I am very scared that in the near future there won’t be enough water in the world. I read news from France, Belgium and even Australia that these countries have water issues and the water usage is being regulated.
I already know that the drinkable water is not a renewable source.
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It is something we should be thinking about as consumers. It’s a scary fact but a fact none the less that as the population increases so does the demand for water. Extreme weather and drought will be more frequent, as we are already seeing, reducing the amount of water available for treatment. If the water isn’t in the water table or in our rivers and streams it isn’t there to be treated for us to consume.
We all have a part to play in securing water as a resource for future generations. It’s a good thing that this worries you, we should all be thinking about it.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/18/england-to-run-short-of-water-within-25-years-environment-agency
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What do you mean it’s not renewable?
The rain cycle is what renews the water. It just needs to be processed so it can be drinkable.
So no, we won’t run out of water. But things like droughts can cause a limit on the supply of water.
The problem in those countries is not that there is too little water in the world, it’s getting the available water to those places. Belgium for example has the problem that a lot of the country is covered with buildings, roads, and other “hard” surfaces. When a lot of rain falls in a short amount of time that rain just washes away over those hard surfaces and is not absorbed into the ground. And if it’s not absorbed then it doesn’t replenish the ground water, which is a big source of drinkable water. With less ground water Belgium has to import water from other countries or find other sources.
So in short: globally we won’t run out of water, but local problems do exist.
Also the water issues you read about might have been exaggerated somewhat for “news value.” Nobody in Belgium will die of thirst.
Drinking water is being made continuously as the ocean evaporates and falls down on land as rain. This is a renewable source. But not worrying about drinkable water because of the rain is like not worrying about money because you will get a paycheck next week. What if you use more money then the paycheck covers? In that case you do have some money in your savings account. Similarly there is fresh water resevoars around the world that can be used. However this is not an easaly renewable source. If you continue to spend more money then your paychecks or if your paychecks is late then even your savings account will be empty and you will end up broke. Simlarly if we are not carefull about managing our water usage and our resevoars then we will run out of drinkable water at some point.
No, we won’t run out of it, but it could become more expensive, especially locally. Areas with the water issues you keep hearing about are really just struggling to provide the quantity of water they need at the price they want. Specifically, they typically get their water from local ground water and then purify it. Typical costs of this are in the range of pennies per cubic meter of water ($0.05-$0.25/m^3).
Meanwhile we can turn seawater into drinking water for something like $1/m^3 (and we can basically get unlimited amounts of drinking water at this price).
The issue with the places with water issues is their people are paying maybe $300/yr for water, and the government is saying if people keep this up we’ll have to switch to other sources and your water bill will be $1k/yr or more.
Drinkable water is totally a renewable resource. People have been living on the ISS for 20 years on recycled water.
There is plenty of water in the world. Water can be made drinkable by industrial processes. So, there is no risk of running out of water to drink.
However, people expect drinking water to be free, or so cheap it’s almost free. That’s not possible in some places because the water is far away or requires expensive processing to be drinkable. So, it’s not a matter of running out of water, it’s a matter of water costing more than people want to pay.
No. We can desalinate ocean water. Its merely too expensive to do so when fresh water is so darn cheap. If and when fresh water sources become scarce, desalination will become economically viable. California already has some desalination capacity cause its a dry place.
Possibly. Globally, freshwater aquifers are receding; As we’re using more water than these aquifers naturally refill. With population growth, this increases the need for crops which use the majority of freshwater. This means in time, if we do not find a solution, we will not have enough freshwater.
Desalination is a promising lead on how to solve the issue, as over 97% of the Earth’s water is salt water. The problem with desalination is that it’s a slow and expensive process. Currently, the most efficient commercially operated desalination plants use 15x more electricity than a freshwater plant.
Hydroponics are another good way to reduce freshwater use. Globally, 70% of all freshwater goes to farming. On average, hydroponic farms use 10x less water than field crops. They also do not require pesticides, weed killers and are impervious to harsh weather, as they’re grown indoors. Given that nutrients are fed directly to the plants and light exposure can be controlled, the plants can be grown in high densities, reducing the surface area needed.
Who told you drinking water is not a renewable source?
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