1 Andy Barron RGJ Joseph L Shaefer 2015 Can we find more water No At least really unlikely The water in on and above the earth is fixed Mostly Aquifers CAR ID: 256472
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "Water, Murder and Mayhem" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
Water, Murder and Mayhem
1
Andy Barron / RGJ
©
Joseph L
Shaefer
2015Slide2
Can we “find” more water?
No.
(At least really unlikely…) The water in, on,
and above the earth is fixed.Mostly…
Aquifers? CAR
Mya
2
Credit: The USGS Water Science School, Howard Perlman, USGS; globe illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (©); Adam
Nieman
.Slide3
How Does Nature “Conserve?”
3Slide4
Now That Humans are Here…
In the US, How isWaterUsed?
4Slide5
How Are We Told to Conserve?
“Feel good” conservation: Fix Leaks / Baths, Showers & Combat Showers / Wash only full loads No grass? Leave the yellow pine pollen on your chairs? No – and don’t let them make you feel guilty! It’s 1%.
Want to really conserve? Less electricity / eat more potatoes/less meat… rice 400, wheat 130, potatoes 65, Big Macs 3000 / milk 750 / sugar 400 / coffee 10
5Slide6
Real Water Wasters
Forget Amateurs like you & me. These are the PROs…
6Slide7
Right Here in River CityTrouble with a capital “T”
7Slide8
Is Desalination the Answer?
8
No. Yes. Maybe. Sometimes…Slide9
No, REALLY…How Can Humans Conserve?
#1 Stop Making So Many BabiesKill ethanol-for-gasUse less electricity
Choose your food Get the whole picture: e.g., Buying “Natural cotton” – wear oil, bamboo, hemp, etc. not cottonPestilence
Famine War
9Slide10
What If We Don’t Conserve / Recycle / Reduce Water Usage?We’ll Die.
Pestilence -- 2 million die every year from waterborne infections
Famine – if we can’t grow the food, we dieWar – the next (
il)logical choice
10Slide11
Who Has the Water?1000 cm3
11Slide12
Who Has Enough for Their People?
12Slide13
Water Is Not Dispersed Equally Across The Globe!
13Slide14
The Tinder Box That is and is Likely to Remain: The Mideast14Slide15
200 Major Water Wars--History
2500 B.C. – Iraq600 B.C. & 430 B.C. – Greece537 -- Rome1503 – Leonardo
da Vinci & Machiavelli1861-65 – US Civil War1907-1913 – LA Aqueduct
1937-1942 – Japanese C/B Unit 7311978 – Present // Ethiopian dams2000 – Kenyan villagers vs. monkeys2009 – Indians die for a bucket of water
15Slide16
War – Possible Flash Points16
In the Mideast, every major river crosses at least one other “country’s” border
Da’esh closes dam gates on EuphratesKurdistanIsrael and the Golan Heights
Saudi Arabia: “food independence” = water dependence.Ethiopia / Sudan versus EgyptSlide17
War – Possible Flash PointsThe Zambezi and the Niger in sub-Saharan Africa
The Mekong and IrrawaddyWater vs Potable Water: India // wells // water mafias
Ditto China: 21% of the world’s people / 7% of the world’s water – much now polluted and undrinkable. Tibet& Qinghai /// India, VN, Russia
17Slide18
War – the Most Likely Outcome
18Slide19
What Could Save Us?
Fewer people. ZPG / better economies.Conservation. Redeploy waste water now, not when Nature normally would
Desalination & Technology. Use less energy, create better filtration, deal with the side effects of desalination.A
Krakatoa-Sized Volcanic Eruption or a Giant Meteor Storm of Interstellar Ice.
19