Scientific American editor Steve Ashley talks about the future of fresh water and the steps we can take to ensure that we all have potable water in the years ahead. Steve Mirsky reports
Confronting a World Freshwater Crisis
As the global population grows--and freshwater supplies dwindle--ensuring that everyone has sufficient supplies of life-giving H2O has become an enormous challenge. Here's how to start.
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July 23, 2008
Scientific American editor, Steve Ashley, talks about the future of fresh water and the steps we can take to ensure that we all have potable water in the years ahead. Steve Mirsky reports.
The text transcript is currently not available. Transcript will be posted about a week after the podcast airs.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNeed you a "typewriter" for the transcripts? O, in the industrialized US
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisis very expensive one like that? O, my God!
There's no good reason for not presenting Ashley's words here and now. Making us wait is not right. Fix it. Oh, and please get rid of the stupid comments that have but one or two words. Keep your site clean! Your mom should have taught you that long ago!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is Scientific American's 60 Second Science, I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a few minutes? Today we have a special edition for each a brief interview with Scientific American editor, Steve Ashley.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSteve Ashley, a lot of people are very concerned about oil right now, but out there, in the distance there is this \ looming water issue. And I mean that both senses, we have the looming August issue\ of Scientific American, and we also have a big water package on the web, tell us about that.
That’s right, Steve. We have been working on the coming water crisis and covering many different ways. Basically, water, which everyone takes for granted, is becoming more and more rare\, fresh water, especially, water that you can drink, potable water. And as the population grows, and people demand more \ water as their income increases. It looks like we are goanna have a dearth of water, and it's gonna get worse and worse for the next couple of decades. It looks like we are goanna spend lots of money to secure enough water that we can supply for all the people in the world.
Now on the face of it seems more a policy issue than a science issue, so how does the science inform the policy?
Well, the science is fairy well-known, but becomes down to applying it and applying it quickly. Basically the technology that's necessary is been developed over the years, but people have not been using it yet. And…
Are we talking about recovering or ...?
We are talking about whole raft of steps that need to be taken. Basically, our author for the article that we wrote for the magazine,Peter Ragger, suggests six steps, we'll say. What comes down to is a couple of things that you just wouldn't think of. First of all, we spend tremendous amount of water irrigating crops. And just getting the water to the fields, you'll lose tremendous amounts. So anything you can do to save that water, we'll have tremendous effects because it turns out that the biggest single use of water, fresh water, is crop irrigation. Secondly, one of the other problems is sort of social not the technological issue as much but a social issue. Water is basically free in most countries. If you do not pay for resources, you do not save it. A third issue is basically a sort of an art concept, something of a counting issue, actually is called virtual water. That is the water content of the products that we buy, basically the water for the crops that we grow or the water we used in factory to make a product. And instead of sending water to a dry area place, you send them to products that contain this quote "virtual water" and what that does is it means they can get along without using their own water for creating these products, so that is another issue that could help greatly. For example, the Middle East Jordan, Israel, those countries. They all take their water from Jordan River, and by shipping Jordan virtual water in terms of products. They do not have to extract so much water from the river, so that's another big issue. A fourth step that Peter Ragger suggests is to adopt what they call "low water sanitation". We use a tremendous matter of water just to get human wastes out of the home. Basically by collecting faeces and urines, separating them and then recycling \ for farm fertilization. One can save tremendous amount of water and help the agriculture at the same time.
A lot of people, I mean this's a minor point of the whole thing, but I think it's gonna have to be a cultural adaptation to the idea of not flushing the toilet every time you use it.
Well you know if heard it's yellow.
No..
We won't get into that.
Right, but that is a practice that can cut your flushes by maybe 80%.
Tremendous savings. And it just goes down the drain.
Literally. So what is on the website right now that is part of the overall water package that people can access just sitting right at the computer.
Well, basically we have the article. We have the graphics in the article from very interesting maps that show what, potentially, will happen with climate change as incomes increase\. We have a slide show of photos, interesting photos that basically depict some of the problems with the dearth of water, the water crisis and some of the solutions, some of which I've mentioned already. We have a list of... well we have a quiz, which is just a kind of fun, what you know about saving water and turns out \ I didn't know too much bout saving water and I find it fairly \ eye-opening. So I think our readers and web people will actually find it of interest. We have a list of ways to save water and it basically \ comes down to paying attention. You know the little things like turning off the water as you're washing the dishes \ in between each dish saves tremendous amounts of water.
When you are shaving, in stokes you do not have the water run.
And you know, although it sounds a little idealistic. Every little step that made by a huge group of people will actually have an impact on the big problem.
And over the next couple of decades, this is really going to become a major worldwide issue.
First the people in the desert areas will find it happening to them. People in Las Vagus, for example, are goanna to find it's gonna get more and more difficult to gonna have that enough water they long, they're gonna have water restrictions on washing their cars since? Then depending on how climate change works as the, for example, India and China grow in terms of their income, they're gonna be demanding tremendous amounts of water right now under both of places the water tables are dropping. So they are gonna have future restrictions for those giant population who knows how that's gonna work\ out. Basically, almost everyone's gonna is be faced with this one point or another.
For Scientific American's 60 Second Science, I'm Steve Mirsky.
Good job. :D
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOk Steve Mirsky, very well; you have encountered a bypass. Grateful from you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd about this theme it is more like blahs preocupations and minus like very solutions.
Our minds warped under too good intentions and aspire for trues and appropriates inovations.
I live in Canada between Lakes Erie and Ontario. Basically, our potable water comes from Lake Erie (via the Welland Canal ) and the waste water is dumped into Lake Ontario (after processing, of course). I don't really see the point of conserving water here, except to save on pumping and water-treatment costs, which is not unimportant but not really connected with the water shortage problem. We have had sprinkling bans here, not because there was a water shortage, but rather only because demand for water was exceeding the ability of water-treatment plants to supply it. Although it seems to me to be wrong to be wasteful of anything, conservation measures really apply only to regions with genuine water shortages. How much water people in this region use has no bearing whatsoever on how much water is available to regions with water shortages. Arid regions in the US are in trouble because potable water was drastically underpriced and especially because irrigation water absurdly subsidized. If water were properly priced (increasing with amount used), people in the arid regions would be forced to conserve. The rest of us with large supplies of water can carry on as we've always done.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAppalling grammar, but in essence, fairly accurate!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe "Elephant" in the room is the huge global population explosion!
Global population 1907 approx: 1.7 Billion.
Global population int he next 50 years, approx: 9 to 10 Billion!
Work it out for yourself!
Regards,
GERONIMO.
Global?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRefer to this disturbing story about the gravity of the situation in Australia with River Murray ,the main fresh water source for over 2.5m Australians http://sixtyminutes.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=455698
We soft launched Windesal at the CEDA forum on water in Adelaide(massive interest over 60 systems), our global engineers/project managers http://www.arup.com/australasia/skill.cfm?pageid=6282 Windesal� although it seems most Govts want to buy our water/power under contract, we can do up to 40m liters per day per system from sea/ground water to fresh
There has been much talk about climate change, but not much about where we will see its first impact.
Flooding ,Drought, water is the vector of climate change, we already have seen in recent times in where there is intense competition for water, Windesal� can sustain many areas of these regions of Aust/Worldwide that will be impacted by this issue, that may suffer physically or economically from this lack of fresh water shortage and could benefit from sustainable energy.
Windesal� can deal efficiently in way to lead the greatest single issue of the 21st Century: Sustainability.
It's a bit late to make a comment on this issue, but I think it's necessary that people know what's going on.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisRegarding the article about water in SciAm magazine last month there's a small item that needs to be added to the whole story because it will indeed affect the future. And, that item is, technology. Yes, technology, this is what's missing from the article.
The reason I say the above is because the solution to the drinking water problem has been invented already. If you wish to know more about it, please contact me at diostenes@yahoo.com and I'll steer you to the answer.
I have invented a new way to bring water, electric power, and communications to remote poor villages. The ideas can also be used to fight wildfires.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlease see my website www.safersmallcars.com