4. Lawn Sprinklers: Fountains of Backyard Verdure or Pernicious Aquifer Guzzlers?
The water sprinklers that keep the turf lush and the flowers blooming can consume 265 gallons (1,000 liters) an hour, says Waterwise, a U.K. water-conservation group. This amount rivals or exceeds estimates of what an average U.S. household uses daily. A good tip: deploy the sprinkler either in the early morning hours or at dusk; less water will evaporate in the cooler temperatures and more will actually get to the plant roots. But be mindful about leaving it on; besides potentially drowning your petunias, you may also be breaking the law. A new drought-busting measure in the City of Los Angeles will permit automated sprinklers to run only 15 minutes a day this summer.
5. Well-Watered Desert Resorts
The term "desert resort" is synonymous with the City of Las Vegas. The Venetian canals of the Bellagio, as well as the Mirage's water-and-fire volcano, make conspicuous water consumption in Sin City iconic. Appearances can be deceiving, though. In fact, the Las Vegas Strip accounts for just three percent of local water use, according to the Southern Nevada Water Authority. Fully 70 percent of the city's water supply goes toward irrigating the 60-plus golf courses and the many residential lawns in the area. The municipal government has, however, taken steps to scale back on the city's greenery, for example, by cutting the maximum size of a domestic lawn to just a backyard patch. Nevertheless, keeping grass verdant in the middle of the desert is arguably folly in the first place.
6. Biofuels' Hidden Downside
Biofuels typically burn cleaner than fossil fuels and therefore emit less carbon dioxide into the air. But plant-power sucks up ridiculously large quantities of water compared with oil and natural gas production. A study (pdf) presented at an American Society of Mechanical Engineers conference in 2007 offers some alarming estimates: Producing a gallon (3.79 liters) of corn ethanol, for example, consumes 170 gallons (644 liters) of water in total, from irrigation to final processing. Soybean biodiesel manufacture needs some 900 gallons of water (3,400 liters) per gallon of fuel. On the other hand, the water requirement to make a gallon of regular gasoline is just five gallons (19 liters).
7. Agriculture in the Arid Southwest
Much of the U.S. Southwest is a desert—at least it was at one time in the past. But about 90 percent of the Colorado River's water is today diverted into these parched lands for agricultural irrigation. Perhaps half of this regional resource does not even reach the intended crops because it is lost to evaporation and seepage during pumping and transport, according to a 1997 Cornell University study that appeared in the journal BioScience. Many farmers rely on flood irrigation, which, though inexpensive, is a highly inefficient means of delivering water to thirsty plants. The Colorado's dwindling water flow threatens the supplies of seven states and has spawned a plethora of lawsuits regarding water rights. As our featured article on water points out, shaving irrigation water by 10 percent would save more than is used by all other water consumers put together. A prime example of this ill-advised approach is growing alfalfa in the desert.
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67 Comments
Add CommentYou see these articles all over the internet, yet none addresses the truth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisie: There is just as much water, as there was a hundred thousand years ago. There is no water shortage. There is a people surplus!
In Los Angeles, every time you carpool, save water, conserve electricity, etc. you are just reducing your standard of living alittle bit more, in order to make room for even more immigrants, from some corrupt over populated country, so business interests can lower your wages. Do the math..numbersusa.com/video
Yes, there is just as much water -- it's the ultimate recyclable resource.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think this article would be better if it addressed the real issue -- the costs of clean water. I get fed up with being told that I should use less water yet I drive to work and see all the "janitors" hosing down the city sidewalks with gallons and gallons and gallons of fresh water just to wash *&!@ cigarette butts and trash into the sewer, which of course washes right into the river and contributes nitrogen to algae and polluting trash to the environment. But that is one issue that is never mentioned as a "waste of water."
I can't help but wonder how this water is disappearing when the cycle of water is: evaporate, rain, evaporate, rain....etc. Where is it going? Is it leaving our atmosphere entirely? When it goes through the water cycle isn't it automatically replenished? If I fill my pool, it evaporates, then doesn't it just eventually rain back down? Also, what about natural water filtration systems, i.e. wet lands? Why are we allowing them to be depleted so quickly to land developers when that is the one thing that will keep our clean fresh water renewable? Maybe if we did more to protect them, we would not have to worry so much about how it is used until it goes through the next cycle? Just some wandering thoughts to share. Peace.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTo answer your exit questions:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1) "How do you try to limit your water use?" I don't. My water use is well within my budget for water, so why should I limit it? And where I live, what water I don't use just flows down the river to the ocean anyways.
2) "How have you wasted water in the past?" I have never wasted water, in that I've used all that I've paid for, and paid for all that I used. The market does a great job of reflecting the actual scarcity (or lack thereof) of a resource. Again, the water I don't use is just going to flow out to sea anyways. In fact, so is the water I do use, in time. Limiting my use of water isn't going to change that, or serve any other purpose except to placate guilt- and crisis-mongers.
WOW! A lot of selfish, clueless people commenting here. Our area is in the worse drought in recorded history and has been for the last 5 years. Lakes are depleted. Waste treatment plants are overwhelmed. Yes water evaporates and then rains down (in some areas) but FRESH water is more scarce because of overuse and abuse. Americans flush drinking water drown the toilet while in many places hundreds of children die daily because of lack of clean water We have not embraced gray water collection systems. I don't claim to be the world's best greenie or tree hugger but I see the writing on the wall and am trying to be more conscience of my usage and waste. I buy drought resistant plants for my yard. I don't prewash dishes and only do full loads. I take much shorter showers. I wash full loads of clothes in my energy efficient front loading clothes washer. And I no longer use my toilet as a trash can and only flush after uriniating 2 or 3 times (I do flush after defecation). It's like putting everything on credit, eventually, it must be paid back and I think there will be a lot of shock for Americans in the next 20 or so years.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSciChick, my limiting my water use where I live isn't going to put one drop more water in your area, or anywhere else. We have ample water here, and all of it eventually flows to the ocean. You're free to buy water from here and pay to transport it there, but our water use here does not and cannot affect your water availability there one iota. Period.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI realize that water conservation is important, but what we, as a group of people, continually refuse to address is that we would not need to worry about this if there were not so many of us! It would seem that we constantly need drastic measures (wars, famine, draught) because we are not smart enough to control our reproductive propensity.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe problem is not that we are running out of water, but we are running out of water where we need it. In places where wells are used to pump out groundwater, we can take as much water out in a year as the earth replenishes every million years. It takes a long time for that water to be replaced and in the mean time, the ground can sink down causing damage to buildings. Also, along the Colorado River, which supplies water to millions of people, if those upstream use a lot more, people father down won't have any water available. Don't be a jerk and say "it doesn't affect me at the moment I'm not gonna deal with it". The US tried that in WWII with Hitler and look what happened there; it screwed us much worse later. So think ahead, don't be a jerk, and use less water. Don't feel the need to use unsustainable practices like watering desert golf courses or lawns. If we all went back to only using the water we need to drink, wash dishes and clothes, and shower, we wouldn't have these problems. But with so many people who just HAVE to have a green lawn in a desert, we can't continue in this way indefinitely.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisVery true.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this@Carlos:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA half-true yet ignorant post with a good point regrettably wasted by an underlying anti-immigrant political agenda, which is moreover mostly irrelevant.
Yes, there is just as much water overall as before, but not in usable form nor in the same distribution. Clean, fresh water is contaminated in ways that are not easily recyclable and is unusable for human use. While do you note the seldom-cited point that water shortages are relative to the size of the population (which is arguably excessive) you forget that there is also less usable water in absolute terms, and that on top of that, this scarcity affects some regions disproportionally more; some because they would not naturally have as much water (if any) and others because their natural resource is being depleted at a faster rate than its recovery, in order to supply those places that are bottomless sinks for one reason or another.
Regarding your irrelevant diatribes about immigration, I'll let them be judged by each on his/her own.
I am a bit surprised by short-sighted comments on this site. People must realize that what they do locally can have a global affect. If you use 1 less gallon a day and your neighbor and your neighbor's neighbor etc. does the same then you'll be saving a freshwater resource for all to enjoy. Fish populations could be sustained so you can take your kids fishing and they'll actually catch something, or you can take your kids boating or kayaking or rafting. Sounds like a typical selfish, fat-cat American to say that "I've got mine." We're all in this together.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSorry, but that is simply not true. Where I live, if I use one less gallon of water per day that just means that that gallon will reach the ocean a day or so earlier than it would otherwise have done. Unless someone transports that gallon to a different aquifer elsewhere in the world, then it will have precisely _zero_ effect, global or otherwise. (Funny, I thought this was _Scientific_ American....)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI guess cfh...you are not well schooled in the way that the water cycle works. It is so ignorant to say that your not using it only sends it into the ocean sooner...have you no idea how much energy is expended to purify the water that you don't send to the ocean? I live near a rather large river myself. The bridge I cross to get over one part of it is nearly a mile in length. It's hard to comprehend how removing water from it could have any impact, but the people who live at the headwaters of this river are using so much fresh water from it that they are changing the salinity of the water on my end...the ocean is beginning to encroach into the outlet because there is less and less freshwater to flush it out. This not only very negatively effects the wildlife struggling to survive in the river, it makes the water harder to purify, as desalinization is a much more expensive, polluting process than simple purification. Just because the cost of water hasn't caught up with us yet, doesn't mean it's not right around the corner. Hey! have you checked out the price of gas lately or are you just going to keep wasting that until it's too expensive too?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn Australia we are having to revise our water usage patterns to make every litre of water more effective. This is due to what our politicians call "drought" and "climate change".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMeanwhile over the last century millions of hectares have been cleared of trees.
After reading "Permaculture: A Designers' Manual" by Bill Mollison, I have comprehended that right beside the ocean, rainfall is largely evaporated seawater but further inland it rises towards 100% derived from transpiration by trees.
A brilliant video to watch on Youtube is "Greening the Desert" - it shows how they have used permaculture principles to green a piece of arid, salt-ridden desert in Jordan just by capturing the miniscule volume of rainfall
In Australia we are required to change our patterns of water usage to make every litre used more effective. This is due to what the politicians call "drought" and "climate change".
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMeanwhile, over the last century millions of hectares have been cleared of trees.
After reading Permaculture: A Designers' Manual by Bill Mollison, I now comprehend that close to the coast rainfall largely consists of evaporated seawater and further inland the composition of rainfall appraoches 100% transiration from trees.
A brilliant video to watch on Youtube is "Greening the Desert" - they use the principles of Permaculture to transform 10 acres of arid, salt-ridden land in Jordan into a "oasis" of greenery using the miniscule volume of rainfall.
Wow, some good conservative logic and ethics going down here. cfh is doing just fine on water, why should anyone bother conserving water? Isn't everyone just as fortunate as cfh? Need water? Just buy some from cfh, he or she will be happy to profit off you. Water recycles, who cares how many years it may take to show up as available fresh water again, can't you see I've got my own? Why worry about future populations having freshwater, can't you see I've got my own? Why worry about human over-population and all the effects it has on future generations and the environment, don't you know that the predictions of Malthus were wrong? Numbers don't concern me, leave me alone and stop whining about what we're doing to the environment - I've got my own!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe real issue is rate of consumption. It is estimated that the world is consuming natural resources 20% faster than the earth can replenish it. This goes for water as well. The water cycle is well established, but there is no guarrentee that the water we use will fall back to the same area. Cities know their average rain fall, retention and know their consumption. It becomes a simple math equation. The issue comes with the perfect storm: low replenishment (drought), low reserves, and large consumption.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have been a water conservationist since being a homeowner. I just hate paying the water bill. I use the CA method for flushing, "yellow let it mellow, brown flush it down", low flow water spigots, turn down the water available to the spigot by restricting supply at the shutoff valves (kids love to let the water run), I do not water the grass (grass goes dormant during low water times), and do not wash my car often.
In areas that are prone to draught, municipalities need to bank water with additional reservoirs. This is what we did in Newark, DE. It costs me more money (taxes) but we don't run out of water anymore like we almost did several years ago. Population is not going to stop growing, but it appears planning the infrastructure to support this growth is not keeping pace.
The desert southwest growth will be self-limiting. It cannot continue to grow and consume water indefinitely. The people and businesses who can relocate, will and governments will need to limit growth.
Areas of the world that have depleted lakes as the article shows will decrease in population. This is nature, the people who are able will not let themselves die from thirst, they will migrate to areas where they can survive. Unfortunately, there will be some life lost, typical the poor and uneducated.
In many areas of the world enough rain falls on the average roof to service the needs of the household most of the time if not year around. If building codes required rainwater harvesting systems to be installed in new construction (along with gray water systems) the initial cost would be minimal, and the impact on the problem would increase going forward.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRainwater is suitable for pretty much any purpose except drinking with only basic filtering.
After Katrina people were unable to return to their homes because there was no water service - in a place that gets some of the highest rainfall in the country, and instead draws drinking water from the polluted Mississippi river.
Here in lower Alabama we have a severe problem with increased salinity in our bays. Due to the lack of fresh water coming downriver there are invasions of ocean critters destroying the brackish species. An example is the oyster drill. The oyster drills have destroyed the oyster beds in Mobile Bay. Our hope is for increased runoff of fresh water to correct the salinity problem. Oyster drill populations are greatly reduced when salinity levels return to previous levels.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisjcb1964, you misunderstand me. I didn't say _no one_ should conserve water; I said that _my_ conserving water would serve no purpose. My responses have _all_ been in the context of the two exit questions posed by the article, which were about the reader's _personal_ use or "waste" of water. My intent is to show that it is absurd to ask, imply, or think that _everyone_ should be conserving water. _Some_ need to, obviously, sc. those living in areas where water is scarce. But water scarcity is _not_ a global issue, it is a _regional_ issue: at least until and unless we have a _global_ market in water (as we do for oil). Please don't put words in my mouth, thanks.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWTF? Who in their right mind uses "80 to 140 gallons" of water to wash their car? Did Scientific American do this research, or did they take the word of Kaady Car Washes who undoubtedly are trying to cast themselves to be the Green Alternative as a pretty clever marketing tool? What are the parameters for a car wash at home according to them? Leaving the hose running at all times? Shame on Scientific American for printing unsubstantiated claims by a commercial interest. It makes me wonder what discrepancies are in the other 9 water wasters.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWTF? Who uses "80 to 140 gallons" to wash their car? Dide Scientific American verify this claim or did it just take the word of Kaady Car Washes, who would have a vested interest in marketing themselves as a greener alternative. What were the parameters to this claim and where is the data to back it up? It makes me wonder about the validity of the other 9 water wasters. Shame on Scientific American for publishing such unsubstantiated balderdash.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiscfh: unfortunately, you're missing the point. You probably have plenty of water where you are because you have a natural source. If a dry area decided to re-route your river for their own needs or a damn was created to create hydroelectricity for the country, you may have a different opinion. The fact is, wasting water makes it more difficult to gain access to clean water sources. Obtaining fresh, clean water requires energy and chemicals which contribute to global warming and the overall damage to land; which in turn makes the entire process exponentially more difficult. So please, don't be naive. If you think the natural system the Earth uses creates the nice fresh water you drink everyday then I dare you to put a bucket outside the next time it rains and drink that water to re-hydrate. I would love to hear your comments while you intermittently write during the intervals you're not sitting on the toilet!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI get my water from Lake Ontario so we have lots of water. I could avoid responsibility for wasting water BUT it takes a lot of energy to treat water so that it is safe to drink. Many people get water from aquifers which are running out of water very fast.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI attempt to conserve water by having very short "navy" showers. Use shower to get wet, turn it off while I soap my body and hair. Rinse, and turn off again while applying hair conditioner then off. I take my shower at my gym so I am not paying directly for it. Even so, I see people showering for over 15 minutes with water running all the time. Many years ago when the city made water meters optional I got one installed(instead of paying a flat rate.)
I use a dishwasher for dishes, and only use the washing machine for full loads. I collect rainwater in barrels to water my garden. I installed low-flow toilets.
I've wasted water in the past by taking long luxurious baths instead of showers; leaving water running while washing hands or brushing teeth; using a hose to water my garden and car.
Point #6 is completely irresponsible journalism. How can you justifiably compare the amount of water it takes to produce a plant with gasoline? The only fair way to do that would be to account for the water consumed in the process of creating the PLANT required to make the OIL which is then added to the refiner's use of water to create gasoline.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd it will be of little comfort to make such a comparision when there is no oil left to process anyway. Robbing a million year old piggy bank in 150 years is the waste.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWrong. Water tarifs in most cities is priced to public policies and not to markets. Even if it were purely based on true costs, one must realize that markets seldom give fair treatment to public goods, such as water.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy apologies for the triple posting. I'm used to getting feedback when I post comments and I did not see that it was on the last page instead of the one I was looking at. I'd remove the extra comments but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNo, I'm not missing the point, Phobine. As I said, this a regional, not a global, matter. It is simply not _globally_ true that "wasting water makes it more difficult to gain access to clean water sources" as you claim (though it is certainly true of some regions). If you don't see that that is the point, then you're not reading my posts properly. Which you clearly aren't, since I never said nor implied that "the natural system the Earth uses creates the nice fresh water you drink everyday". Please don't put words in my mouth, thanks.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPartly on cfh's side ... The problem with most of you is that you live in wealthy sunny places were your water use at any level is too high. Here where you probally moved from the aquifer is fuller than ever due to population decline. Any water conservation that I do is for the already mentioned reasons of saving energy {98% coal here} moving it out of the aquifer and treating it. The aquifer itself is primarily for flood control and is a recreational park.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI've let the yard brown out during droughts knowing that it will grow back with the next rain. But pardon me if I don't drive myself crazy convserving. You {the sunny wealthy} do not belong where you live and cause much more havoc drinking a pint of tap water there than I would watering the zip code here.
Saw no mention of Agriculture's waste of water. In California's Central Valley almonds consume one acre foot of water per month. We then export the consumed (and subsidized)water to the rest of the world. Converting the trees to drip irrigation would save a lot of water but the subsidized water is so cheap the Farmer has no incentive to spend money on a more effective type of irrigation This is one example of which there are many. Rice is also a big offender.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe water cycle is NOT, in fact, a closed loop if you are looking at the system within your life time.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm sorry your science teacher lied to you.
Particularly, when water goes into the ground, it can be trapped in aquifers. Depending on the conditions where you live, the water may remain in that aquifer for hundreds of years. So if you are wasting water by watering the concrete, you may, in fact, not get that water back.
Also, many of you claim responsible water use where you live. Or you claim that there is no shortage of moisture where you live.
But you likely buy things that use a ton of water AND do not come from water rich regions. Likely, your fruits, vegetables and nuts come from California (half of the nation's supplies do). Many of these food products are grown in either the semi-arid regions of Southern California or in the Central Valley. Agricultural watering in both regions is not well managed.
We all want grapes in November and cherries in February. The reality is that water will be shipped from further and further away to support the demand for water in California's agricultural area. There was talk about transporting "excess" rainwater from the Pacific Northwest to southern California for agriculture. The idea was shut down. But a network of pipes across America to sustain our water habit is not that far off.
I think that with the incredible increase in golf courses in 9" rainfall areas and destroying productive farm land to build more housing developments is what is affecting the water usage in our area. There are none-productive areas that could be used for housing development and the country could certainly do without more golf courses. These new homes and resorts with their golf courses are designed to imitate more fertile areas and it is costing a severe reduction in water.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisconsider what goes down the river....we anticipate the largest "dead zone" this year in history in the Mississippi sound. Record levels of rain led to record levels of polutants entering the gulf. Google that
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGoogle Gulf Dead Zone to see what comes downriver
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGive Google a check on Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone to see what comes downriver
The major problems with any resource that is squandered falls into the following categories:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this1. Corporate greed in the form of profits (oil/petroleoum);
2. Government greed in the form of sales/goods/services taxes;
3. Inadequate planning;
4. Inadequate funding due in part to 3 above;
5. Politics affecting points 2 and 3;
6. Economic undervaluing of the resource;
7. Looking at the short term - the balance sheet mentality;
8. Conservative outdated methodology that is not questioned;
9. Stupidity from people who don't care or don't care enough to genuinely change their attitude and ways they do things.
A few years ago at our house my wife and I replaced our ailing electrical hot water system in the attic with a Solahart solar hot water heater. There were still several litres of water left in the tank. I tried to explain to the work crew that we wanted them to drain the water into a storage tank we'd purchased for the purpose, but before I could get to that point the supervisor of the work crew told me "We are professionals so we know what we are doing."
Yeah right; they drained the water in the existing tank down through our guttering and ultimately into the sewage system; great water conservation guys! Oh and they broke three of our roof tiles because the "professional" supervisor did not give me the chance to explain that we did not have replacement roof tiles for our house that is over 40 years old.
The draining of the remaining water in the attic hot water tank into our guttering without first asking what we'd like to do with that water we paid for, inspired some of the points above.
Whilst we were able to drain some of the water in the attic's old hot water heating storage tank, I estimate about a third to a half was trapped in the tank due to a partial vacuum keeping the remaining water trapped in the tank.
I have seen around my city, construction crews waste water; sometimes I have seen the construction workers cleaning excess sand or soil by hosing them down into the storm water drains!
Being a pessimist I predict the world won't be destroyed by a plague, a global thermonuclear war, or a large asteroid impact, I think Greed and Stupidity will most probably get the job done.
I'm Australian, and we are well aware of water shortages and the need for conservation. It's a huge topic in this arid country of mostly desert land, dying river systems, and frequent and worsening droughts.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are many ways to save water. Install rainwater tanks (or greywater recycling system) and use these to water the garden and flush the toilet; if you've got a pool keep it covered when not in use; sweep and don't hose down concrete areas; use a bucket to wash the car; install a toilet with dual flush system - and as the saying here goes "if its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush it down"; take a timer into the shower, and turn off the water while you soap up - or shower with a friend! Don't do the laundry until you've got a full load, and the same if you have a dishwasher. Don't leave the tap running as you brush your teeth or wash the dishes. Use mulch in your garden, and only water at night. Better still, use drip irrigation which is quite cheap to install. If you don't have a dual flush toilet put a brick into the cistern to reduce capacity.
I've spent a lot of time in the country and outback, where rainwater tanks are the only supply. When all you've got is tankwater, conservation becomes second nature - or else you run out and have to truck in water at great expense. I've also lived in our 2nd biggest city when we had Stage 4 water restrictions, which would amaze you! No watering of gardens allowed at all; a strict allocation of water with dire and highly expensive consequences if you exceed it; no washing of cars whatsoever, even with a bucket; no refilling of swimming pools at all; and mains pressure turned right down.
I live in the outback now, where the only greenery is Astroturf on nature strips. I shower surrounded with buckets, and this waters my garden. I keep a dish in my kitchen sink so the used water can again go onto the garden. This takes very little time, and also saves money.
What is source of water , as we know all either its from rain or from earth. Also we can say artificial rain , but artificial rain is not sufficient . So we have two source which are not in cotrol of human being.The reason of shortage of water is irregularity in rain fall , rain is really irregular , either its a heavy rain that cause flood or its no rain for long time which cause draught. So if we really want to solvethis problem of water problem than we have understand this that what are factor which causing this crisis. One such reason may be global warming. So if we can control global warming probably there would be some solution comes out.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGlobal warming has caused shifts in rainfall, ergo regions get inundated while others get drought. Moreover, population keeps growing while Earth keeps the same amount of water. The REAL issue is that in a planet covered 70% with water, water would be short?! I mean, what in hezmana is wrong with us?! People are dying, countries are desparate, and we are worried about it being expensive to desalinate sea water?! It is too expensive to save lives?!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI read in another post that people were not wasting water if they were paying for it. In other words, if they could pay it they should use it. Suffice to say that poor people should die of thirst, while rich folk could take 1 hour showers. Going on with this thought, water should go pricier, after all there is always less, so less and less people could live, and eventually only the elite rich could live... No more job-consuming immigrants, arab terrorists die of thirst, no more poor people, no more ugly people, and the world is a happy place!! Sarcasm aside, just because your region has water NOW, doesn't mean El Ni�o / La Ni�a / ElHijoDelVecino won't change air currents and what not, and 10 years from now the Colorado is bone dry and Baikal/Chad are replenished. Weirder stuff has happened on this planet.
What gets me most upset are all the average-ignorants who "think" (if that is a correct verb) that since it doesn't hit their pockets, it won't happen. In 2000 when would you have thought oil drums would surpass 100 USDs?
Side thought, did you know that the asteroid belt is rich in ice?
As I said, the problem is not the availability of water, the problem is the cost of making it fresh and delivering to your pipes! But what is a life worth? As long as some can pay it, let it be expensive.
Regarding Peter Rogers' 6 point plan to cope with the menacing freshwater shortage, I would like to suggest introducing market economy, i.e. attaching a price tag to fresh water would go a long way to solving the problem. If the market were allowed to fix this price, I bet that there would be no shortage left! Of course the detrimental impact on the poorer tranches of population would need to be addressed, e.g. through a negative tax covering the costs of basic needs. The resulting equilibrium would establish itself automatically, with no need of complicated bureaucratic measures.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI've installed drip irrigation in my back garden. Not only do I use a lot less water, but the plants are much healthier than when they were watered by sprinkler. By doing the installation myself (kits are available with all the necessary parts), I finished up spending less than $100 for the backyard. Next project: the front yard.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI made the same experience (drip irrigation). For the lawn I installed an automatic system, that is programmed for 1/2 hour before sunrise. That is best time because less water evaporates in the chill of the morning. I turn the irrigation off when rain is announced.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with ahernj. We are reproducing ourselves into a dangerous situation. Self-indulgence is robbing future generations of many resources. Some seem to see the practice of good stewardship as a problem for the next guy or gal to worry about. Too bad some of the careless many will have to experience deprivation to get the idea that all life is connected by a thread. L&G
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI agree with ahernj. We are making more people than this planet can support. There also appear to be those who do not realize that all life is connected by a thread and that all of us must practice good stewardship if we want to survive. To waste a drop of a resource, such as water on golf courses, fountains, desert and lawn irrigation, swimming pools, etc/ is a slap in the face of a fellowman. How very pathetic we humans can be.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisL&G
Besides being a practical issue, the water issue is an ethical one, and how we chose to use it is an ethical choice, whether we have lots of it or not. Most Americans are big ugly consumers who don't care about where their water, their food, or the cheap junk they clutter their houses with (and ends up in landfills), comes from, and how it affects both people around the world and the environment. Respect for resources and human beings would go a long way to guide our consumption behaviors.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisi agree the use of water is being put to bad use and is being wasted if we are so worried about wasting water than why use it in a way that will harm the enviroment and make matters even worse for our getting of water and for the animals that need to live in water. the water is being contamanated by water-wasters!!!! saver the precious water we need!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWater is in effect a free good. There was no money or labour expended in producing it. Therefore it should, like the air, be free, and it is. The only costs involved with water are in extraction, distribution, and in pre- and post-treatment (if that is necessary). Water provision is usually a public service and should be provided exactly at cost. There cannot be a shortage of any free good (basically any natural commodity), unless we think that God was not doing his job and should have made a lot more of it. The only problem there could be with water (or any natural commodity) is "excessive demand."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHere's where the fun begins. What is "excessive demand" for a natural commodity? For simplicity's sake, let's just talk about water."Excessive demand" for water is entirely subjective. People want more water than they have and they can't get it. There are only two solutions to this "problem" of excessive demand: fewer people or fewer wants. Since fewer people should yield fewer wants, reducing population is in effect reducing the kind or number or degree or distribution of wants. There are no water problems, there are only want problems. Unfortunately, want problems are the most intractable because they are the only problems. In fact, to have a "problem" is nothing more than the inability to get, keep, etc. what is wanted. What we need is not water management but want management.
Gnathan, you basically repeated what the article said, but managed to make it less comprehensible by using esoteric language you learned in your college economics class. The article showed common unnecessary water use. Or as you would say: the article was about "want management" and provided a list of sources of our "excessive demand."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhere can I report water wasters? Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk California is a huge piece of land. They water the lawns during the peak heat of the day and not on designated wtering days. i drove by and felt so saddened that a California State facility would be so irresponsible. CRDrohan@hotmail.com
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI figured out how to solve all the worlds water problems. Use more water, waste it. Take long showers and then take a bath afterwords. Why, because it will raise the price of water and when the price goes up (demand) so does the supply. Eventually it will become so expensive to live here people will start to understand the costs of a 6.5 billion world population. If we say let that recede down to 1 billion we could all live very well and very happy lives and there would be no shortages of much of anything. But of course when things are cheap and abundant what do people do, have big families, and waste. You think the concept of carrying capacity of the planet would weigh more heavily on peoples lives. We could limit the population by measures as simple as waiting 3 or 4 years before having your first child and maybe having 2 instead of 6 or 7. Once the population goes down so does water usage, so does oil usage, suddenly there are parks galore, very little pollution, plenty of water, and everyone has a high standard of living. Just a thought.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWahing uses a lot of water, towels spread germs and require
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thislaundry. Paper towels and paper plates are cleaner, but,
what is the cost. Does any one know which methoed uses
less water or more energy. What are the trade-offs?
kevlar50: There is at least one other serious mistake in the article: modern water efficient dishwashers does not require around 10 gallons (38L) water per load, but much less. My 4 yr old European dishwasher uses less than 4 gallons (15 L) per load. I would also draw the attention to differences in using top loaded or front loaded clothes washers - the latter uses less than one-third of the water needed for top-loaders. At the same time you save on the soap dosage and electricity bill. The efficiency of European dish washers and front loaders, comes at the only cost of time. They are much slower to do their job...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe best lessons on water conservation come when the tank runs dry or a part wears out and you have to pay for repairs. Then you pay for the electricity to run the down-hole pump to fill the tank. We've tried every drip irrigation method available and have lost 75% of fruit trees and shrubs during the current drought cycle. Now I walk our property daily looking for the smallest leak and fixing it immediately.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisModern paper plates have a coating. Though I'm no expert my guess is that the coating is a petroleum byproduct. Paper usually comes from trees which need water to grow, then harvesting involves water, as does the truck and truck driver to haul the logs to the mill. The mill needs water to slice up the tree, then the shavings need water to convert wood to pulp which is then ground, mashed, bleached, formed and dried at another factory. Used paper plates go into landfills which leach chemicals into ground water. I'd rather improve dishwashing efficiency.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHi! 1) I think it was the early to mid 70's when the NYC &/or NJ area had a water shortage and it occurred to me as I brushed my teeth, which I did every day - that it was not necessary to run the water while actually brushing the teeth. The water was actually only needed to wet the brush & then rinse mouth & brush when done. Since then, that's the process I use. 2) It was more difficult to learn not to run the water continuously when washing dishes, I wonder if the sound of the running water is therapeutic, anyway I finally learned. My husband tells me that my efforts to recycle are wasted when I rinse out the containers - I disagree (which means I do rinse), if I am wasting water by rinsing - please let me know. 3) We moved in with in-laws :( last April 2009 & my father-in-law & husband will have water with dinner, which they don't finish - I have begun the practice of going outside on the deck to throw the water over the side of deck onto the dirt below deck OR use the water for my houseplants, if Ishould empty my mother-in-law's water bottle, I will do the same thing - either throw over deck or use for my houseplants. Thank you so much for listening. Barbara
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLittle water goes to waste in our household. A large bowl with a strainer is used to wash fruits & vegetables, strain pasta , etc. The water then goes into the plants, or is used to pre-wash extra dirty dishes before going into the dishwasher. A rain barrel under the downspouts from the roof is used to water the lawn and garden in the summer. The toilets are low-flush, and the showerhead is low-flow [but still has lots of pressure]. Short showers, turning off the tap while brushing teeth are two other ways of saving water.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI suppose someone else might already have mentioned this, but it seems to me that some enterprising American might come up with a way of converting ocean water to fresh water in mass quantities in a way that doesn't consume prohibitive amounts of energy. Isn't 3/4's of the world's surface covered by water? But humans don't ever seem to address pressing problems until it's nearly too late.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhoever comes up with that process, if someone indeed does, will be a billionaire many times over.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTake a Navy shower. Turn the water on to coat your body shut it off. Take rag and soap lather up over entire body. Turn water on rinse off. If every american would do this it would save millions of metric tons of water.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe process is already in place. You use a evaporator. This process has been used for many years by the navies of the world. Look up Fresh water evaportor on the internet.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI live in water-rich Michigan. I never water my lawn and wash my car at home once every five years. I have a low-water-use clothes washer and low-flow toilets. My prime driver for this is laziness and the cost of water. Why waste money? In general I try to conserve--use less soap, clean with rags instead of paper towels, drink tap water.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGrowing corn for ethanol requires about 200 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol according to Dept of Ag. The mandate of ethanol has required about 40 million acres of marginal land to be put into production along with irrigation, considerable fertilizer and herbicides.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEnd the idiocy of turning food into fuel and save the aquifers.
Megaprojects,technologies,innovations,management decisions,investment objects,climate change.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisClimate & economy of Southwestern Asia,Central Asia (Near & Middle East) & Northern (North) Africa. Water supply.
Only by making the climate is more saturated with moisture can make the Near and Middle Asia and North Africa is even more suitable for a good life.
There are good and real water projects in deserts. The purpose of one of the projects - to give the water in a deserts and to spend the finance and water for the right thing, that to change the climate.
www.usw.com.ua/profiles/blogs/technologies-from-past-and-future-that-could-change-the-world?xg_source=activity
easypay-shop.com/index.php?ukey=news
blogs.pravda.ru/users/3039108/post198925789
konsyltacii.livejournal.com/21903.html
Thanks for sharing this information with us.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this<a href="http://www.leakmasters.net/">infrared water leak detection</a>
I dont worry about saving water. I leave the water run while washing the dishes, brushing my teeth, and shaving. I stay in the shower until all of the hot water is cold. I flush my cigarette butts down the toilet. I really dont think that water is going to run out.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA few of these comments are hard to take seriously. Which isn't so bad out of the hundreds there are. The only water saving investment I've made is to get some <a href="http://atlantawaterheaters.com/leak_detection.html">Atlanta leak detection</a>, and that mostly so I don't pay for water I'm not using. Not to say we shouldn't be somewhat judicious with water use, but it's not as high a priority as it's portrayed.
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