Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Water: How The World Is Taking Advantage


Since you're on the internet reading this blog post, odds are you live in a developed country. Odds also favor that you rarely, if ever, think about your personal water consumption let alone your countries water consumption.

Many people believe that the world has an unlimited supply of water, clean and ready for the taking at their very need. However, this is not the case. Water is a natural resource just like any other on our planet, and our planet can and will run out of water supply sometime in the future.

How? You may ask. I can't possibly use enough water, nor can others, to cause a world shortage of water.

Well, that's where you're wrong.
In a class of mine today, my professor was talking about this very issue and mentioned an author by the name of Charles Fishman. He wrote a book called "The Big Thirst" in which he examines the future of water, a natural resource that we can no longer take for granted.

Interested, I started looking up some facts about water and everyday consumption. This is what I've found:

Prepare to be stunned:

-Every day people in developed countries like America use 99 gallons of water per person for daily activities like cooking, washing dishes and clothes, cleaning, etc.
-However, coal, nuclear and natural gas plants use nearly 250 gallons of water per day per person to generate our daily electric usage.
-1 out of every 6 gallons of water that is cleaned and treated for consumption is leaked back into the ground before it even reaches our homes.
-A single golf course can use over 600 million gallons of water a year.

Here's a doozie:
-Computer chip factories use a countless amount of "Super Pure Water" just to clean off those chips used in the making of a countless amount of electronics. "Super Pure Water" is water that has been purified 12 steps past reverse osmosis to obtain an ultra pure, organism and chemical free water. Which means that it requires more electricity to purify, so more water to run those electric plants.

This is a fun one:
-NASA and other space programs pour hundreds of thousands of gallons of water onto the launch pad just before a shuttle takes off. This is used as a sound dampener. Without it, the noise the shuttle generates when taking off would bounce off the launch pad and disintegrate the shuttle before it even left the ground. 

Pretty crazy stuff, huh?

According to the author mentioned above and countless other intellectuals, our generation or the generation of our children could very well be faced with a world wide shortage of clean, drinkable water.

FOLLOWERS:
1. Did you have any idea that you used that much water daily?
2. How far off do you think a world wide water crisis is?
3. Are you concerned for the future of our planet?
4. Power Rangers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Or both?

35 comments:

Brandon Sample said...

1.yea
2.i think soon, Im sure my kids will struggle with water shortages, by the time my grand kids are around, shit will hit the fan.
3.pretty concerned, I try to be better about it, I've heard a lot of alarming things, so i try to do my part.
4.TMNT!
also, is that NASA one real? I mean really?

The Game Store Guy said...

I actually knew a lot of this and, yes, I am very concerned. Although I'm not sure what I can really do to fix it.

D22 Zone said...

Another great post! keep up the good blogging!

Grafted said...

1.Yes, I've been making efforts to waste less water recently.
2.Pretty soon
3.Yeah, water is only one of the reasons, though
4.Heroes in a Half Shell, Turtle Power

Unknown said...

1. yes
2. never
3. no
4. mighty ninja turtles

Kanika said...

1. No, but I do try to save water as much as
possible...!
2. Not much time left :(
3. Yes definitely...
4. Both :)

Insider33 said...

1. Kinda
2. Don't know, won't speculate
3. There is a threat of overpopulation
4. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, definitely.

duffboi said...

1. no
2. 10 years?
3. yes
4. TMNT, all the way!

T. Banacek said...

And how much water do we waste on lawn care? Get rid of the grass!

Fishy Corporation said...

1. Yes kinda.
2. Not that far, we will find new ways to solve it.
3. No.
4. Ninjas!

Mostly Irrelephant said...

1. I pay the water bill, so yeah. ;)
2. Dunno. I mean we *could* produce our own drinkin water. Would be tedious though
3. The planet? No. Us? A little. The planet will always live in some form or another
4. Power Rangers. But only the original ones.

ed said...

FOLLOWERS:
1. a million gallons probably
2. not bad
3. sure maybe idk
4. ninja turtles

Fix PC Games Admin said...

1.yees
2.dunno
3.no I guess
4.both
nice survey :)

Trelin said...

yes
100 years
yes
turtles of course

BTN Hip Hop said...

Yeah
probably sooner than i think
yes
power rangers bro

Corridor said...

1. Yes
2. We're not that far off from it...
3. Yes.
4. Both

clique said...

1. No, I don't think I personally do. I prefer not to take showers and only drink the blood of my enemies
2. We'll kill each other off before then.
3. Not in regards to water. For every gallon we drink, we piss one out. Total energy transfer remains constant. It may not always be in the for of clean water, but the energy will always be available to be harnessed and directed.
4. Ninja Turtles, duh. They're heroes in a half-shell.

Anonymous said...

1. Yes
2. We´r Fucked
3. Yes, very much
4. none

izzfoshizzz said...

sorry to not answer your questions but i beleive, form personal experience, that the 4 people in my household do not use ~400 gallons of water per day, and the nuclear power plant 20 miles away from my house uses sea water to cool its self off. so yeah. plus every chemist knows matter cannot be created or destroyed.

Punky said...

1. I had a general idea.
2. No idea
3. Yes.
4. Power Rangers

datmeenjeniet said...

1. Oh yes.
2. I think we'll manage.
3. No, the planet will survive us easily. It's the future of mankind that concerns me. The earth will shake us of like a dog shakes of lice when we annoy it too much.
4. Definitely Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Alphabeta said...

1. Yes
2. I'm just crossing fingers a leap in technology can prevent any water crisis.
3. Always.
4. I'll say both, why not?

VersionDouble said...

1. Crazy, really. So no.
2. Im hoping science will save the day.
3. Both yes and no. In the long run, itll work out - but for the immediate future things look bad.
4. TMNT ALL THE WAY.

Patres said...

1. Yes I had a notion
2. Bit further away than the imminent fuel crisis
3. Surely
4. Ninja Tertuls

Endless said...

1. yes
2. never
3. no
4. BOTH

Jay said...

99 gallons? wow!

Kicking Rocks said...

1. yep pretty much
2. all of america and europe
3. absolutely
4. BOTH!

Anonymous said...

Damn that's a lot of water! Water is so important to chemical reactions, human health, and society. Gotta treat it with respect.

gman said...

1.Yes
2.I don't think we really will have to face one. Third world countries are already in a semi permanent water crisis (and have been for some time) and the western world with its declining population will see declining demand for water as there are less and less people using it.
3.Yes
4.TMNT

Eric P said...

I'm very conscious of the amount of water I use, and I take very quick showers, sweep instead of hose, and generally save water in any way that I can. I live in a drought area, so it's very important here.

Xuian said...

It's going to be interesting to see what happens in Nebraska/Kansas when the glacier water underground runs out

JuX said...

if you were in Australia about 1-2 years ago you would have heard about water restrictions and what not because of our drought. Non-stop drought talk.

EmoGoth said...

It's crazy to think that there is such a huge gap between developed and developing countries.

Anonymous said...

1. Did you have any idea that you used that much water daily? Yes i do and i alwasy try to conserve water and not place detergents to contaminate it.

2. How far off do you think a world wide water crisis is? Its in the next 100 years.


3. Are you concerned for the future of our planet? Yes.


4. Power Rangers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Or both? None.

Piets said...

1. not really D:

2. 50-100 years

3. yes, and no... Chances are ill be dead before anything noticable happens

4. BEAST WARS!

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