![]() ![]() The desalination option has historically been successful when adopted within wealthy regions or regions with strong federal-level backing (e.g. This leaves a lot of communities out of the picture. For regions where desalination is an option, it is extremely expensive, which narrows the field even further. Not only is it a significant capital expense to build a desalination plant, it’s highly energy-intensive to run. When it comes to water scarcity, two of the more common questions I am asked are about desalination and pipelines. After all, we are a very watery world, why not take the salt out of all this seawater we’ve got (“desalination” or “desalinization”) so we have more usable water? Why not pipe water from where it is plentiful to where it is not? These are logical questions to ask, and they seem like straightforward solutions.ĭesalination is a regional solution: only regions located near seawater are likely to benefit. These issues tend to manifest in a variety of ways. In areas where drinking-water supplies share the same space as waste deposits, a range of health problems, from skin lesions and dysentery to reproductive disorders, neurological conditions, cancer and death begin to emerge. Ecosystems change, fishing villages dwindle, and livelihoods are altered. In situations where droughts move from the novel into the chronic condition, water-use becomes regulated and rationing common. Business bottom-lines become harder to predict, and insurance rates increase. Interest in water rights rises, and tensions increase along with it. The price tag can get very big. ![]() – and we aren’t necessarily consistent about how or if we clean them up. As rain and snow patterns have changed over the years, both surface and groundwater resources are less predictably replenished. What’s more, we as a species tend to generate a lot of byproducts that make their way into our water – salts, oils, metals, plastics, drugs and chemicals, dyes, etc. Water scarcity refers to our historical use of these freshwater resources to sustain life, community, and industry, alongside a range of other human interests, and the fact that the proportion of resources that continue to be usable is, in fact, shrinking. Our growing thirst for water resources has translated into significant groundwater losses. Photo Credit: United Nations Environment Program After all, planet earth is a closed system, so we have neither more nor less total water than we had millions of years ago. Unfortunately, humans need freshwater, and more so we rely on the freshwater supplies that we can actually access (e.g., lakes, rivers, and underground aquifers, as opposed to the freshwater that is tied up in icebergs) which make up only about 0.01% of earth’s total water resources. However, “water scarcity” means more than drought, and this can seem confusing at first glance. This is not news to people living in California or Texas, in Brazil or Australia, or in the Middle East. We are living in the age of water scarcity. In the next 15-20 years, water demand to support population and economic growth will outstrip usable supply by 40%. Population growth all over the world means more water demand, not just to feed, clothe, and house us, but to provide us power, pharmaceuticals, and products to consume – water is critical to all of it. Everything from agriculture and industry, to schools, golf courses, and car washes depend on reliable infrastructure. ![]() Aging infrastructure undermines dependable storage, treatment, and delivery of water, not only for small communities and major metro areas, but for a range of institutions we may depend on. When it comes to water, we’re headed for trouble. As industry and production have grown in regions all over the world, so too have economies, and so too has water contamination. Droughts, as well as floods and storm conditions, are on the rise. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |