers should turn in his word processor.
Expectations of development and education dampening population growth have been around for as long as I remember. High population densities modify normal human behaviour, violence increases. The educated and developed in these societies then become victims of the intolerant masses.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes at the end of the day population will control itself but I ma sure you will not want to be part of this natural process. China acted India did not, check their progress.
97 percent of the earth's water is saline!!! Do the math on the water cost if every drop that you use now had to be first desalinated!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's impossible, in a closed system, to achieve a stable ecosystem when both the population and the per capita consumption are increasing. However, it is possible to achieve environmental and economic entropy, and that is where modern corporate capitalism and population growth are taking us.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is impossible, in a closed system, to achieve ecosystem stability when both population and per capita consumption increase beyond natural renewal rates. But it is possible, under those circumstances, to achieve both environmental and economic entropy, and that is where corporate capitalism and a growing world population are driving us.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisToo much money= too much waste. That, and overpopulation are stressing our resources to the limit.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is not practical. First of all, the melt water is already mixed with salt water and so will have to be de-salinized before use. To say that it is "fresh" is just to comment on its comparatively low salinity. Second, water is so cheap that it is not economically worthwhile to build expensive piplines to tranport it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI also think the article is unrealistic. It also does not begin to account for changes occurring due to warming. As "scientific earthling" pointed out, when things get tough, violence increases. However, it is pretty darn rare that masses take out the wealthy. Usually it is the wealthy who survive while the masses die off. If we look around today, that is exactly what is happening. The economic pyramid is shifting due to oil price shocks and those at the bottom, marginally surviving, are dying.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat is of far greater concern for the developed world, and readers of Sciam, is that when these things get to the point that they affect wealthy societies, those societies start eyeing each other. The runup to WWII was 10 years of worldwide depression and attendant desperation. A desperate atmosphere leads to emplacement of dictators, and dictators go to war like clockwork automatons.
Thus, I think we need to take a very hard look at what our energy needs are going to be to deal with the effects of global warming. I think that survival in reasonable style is going to take 10 times what we consume today. With that, our economy will be in good shape, our citizens will do alright, and we will be able to, just barely, afford to move water (even desalinate it) to stop our continent from turning to desert. Even so, I suspect that we will need to use efficient farming technologies such as "Tim" described. But with enough energy, we will be able to.
A 10X multiple of today's energy level is going to require nuclear generation and/or satellite solar power beamed back to earth. We really need to get practical here. None other than Stewart Brand (Whole Earth Catalog guy) has come out and said that we were wrong, the real lowest environmental impact energy system is nuclear, for the backbone power we need. We can supplement that with solar and wind, but we need a backbone that can be turned on and off.
The Arctic melt water is not really fresh. It just has low salinity as compared to regular sea water. So, it would have to be desalinated before use, anyway. It is not practical to ship water by pipeline because water is so cheap. No one could make money shipping it. Certainly, such a shipper, if there were one, wouldn't dump it into the Great Lakes because they would just have to pump it out again...and everyone elase would have access to it. Besides, since water (except for certain agricultural and industrial uses)usually needs to be treated pre- and post-use for most purposes, it makes more sense to get the water locally whenever possible. If it isn't possible, I suggest the people using the water are living where they shouldn't be living, such as in the desert. There is more than enough fresh water in the world to go around. Unfortunately, people happen to be in places where the water is not. If they can't move or be moved nearer to water, sad to say, they have to suffer from a shortage of water. There is no way to fix this problem. Not every problem has a solution.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWrong. Do you drink salty water from oceans? What is the use of salty water?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn a world of cheap abundant energy, this is a non-issue. You want cheap, plentiful water? Build cheap, abundant nuclear reactors. Problem solved.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMilton asks, <>... and others note the difficulty and expense of desalination. ][ Bear in mind the efficiency with which the sun desalinates ocean water already, planetwide. We understand the transformation and transport of ocean water to fresh water fairly well. What we do not understand so well is how to match human usage patterns to the natural freshwater supply patterns. ][ As others have pointed out here, conservation measured in areas of comparative H2O surplus really won't help people in areas of comparative H2O scarcity. The hard truth is, people do not have the energy resources to move water very far. ][ A few miles? Okay, we dig a canal or run a pipe. ][ A hundred miles? Hmmm. Well, we have done that sort of thing to feed big cities... taking advantage of distant water sources uphill. ][ A thousand miles, or transcontinental redistribution? Sorry. People who are far from water are just out of luck, as far as human intervention goes. Only the sun picks up large quantities of water and moves them that far.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisInherantly you will always have a percentage that is not involved with the developement who will then have greater amounts of time, less resources, and likely less education, and so they will have more children. Creating a greater gap in society and adding to political and economic instability. Further, these problems are found in first world nations, so how canwe expect them to evaporate from less well equipped areas. Oh, and who will be the leader that orders these people to work. Not to mention the billion of sentiment based arguments why development is not a solution in itself.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFor how long will we consider the reducion of resource consumption that allows additional consumers to be a logical answer to resource management?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEarth has a finite Human carrying capacity.
Dare we test the 'System'?
For how long will we consider the reduction in resourse use to allow more users to be a logical Resource Management method?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Earth has a finite Human carrying capacity.
Do we dare to test 'The System'?
"Water is not in a criss situation. 2/3 of the earths surface is covered by water. Peter Rogers should turn in his word processor." -rroto1
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRroto1, you should take your own advice and stop screaming your ignorance out to the world. Two thirds of the earth's surface is covered in SALT water, not fresh. The author is speaking of a FRESHwater crisis, which we indeed do have on our hands. If you are in the Great Lakes area, as I am, you would be concerned about this as it will only be a matter of time before someone revisits the US Army Corps of Engineers plan to divert one of the great lakes (Lake Michigan, I believe) to supply more southernly states... if that doesn't tell you something, well....
Goodness ... I can make a passive-solar-powered distillation plant with about $100 of materials (mylar, optically clear plastic, coroplast, and a few timbers) that should desalinate most the water a small community should need. Come on people, this ain't rocket science. You're making things too hard.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@davea0511:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes, you can build an inefficient, cost-effective desalination system, but government can't. Remember, they have to find a way to make it cost as much as possible so they can gouge taxpayers or otherwise find ways to exert control over our lives. Declaring everything a crisis makes sure they can poke their fingers into the simplest problem, thus ensuring lots of work for lawyers.
In response to Bob 1760. A long distance pipeline for oil. Why not one for water ? I have a garden that utilizes soaker hoses And a multiple settings Nelson timer. The one short coming is that a soaker hose occasionally develops a leak ie: a side split that sprays. Unless you check the system religiously you have wasted a lot of water until you actually discover it. Yes, I know pressure can be too high. I keep an eye on that too. The hose comes rolled up. Sometimes there are kinks or that rolling the hose crimps it. Better hose technology would help. I also use Compost made from yard waste available from a local waste company who does the collecting and processing. So much for chemical fertilizer runoff. In the fall we collect discarded leaves directly from our neighbors in the area. This gets tilled into the clay soil (Boulder, Co.) For the purpose of loosening it. Helps feed next season's growth also.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs always, we are blinded by high tech solutions. SEAWATER algae are perfect natural desalinating plants. And it is easy to extract fresh water from some larger, fleshy ones. Farmers could easily grow algae on barren land and use them to fertilise and water fertile parts of their property. And the story does not end here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/01/2290426.htm
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisKind regards,
PS: I'm repeating this comment for I feel that it is very important.
Hi Guys, have I read the wrong article? In the graphics (Page30) it shows that of all the rainfall, us humans use
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this5.1% for agriculture
1.4% trapped for irrigation
0.1% used by cities, industry
1,3% evaporates from open water.
So us humans directly use 1.5% of all rainfall
I am not making a case for not trying to save, but look at the cost, and make that the full-life cost of the alternatives before thinking about accessing some of the 36% that goes straight into the ocean.
Fresh water crisis on a planet mostly covered by water nonsense! An aircraft carrier which in essence is a floating city uses desalination and so should all populated areas. Energy crisis when the sun bathes the Earth in a few minutes with more energy than we use in a year I dont think so! Running out of natural resources only because if something is not in the exact form we want it we call it waste and throw it away. The only true crisis is the intelligence crisis. Only if people start using technology to meet our needs instead of trying to get their neighbor to use rocks for a yard instead of grass will we see our way clear of these created crises. If we are to survive as a species we must recycle everything and use the energy and resources available in the solar system.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFresh water crisis on a planet mostly covered by water – nonsense! An aircraft carrier which in essence is a floating city uses desalination and so should all populated areas. Energy crisis when the sun bathes the Earth in a few minutes with more energy than we use in a year – I don’t think so! Running out of natural resources – only because if something is not in the exact form we want it we call it waste and throw it away. The only true crisis is the intelligence crisis. Only if people start using technology to meet our needs instead of trying to get their neighbor to use rocks for a yard instead of grass will we see our way clear of these created crises. If we are to survive as a species we must recycle everything and use the energy and resources available in the solar system.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlease don't propagate the following myth:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"On the other hand, even a modest 10 percent rise in irrigation efficiency would free up more water than is evaporated off by all other users. This goal could be achieved by stopping up leaks in the water-delivery infrastructure and by implementing low-loss storage of water as well as more efficient application of water to farm crops."
Engineers define irrigation efficiency as water consumed divided by water applied or diverted. Irrigation efficiency can be increased by "increasing consumption' or diverting less. Should we consume more? Also, efficiency can be increased by diverting less, but of the amount diverted that which is not consumed remains in the system for use by others. Thus, an increase in irrigation efficiency as defined will not free up water for consumption by others.
"Growing populations need ever more water for drinking, hygiene, sanitation, food production and industry."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe elephant in the room is overpopulation. There will never be a lasting solution for scarcity of natural resources, disappearance of species, and increase of pollutants until the level of human population stabilizes at some sustainable point which is probably lower than six billion. But it is a topic that the media and most scientists avoid discussing.
This is a generally useful article, but it fails to fully address a core component of the crisis, global overpopulation. If we continue to propose patchwork, incremental, limited remediation efforts, without addressing overpopulation, we'll just keep struggling to keep up with ever-expanding demand, probably without success. But few people want to talk about overpopulation, a monumental head-in-the-sands attitude.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNormally I would object to the first half of your comment, dismissing it as the ravings of a Cornucopian, a person who prefers wishful thinking to demonstrated facts. However, the second half of your comment, "The only true crisis is the intelligence crisis. Only if people start using technology to meet our needs instead of trying to get their neighbor to use rocks for a yard instead of grass will we see our way clear of these created crises. If we are to survive as a species we must recycle everything and use the energy and resources available in the solar system." makes a lot of sense. If you would add a component about stopping runaway population growth, I'd be a complete convert to your way of thinking.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLet solar power create a cold space underground in Sahara during daytime and condense water from night air . I suppose some water can be collected.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThermodynamics is ruling everything.
Tore Strom
"But governments at all levels need to start setting policies and making investments in infrastructure for water conservation now"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe real problem is; that first you need the green technololgy to deal efectively with the world demand for this resource among other vital human-enviromental necessities. The new technology and the knowledge derived from it always comes first not the law, policies, infrasctructure or investment al all. For the inventors is very dificult to materialized the solutions of this popular problems if the resources for us are in others peoples hands. We particularly now! more than ever need to recreate our International System of "How to" maintain a technological and scientific effort for a better place for all of us. The Planet is evolving into a small one; without space for the persons who doesn't want to adapt to radical human behavior to save what is ours by nature. This living planet in not waiting for us! Then, What are we waiting for?
Dr. Omar R. Fontanez - President - Puerto Rico Inventors Association
Very important this analysis, but it makes more sense when we set next to Mr Boone Pickens and his plan to pump and control water from the Texas panhandle (Roberts County), build a pipe line (250 miles), and sell to Dallas for $ 165 millions per year, all done thanks to the great lobbying in Austin to clear any trouble along his plans. How dangerous is this type of water policy that allows this water rihts ownership. Sad , sad sad.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso it is very important to mention that in Ecuador, this coming September 28th, that country will try to approve a new constitution that was writing during the last 8 months for 130 asambly members. This new set of laws clearly stays that water will NOT be owned by private institutions; everyone owns it and the government along with the "public participation" will create mechanisms to manage the water. This idea has come thanks to the plan to implement sustainable development into the constitution, where society, economy and nature play a role for development.
Very important this analysis, but it makes more sense when we set next to Mr Boone Pickens and his plan to pump and control water from the Texas panhandle (Roberts County), build a pipe line (250 miles), and sell to Dallas for $ 165 millions per year, all done thanks to the great lobbying in Austin to clear any trouble along his plans. How dangerous is this type of water policy that allows this water rights ownership. Sad , sad sad, check the june 2008 in BUsinessWeek.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlso it is very important to mention that in Ecuador, this coming September 28th, that country will try to approve a new constitution that was writing during the last 8 months for 130 asambly members. This new set of laws clearly stays that water will NOT be owned by private institutions; everyone owns it and the government along with the "public participation" will create mechanisms to manage the water. This idea has come thanks to the plan to implement sustainable development into the constitution, where society, economy and nature play a role for development.
The news heard everywhere these days mentions "Global Warming", sometimes more than once per telecast. Our top environmental scientists are in agreement that the earth is experiencing a warming period. Are they forgetting a key point ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIs Global Warming, or Global Pollution the Issue?
In Sahara near the sea, create a cold space underground whith the help of sun energy. Then let cold night air condense its water there.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe an old Electrolux refrigerator could do?
In Sahara, near the sea create a cold area underground with help of sun energy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe an Electrolux refrigerator could do.
Then let cold night air condense its water in the cold area.
Tore
The more I read, the more I am convinced we are so screwed. Between beetles eating trees in British Columbia, dead zones in the most productive estuaries, deforestation in S. America, etc., etc,. Then combine this with people like Fox News, Rush Whatshisname et al saying it's a liberal conspiricy, we as a species are the problem, and as Lovelock Gaia theory states, it's pretty much too late to do anything about it. It would take concerted effort, and is that likely?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBetter we start thinking of strategies for preserving the best of human art, technology and science for the survivors. It's going to be a very different world in very short order.
The Earth can simply not support a world of rich countries, especially not with the expected peak of around 9 billion people. The notion of 'development' arresting population growth in time is a a mirage concocted by those who refuse to face reality.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNature will arrest human population growth with stavation, thirst, civil unrest, war, genocide and disaease most likely before we reach the peak of 9 billion.
There are also big question marks on the assumption that development always arrests population growth. This has far more to do with culture than the level of development. It probably has worked in western countries due to the fact that they have never widely embraced large families any way. At least not to the same extent as arab and asian countries.
There is only one thing that will avert disaster and that is active and aggressive population control, short of actually exterminating excess humanity. Unfortunately one of the first casualties of over population is personal freedom and we have well and truly exceeded the population limit where we can all enjoy unlimited personal freedom.
it's all very well, what ya'll say, one and/or another;
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishowever, there Must be an end to the theft of water anywhere along the line.
Therefore, let the dry regions remain arid.
Let the natural course and reasonable use prevail.
It is the height of folly and abomination to rob Peter to pay Paul.
2/3 of the earth's surface is covered in salt water you fool.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd there won't be enough coal on Earth, for more than a few decades, to generate enough electricity to desalinate enough water to supply many billions of humans with energy intensive water as global warming reduces rainfall and natural supplies of fresh water.
You are living on cloud cuckoo land if you believe that human technology will come any where near matching mother nature's and our sun's power to generate fresh water through rainfall.
The global consensus is that we should be reducing our energy consumption not massively increasing it through dependance on energy intensive fresh water sources.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGoodness ... I can make a passive-solar-powered distillation plant with about $100 of materials (mylar, optically clear plastic, coroplast, and a few timbers) that should desalinate most the water a small community should need. Come on people, this ain't rocket science. You're making things too hard.
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Honestly people who make comments like this have no clue about how much energy is required to desalinate water nor how difficult it is to make it efficient.
Sure you could build your solar desalination plant. But it will provide you with enough fresh water to survive on. However you will not produce fresh waterat a rate any where near that that would be required to run your household air conditioner and washing machine, to irrigate your vege patch or to shower or bath daily.
You are living in cloud cuckoo land!
First and Foremost tubs can use Less Water than Showers. Showers when tubs are not properly used will use less water. Showers if improperly used will use as much if not more water than tubs.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStopping the flow of water is simple for showers and only rinse what is required to be rinsed.
As for Tubs, depending on the size of the tub it can be much worse with larger tubs.
Bottom line it is an Education Issue here. Then once they are educated, it becomes an enforcement issue.
Sure you can put all these things in place, however, there are always those that live in the clouds and are der, dee, der about the entire process.
They may get the training if it is manditory. But if it is NOT manditory and a 100% validation that EVERYONE has taken the training, there is no way of these people knowing there is an issue.
Many people in my area do not watch television and do not read news papers. They literally live in their own little fantasy worlds and have no clue there are issues such as World Wide Water Shortages. Some have no idea that 9-11 happened. Or Afganistan even exists outside of their World History Lessons and learning about the British in that region.
This is a complex issue. There are no easy fixes. Television is not 100% penetration. There are still those that have no Televisions, only listen to music on radio if they have a radio and walk most of the time when they go places. Their news is gossip from their friends.
That also seems to be the way of the rest of the world as well.
Communication Penetration is the best it has ever been world wide.
Africa and remote portions of Asia and Australia still are behind in this arena.
These will be the most difficult places to reach and likely already have their own methods of water conservation.
A comprehensive plan needs to be made that includes use of house to house canvasing and also Law Enforcement support to ensure that those that are not willing to listen get the message, that we are not joking. This is real and that everyone has to participate.
First and Foremost tubs can use Less Water than Showers. Showers when tubs are not properly used will use less water. Showers if improperly used will use as much if not more water than tubs.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStopping the flow of water is simple for showers and only rinse what is required to be rinsed.
As for Tubs, depending on the size of the tub it can be much worse with larger tubs.
Bottom line it is an Education Issue here. Then once they are educated, it becomes an enforcement issue.
Sure you can put all these things in place, however, there are always those that live in the clouds and are der, dee, der about the entire process.
They may get the training if it is manditory. But if it is NOT manditory and a 100% validation that EVERYONE has taken the training, there is no way of these people knowing there is an issue.
Many people in my area do not watch television and do not read news papers. They literally live in their own little fantasy worlds and have no clue there are issues such as World Wide Water Shortages. Some have no idea that 9-11 happened. Or Afganistan even exists outside of their World History Lessons and learning about the British in that region.
This is a complex issue. There are no easy fixes. Television is not 100% penetration. There are still those that have no Televisions, only listen to music on radio if they have a radio and walk most of the time when they go places. Their news is gossip from their friends.
That also seems to be the way of the rest of the world as well.
Communication Penetration is the best it has ever been world wide.
Africa and remote portions of Asia and Australia still are behind in this arena.
These will be the most difficult places to reach and likely already have their own methods of water conservation.
A comprehensive plan needs to be made that includes use of house to house canvasing and also Law Enforcement support to ensure that those that are not willing to listen get the message, that we are not joking. This is real and that everyone has to participate.
First and Foremost tubs can use Less Water than Showers. Showers when tubs are not properly used will use less water. Showers if improperly used will use as much if not more water than tubs.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisStopping the flow of water is simple for showers and only rinse what is required to be rinsed.
As for Tubs, depending on the size of the tub it can be much worse with larger tubs.
Bottom line it is an Education Issue here. Then once they are educated, it becomes an enforcement issue.
Sure you can put all these things in place, however, there are always those that live in the clouds and are der, dee, der about the entire process.
They may get the training if it is manditory. But if it is NOT manditory and a 100% validation that EVERYONE has taken the training, there is no way of these people knowing there is an issue.
Many people in my area do not watch television and do not read news papers. They literally live in their own little fantasy worlds and have no clue there are issues such as World Wide Water Shortages. Some have no idea that 9-11 happened. Or Afganistan even exists outside of their World History Lessons and learning about the British in that region.
This is a complex issue. There are no easy fixes. Television is not 100% penetration. There are still those that have no Televisions, only listen to music on radio if they have a radio and walk most of the time when they go places. Their news is gossip from their friends.
That also seems to be the way of the rest of the world as well.
Communication Penetration is the best it has ever been world wide.
Africa and remote portions of Asia and Australia still are behind in this arena.
These will be the most difficult places to reach and likely already have their own methods of water conservation.
A comprehensive plan needs to be made that includes use of house to house canvasing and also Law Enforcement support to ensure that those that are not willing to listen get the message, that we are not joking. This is real and that everyone has to participate.
To rroto1
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhere are you living today? What knowledge of What is Potable Water?
If you have NO Knowledge of what is and is not Drinkable, why not try walking to any nearby Ocean, or Great Lake or Salt Water Sea and try drinking that water and see how long you survive?
It is not drinkable. Desalinization is possible, however to do so on a Epic Scale is what would be required to handle the water requirements that are necessary to provide Water to the Worlds Population.
You Literally make my Argument in your response.
Reuse of waste water after treatment for potable purposes? Isn't that a viable solution to add to the 6 in the article, i can think of Occoquan Reservoir in Northern Virgina and Singapore's New water experiment as bold steps in that direction.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHey Assegai, having children only takes ten minutes to an hour, taking care of children is what takes so much time. If people have six kids and don't look after them properly society will collapse due to brattyness or degeneration of education.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTEN MINUTES = ONE KID, busy people still have sex, Ass e gai, unless you're saying that everyone will be so nerdy and constantly working that they don't have ten minutes down-time?