The upcoming global water crisis

[Zoraxe 546]

I'm just going to say this bluntly, human population is growing but clean drinkable (potable) water is declining, and it will be the big issue facing humanity in the coming years unless something happens that changes our current trajectory. More so than global warming or terrorism or oil prices or food prices, or immigration. because the water shortage ties into all of those.

 

In 2050, our Earths population will be about 9 billion, it takes water to grow the crops we eat, water the livestock we consume, and help in the process of generating the electricity we use, in addition to the direct uses of water we have, its just simply not sustainable. This 4 year drought in California is just the start.

 

I found this video about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1gsyhuHGgc

 

The solution that I can think of are desalination plants, but those are expensive because they require a lot of energy to make potable water from seawater, so we would need more sources of energy for those to work, preferable clean energy sources like solar and wind. So if that doesn't happen then at best we can expect there to be more competitive world over a basic necessity of life, and if If things come to worse then... I hope you are able to farm your own food.

 

So this is a thread about preparing for this crisis, and ways to prevent it from happening.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Zoraxe

[Zoraxe 546]

In the United States it will be California, Texas, Nevada, and the Midwest that will be the most effected, but the entire country would suffer. Big cities probably won't do so well either.

 

@@Venomous,

 

If there are any tapped springs in your area, like a pipe sticking out from a hill where cold clean water pours out from, keep a note of where that is, just make sure its safe to drink.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Zoraxe

[KrazyDashie 1,847]

honestly. people spend more time and invent more things to destroy our world. then things that could save our world.

 

but... ya know. near the end of the world might bring a breakthrough invention....

Edited September 1, 2015 by KrazyDashie

[BlueBrony 388]

If the need becomes strong enough, a lot of focus and energy will be put into finding solutions. I imagine that a lot more people will begin to work on collecting rainwater, the government will spend a lot more money on desalination plants and water research, and lots of lawns will turn brown. Humanity will not take this lying down.

[Sharl 53]

I Have worried about this one. my solution is watch Game of Thrones all day and night... >< ><

Edited September 1, 2015 by Sharl

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,496]

This has been something that has crossed my mind in the past but it is something I have tried not to worry about. At this point, the actual global issue that could happen might be inevitable if it does happen, because the effort to prevent won't happen until it already has happened and the world realizes the situation. That is if this does happen. I think we should hardcore kickstart more methods that are quicker and better for making salt water drinkable, which I think there are already ways to do so, it is just not efficient yet.

[Hocus Pocus 636]

meh, I know how to filter water and stuff like that. And if the worst happens, people will probably just invent something to solve the problem. The real problem here is overpopulation, not necessarily drought, simply because overpopulation is a harder nut to crack than drought.... It's kinda hard to stop overpopulation while keeping a free country, you either have to enforce laws to limit the number of children families can have, or you have to sacrifice current living members of the human race... Neither of which sound very fun...

 

Well, I guess a third option would be the colonization of other planets, but we aren't nearly tot he point where we can start doing that yet, and even if we were, it'd be so dang expensive that not nearly enough people could do it!

[PacificGreen 1,163]

As an engineer, I hope to be able to help solve crises like these involving sustainability and the environment. Will need a lot of thinking and cooperation at the university AND professional leve, though.

 

I also feel pretty passionately about airplane safety, given the several aviation catastrophes that have happened in the past few years alone.

[Not_A_Brony 29]

First, thank you to whichever kind soul decided to caption that video   you may never read this, but know your work is appreciated.
 
It's gonna be a real conundrum for a greater part of the world in the near future, that's for sure. At the same time, though... I'm almost looking forward to it. No, wait, I'm not evil^yet, I swear! I'm just really looking forward to the day the anti-environmentalists and corporations finally have to own up to and admit the fact that yes, our "spaceship Earth" is unsustainable if we don't treat it as such. It's almost simple physics, really—Earth is not a closed system; we get energy from the sun. However, the more indirectly we use that energy (e.g. sources of high potential energy like hydrocarbons), the more the planet starts to feel like a closed system while we wait for all of those potential energy sources to regenerate (hint: they won't in our lifetime).
 
As OP stated, solar and wind are excellent sources of energy, and so are tidal, hydroelectric, and geothermal. Barring geothermal, all of these are astronomically sourced, which I strongly feel is the answer to our energy woes. The sun ain't never gonna stop shinin' in our lifetimes, or our grandkids' lifetimes, or our grandkids' grandkids' nephews' half-brother genetically engineered lizard-person uhh... you get my point.
 
As for the water problem, well... once we get the energy problem sorted out, that piece oughta fall into place shortly after. Reverse osmosis looks most promising for large-scale desalination.

 

Also, I'm glad that video touched on the use of corn for ethanol. Plenty of studies have found it to be inefficient, and large-scale corn farming tends to be highly damaging to the soil. I'm just waiting for the day electrolytically-derived hydrogen fuel cell vehicles become economically efficient.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Not_A_Brony

[The Pixelated Pony 883]

My solution is to stay in England which is you know an island?

[Zoraxe 546]

meh, I know how to filter water and stuff like that. And if the worst happens, people will probably just invent something to solve the problem. The real problem here is overpopulation, not necessarily drought, simply because overpopulation is a harder nut to crack than drought.... It's kinda hard to stop overpopulation while keeping a free country, you either have to enforce laws to limit the number of children families can have, or you have to sacrifice current living members of the human race... Neither of which sound very fun...

 

Well, I guess a third option would be the colonization of other planets, but we aren't nearly tot he point where we can start doing that yet, and even if we were, it'd be so dang expensive that not nearly enough people could do it!

 

Overpopulation is the cause of the water problem, most of the water used is for making the food we eat. Its not a drinking water problem for the first world, it rising prices for everything, especially food.

 

First, thank you to whichever kind soul decided to caption that video   you may never read this, but know your work is appreciated.

 

It's gonna be a real conundrum for a greater part of the world in the near future, that's for sure. At the same time, though... I'm almost looking forward to it. No, wait, I'm not evil^yet, I swear! I'm just really looking forward to the day the anti-environmentalists and corporations finally have to own up to and admit the fact that yes, our "spaceship Earth" is unsustainable if we don't treat it as such. It's almost simple physics, really—Earth is not a closed system; we get energy from the sun. However, the more indirectly we use that energy (e.g. sources of high potential energy like hydrocarbons), the more the planet starts to feel like a closed system while we wait for all of those potential energy sources to regenerate (hint: they won't in our lifetime).

 

As OP stated, solar and wind are excellent sources of energy, and so are tidal, hydroelectric, and geothermal. Barring geothermal, all of these are astronomically sourced, which I strongly feel is the answer to our energy woes. The sun ain't never gonna stop shinin' in our lifetimes, or our grandkids' lifetimes, or our grandkids' grandkids' nephews' half-brother genetically engineered lizard-person uhh... you get my point.

 

As for the water problem, well... once we get the energy problem sorted out, that piece oughta fall into place shortly after. Reverse osmosis looks most promising for large-scale desalination.

 

Also, I'm glad that video touched on the use of corn for ethanol. Plenty of studies have found it to be inefficient, and large-scale corn farming tends to be highly damaging to the soil. I'm just waiting for the day electrolytically-derived hydrogen fuel cell vehicles become economically efficient.

 

Desalinization plants also have environmental issues themselves, like pollution.

 

But of coarse, the worse hit areas will be the third world who can't afford the desalination plants, they will have immigrants flooding into the countries with water, it could be hard for a while even with this technology.

 

My solution is to stay in England which is you know an island?

 

England is not an island. And Britain does have a water shortage problem.

[The Pixelated Pony 883]

A water shortage problem really? You haven't got a clue mate.

[Zoraxe 546]

A water shortage problem really? You haven't got a clue mate.

 

Really, because Britain will soon be importing more than half its food. Makes me wonder how much of it comes from America or Africa or Brazil.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/24/uk-will-need-to-import-over-half-of-its-food-within-a-generation-farmers-warn

 

And the english part is indeed getting less water than before.

 

 

[The Pixelated Pony 883]

You know this is why I don't talk to people because no one knows how the world actually works yes we import food but if you look in any undeveloped area of land you see two things Trees and Farms, trees produce oxygen and fruit and Farms produce meat and Vegetables oh and we are an Island and Island's are surrounded by WATER! WATER THAT CAN BE FILTERED

[That One Pone 584]

A water shortage problem really? You haven't got a clue mate.

 

Believe it or not, we do have water shortage issues. The biggest issues we have at the moment are the purification/desalination/etc of our water sources. Thames Water, as an example, have no interest in desalination. Instead, at the moment, locally, they are digging for gravel in the nearby reservoirs. To get money. With no planned expenditure on desalination.

[Zoraxe 546]

@,

 

Britain has a pretty high population, if they are to start producing their own food more, than they would have to start using more of their own water for agriculture. OK, so if they do start needing more water than they have available then they would have to build desalination plants. Its expensive to build and run those things and they cause pollution and harm local wildlife.

 

Britain is indeed not one of the worse off areas, but will still be having a tough economic situation. Less people globally will be buying British goods and more people will be wanting to immigrate into Britain from areas with less water.

[The Pixelated Pony 883]

Which ZeusKing is why I live in the Midlands

[Zoraxe 546]

@,

 

 

Because that will totally keep you from any sort of nation wide water issues! (I know, ancient meme is ancient)

[The Pixelated Pony 883]

Well yeah actually... The black country (where I live) is practically its own country

[That One Pone 584]

Which ZeusKing is why I live in the Midlands

Notice I used Thames Water as an example. It still affects pretty much all of the large organisations. 

[The Pixelated Pony 883]

How 'bought Severn Trent?

[Vertigo_95 572]

 

 

The solution that I can think of are desalination plants,

 

We talked about this alot in my Earth Science class. Desalination plants would be the most effective thing, but what would happen to the salt that was removed from the water? Now I'm not sure if there is another answer to this, but our science teacher told us that it would be put back in the ocean, rising the salt levels so much to the point where our oceans would end up like The Dead Sea, which is like a catch 22.

[That One Pone 584]

We talked about this alot in my Earth Science class. Desalination plants would be the most effective thing, but what would happen to the salt that was removed from the water? Now I'm not sure if there is another answer to this, but our science teacher told us that it would be put back in the ocean, rising the salt levels so much to the point where our oceans would end up like The Dead Sea, which is like a catch 22.

 

There is probably a way to recycle the salt - make it useful. For all you know there could be a way to use it as an energy source. Time and research will tell.

[Abstract 832]

We talked about this alot in my Earth Science class. Desalination plants would be the most effective thing, but what would happen to the salt that was removed from the water? Now I'm not sure if there is another answer to this, but our science teacher told us that it would be put back in the ocean, rising the salt levels so much to the point where our oceans would end up like The Dead Sea, which is like a catch 22.

 

I'm sure there's a way we could store it without having to harm the environment with it.

[Twilight Dirac 721]

This 4 year drought in California is just the start.

 

I really wouldn't worry about the California drought, it is not a precursor to some kind of global drought, but rather another indication that California is run by a bunch of imbeciles.  Remember the California energy crisis under governor Davis a decade ago, which was supposed to be a precursor to a global energy crisis but was in fact simply the consequence of California not bothering to build powerplants?  Well this is just that problem again, but now with water.  Just like when they refused to raise electricity prices in the midst of the previous crisis, California won't hike water prices now so its politically connected agricultural industry is more than happy to squander massive quantities of water while its citizens are ordered to ration their water usage.  Then there is the whole Oakdale Irrigation District scandal where they were going to lower water levels in the New Melones Reservoir to assist steelhead trout migration in the middle of the drought, demonstrating a complete lack of priorities.  I hate to sound cruel, but I have long run out of sympathy for California and its management of just about everything.  

 

Problems in California are nothing more then an indication that the Californian government is incompetent, something I have known for a long, long time.  Just don't elect any California's politicians to Federal environmental management posts and the rest of us can steer clear of these kinds of problems.

 

 

 

We talked about this alot in my Earth Science class. Desalination plants would be the most effective thing, but what would happen to the salt that was removed from the water? Now I'm not sure if there is another answer to this, but our science teacher told us that it would be put back in the ocean, rising the salt levels so much to the point where our oceans would end up like The Dead Sea, which is like a catch 22.

 

 

Your science teacher told you that?  Doesn't he realize that was the salt just removed from the sea water to begin with, so that the net salt intake would be zero.  Actual ocean water salt comes from the erosion of soil in riverbeds as water makes it way from inland back out to sea after being deposited by rain, which has accumulated over the course of hundreds of millions of years.  There is no risk of desalination plants raising the salt levels of the ocean to that of the dead sea.  This isn't doing much for my confidence in the public education system.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Twilight Dirac