Water wars

[flowerseverywhere]

Went to a lecture about drinkable water, largely focused on Florida. The speaker was a journalist, John M. Dunn. It was fascinating and I have long believed this is the crisis that is going to make or break the world.

Some good things that are happening: water intensive crops are being abandoned for more water friendly ones in areas they shouldn’t be growing anyway, worldwide. The thousands of dams and water diversions in the US are being looked at to restore natural flow. Research into hydroponics and sustainable agriculture. Use of recycled rain water to water lawns and golf courses. New legislation to allow food growing and native plants on lawns, even front ones. HOA’s cannot restrict this in Florida .
bad things: sewage overflows and improper septic systems. rising sea levels causing fresh water to become brackish. Leaky pipes as infrastructure ages. Legislation rollback that protects our drinking water supply. Many areas of Florida, as well as the rest of the country are bordering on critical shortages. The amount of pharmaceuticals and chemicals from human waste and lawn/farming/industrial chemicals flowing into our supplies from treated water.

On a a bigger scale, more people will become refugees as their local supplies dry up or become contaminated. Water will become more expensive. There is always the danger of terrorism targeting water supplies as well, which may be crazy conspiracy theory stuff, who knows these days.

[razz]

I agree, Flowers.
Having lived as a child through severe drought times and then sufficient water ever since moving to Canada, I agree that water is more valuable than oil. I use rain barrels and am planting micro-clovers to feed the lawn, reduce the need for fertilizer, mow every two weeks and my lawn stays green with some weeds mixed in. I look at all the water pouring down the storm sewers as neighbours water their lawns every other day, fertilize frequently, mow their lawns every third day with perfect dark green lawns and wonder at the disrespect for the value of the water.
I see local farmers striving to reduce their water and yet have sufficient for the production of food that we al use and need. Not all of them but the number is growing as the cost of transmitting of water from irrigation dams increases, it is receiving much greater attention. Also, when their peers demonstrate what is possible, others follow.

[flowerseverywhere]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harare-zimbabwe-water-supply-cut-off-today-as-economic-crisis-and-drought-cripple-supplies-2019-09-24/

zimbabwe has cut off water to taps to two million people. Water unsafe.

[pinkytoe]

They talk about "Air Force forever chemicals" in the water supply here but don't seem to do much about it. Back in Texas, drought was taken very seriously and people let their lawns go brown. Water restrictions were expected and complied with. Here, many of the lawns and parks are emerald green from daily soaking. It drives me nuts to see it wasted so freely.

[bae]

Water falls from the skies.

The oceans are full of water (more every day, due to climate change), and the sun turns that water into freshwater, or so they taught us in elementary schools.

Seems to me the problem is that people are living where there isn't water naturally occurring in amounts that would support that population, or are engaging in growing rice in the desert or similar foolish agricultural enterprises.

[catherine]

Water falls from the skies.

The oceans are full of water (more every day, due to climate change), and the sun turns that water into freshwater, or so they taught us in elementary schools.


I am not a scientist, but my understanding is that solar desalination is not an easy process and requires technology. I have read in numerous places that much of the potable water is held up in ice caps, and that, in fact, only 1-2% of the water on earth is potable. Can you show me the natural process whereby the sun quickly turns seawater into plentiful freshwater? I think the nuns skipped over that part in my elementary school. Too busy rapping knuckles, I guess.

[Alan]

I am not a scientist, but my understanding is that solar desalination is not an easy process and requires technology. I have read in numerous places that much of the potable water is held up in ice caps, and that, in fact, only 1-2% of the water on earth is potable. Can you show me the natural process whereby the sun quickly turns seawater into plentiful freshwater? I think the nuns skipped over that part in my elementary school. Too busy rapping knuckles, I guess.I'm not a scientist either, but I've always thought we called that evaporation.

[catherine]

I'm not a scientist either, but I've always thought we called that evaporation.

We can't drink evaporation or transpiration. We can only drink precipitation, as long as it doesn't fall into the ocean.

[Alan]

We can't drink evaporation or transpiration. We can only drink precipitation, as long as it doesn't fall into the ocean.
Granted, precipitation collection in a desired spot is not a natural process.

[flowerseverywhere]

What happens to rainwater in your state? Can you collect it in a rain Barrel? Some states cannot.
I think Bae hit the nail on the head that our misuse of water and waste is a big problem. Many of these problems I outlined in my original post. And of course, who owns the water in Lake mead and Powell?
Another problem is evaporation from culverts and reservoirs.

And some of the rain rain is not clean as particulates can be carried a long way. The radioactive fallout from Chernobyl for instance was felt far from the source. Acid rain in the Adirondack mountains is from industrialized Midwest areas. Even the huge forest fires out west are evident far away. The flint delivery system added contamination. And so on.

[catherine]

Yes, I have a rain barrel, and I use it to water my garden. But, my effort to capture water barrel by barrel is so minuscule compared to the pollution generated by pesticides leaching into the groundwater, sewer overflows, industrial and medical dumping and so much more.

[bae]

We can't drink evaporation or transpiration. We can only drink precipitation, as long as it doesn't fall into the ocean.

My island's water supply is almost entirely derived from saltwater being evaporated from the sun. It then falls on the land as rain or condensed fog, and ends up stored in lakes, ponds, reservoirs, and our aquifer through recharge.

And when we use the water in our homes, it either recharges the aquifer directly through our septic systems (or in some cases it re-evaporates), or for the people on the village sewer system, it is purified and discharged back into the ocean.

I think my nuns called it "the water cycle".

[catherine]

I think my nuns called it "the water cycle".

Well, when you put it THAT way... ;)