Water scarcity: A looming crisis?

[kurt_der_koenig]

Why are we worrying about there being enough water for all the people??????

Stop breeding like ****ing rabbits and water will be the same issue it was 50-100 years ago.... A non-issue!!!!!!

If you breed past your supply of water, food, ability to pay bills or anything else... I, frankly, have no sympathy whatsoever for you or your children.....

amen...brother! Its seems to me as the poorest of all people have 5 or 10 kids. Why is this? Do they not think of the suffering of their newborn kids. Its bad enough one has to deal with the sh*t in the world today but to suffer cause you don't have the money or the resources...bah! I believe if that God does not take us from here, that we blown ourselfs to kingdom-come, or something along those line, that we will bread ourself into estinction.

kurt

[moxnix]

Well now, I can agree with almost all of the comments made in this thread, but I have a question/observation.

A couple of years ago, Maryland was in the middle of a huge drought. They had some very hard water restrictions in place, and almost every car and lawn you would pass was brown and dirty. They were out actively inforcing the water restrictions also.

The only exception to this was the golf courses. They were all unbelievably green and lush. Now why were they given exemptions when no one else got any???

[kurt_der_koenig]

The only exception to this was the golf courses. They were all unbelievably green and lush. Now why were they given exemptions when no one else got any???

The fat cats of Washington use them, thats why! Mostly because they cater to the rich f**ks and remember they get everything their heart desires!

[nihil]

Well Mox~

I think Kurt and I share the view that their golfcourses were as green and lush as their greenbacks

I read a while back that in the UK over 20% of our purified water is lost through the decrepit and obsolete infrastructure. I think that could well be true of other developed countries.

The main problem over here is that we have had water too cheap for too long, and don't set any great value on it. We paid our $300-600 per year and could use as much as we liked..........this has bred a "waste culture"

Today, all new/refurbished properties have to have a water meter, so people have to pay for what they use. Don't worry, it is not the end of civilisation as you know it..........we are paying $6 a gallon for GAS, and there are still plenty of automobiles on the road

Actually it has been business/industry that have offended the most..............now they are charged for what they take out, and also the impurity of that which they return. This has made it worth their while to change their ways.

My take is that the developed world has plenty of slack to take up. Where I see the problem is in arid regione where they are using "fossil water" that went into aquifers during a much wetter climatic regime...........that is certainly a finite resource.

[RoadClosed]

Ah, water conservation. Soap Box:

Nihil the same thing is happening here. I read a study on water delivery systems that need replaced. In fact some local politicians have made it an issue in the past. Seems no one cares, except me. 20 percent is a good estimate on water loss through containment and delivery systems. In fact evaporation alone is more than that. We are in a long-standing drought because this city is built in an area that does not get more than an average of 15 inches per year in NATURAL rainfall. So of course water is an issue, even though not more than 1 hour away there are areas with 40 feet of snow right now and 45 minutes away is the fun and dangerous rapids of the Arkansas River. We get none of it. But delivery infrastructure we do have must be maintained!

Luckily there is a movement to turn landscaping into a more natural environment versus planting grass everywhere. That is: only using as much grass as needed for something useful like Childs play and pets. If that grass turns brown after a few days of no water then some other plant or grass species is probably a good idea. The system uses both natural plants from the local environment and imports from similar microclimates in Europe, Africa, etc. A most fascinating science. Xeriscape link .

In addition, thanks to a country with it's own issues that force innovation, Israel has given us the first really usable subsurface irrigation system. I have seen Netafim in operation and it's fking Sweet. Much more efficient than drip irrigation systems I designed at my home using Irittrol . Day late, doller short. Bottom line; get the water out of the air via spray heads and onto the ground or root systems. Doing that one could save 70 percent of water usage in landscaping applications. Or move to United Kingdom.

Negative: I stand in my living room bitching every time it rains about the water loss through commercial and residential watering during saturation rains. It's a little harder for a large business to shut off systems with 20 different zones but at home, come on a rain sensor is 19 bucks and you can drag your ass of the couch and go hit the OFF button. Oh and grass roots only average 3 to 4 inches. It only takes 15 - 20 minutes with some good flow spray heads to SATURATE the zone. Anything after that is wasted.

Tiger has a point and eventually the world will take on ideas from the Chinese, you will NOT be allowed to produce more offspring than necessary. I mean 10 kids? In the USA we have tones of water even with a desert and the very arid southwest. The entire city of phoenix for instance is artificial just like Las Vegas. They both pump in water from surrounding mountains. I remember when the world was worried about 4 billion people.

The good news is, population seems to be leveling off and western civilizations are having fewer children. Which happens to be where most of the fresh water is. Although the point was made the earth is mostly water. Land is actually scarce.

Golf Courses don't bother me. They are a nice addition to a community. It's like a swimming pool they need water to operate. I big ugly dead and closed golf course is better? If you filled the vacant land with houses or a mego-mart I doubt they would use less water and if they did would it be worth it?

[foxyloxley]

The good news is, population seems to be leveling off

Well, there's certainly fewer Iraqi's around. j/k

I believe that the problem of the poor having more children is both a cultural and religious one.

In years past, having ten children didn't mean keeping ten, infant mortality was far greater then. Nowadays, medical advances have ensured that the mortality rate has reduced dramatically, but, the people have taken millennia to adopt the large family to survive route, and it's going to take a couple of GENERATIONS of education to eradicate that thought process.

And then there was religion : The pope has a lot to answer for here. denial of contraception, and a continuing message that each and every child born is needed to swell the numbers of the catholic church, means that even those that would LIKE to comply with the ethical / moral implications of the above, are torn between that and their church.

Truly stuck between a rock and a hard place.

As for the remainder of the worlds population I haven't managed to pi55 off yet.

Ignorance : it may be bliss, but it is quite possibly the biggest problem we face.
We might be able to get the message out there.
We might be able to get the message across.
But a ****tard is still a ****tard, and as my father used to say :
"You cannot polish a turd"

It will take a real life irrefutable miracle to solve this in the lifetime of anyone alive now, but give the human race a couple of hundred years, and they might just get it.

[RoadClosed]

"You cannot polish a turd"

lol, that's an image.

Population is leveling off, I made that statement based on research I have read. Maybe we will get it, because if not someone or some culture will die off. They will not survive. We see the disasterous effects once in a while when some plague or blight hits critical crop areas of the world. We as a people in Europe and North America do a decent job I think.

[jinxy]

You cannot polish a turd

But you can apparently, put it in a tin, then sell it as art.