Water: Where will it come from in 2050?

[Michaelangelica]

just a bit of planning needed, really...

and

money?

Population below poverty line:

70%

Debt - external:

$11.24 billion

Subsistence agriculture provides the main livelihood for half of the population, but half of the country's food must still be imported. In 2005, the government started using a $2 billion line of credit from China to rebuild Angola's public infrastructure,

 

and

a decent government

Corruption, especially in the extractive sectors, is a major challenge facing Angola.

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ao.html#Govt

 

and

no war and homeless displaced persons

27-year civil war ending in 2002; 4 million IDPs

 

and

an enviroment not under the huge pressures of poverty, war and population

Environment - current issues:

overuse of pastures and subsequent soil erosion attributable to population pressures; desertification; deforestation of tropical rain forest, in response to both international demand for tropical timber and to domestic use as fuel, resulting in loss of biodiversity; soil erosion contributing to water pollution and siltation of rivers and dams; inadequate supplies of potable water

 

and perhaps money for their own oil

 

yep

"just a matter of planning really."

With that level of naive confidence you should be working for International Aid agencies.

They could use your simple confidence to boost their moral

[gribbon]

I never denied that Angola is poor, badly run and so forth, but with the resources obtainable water supply for this country has the potential to be easy.

 

Quote:

Corruption, especially in the extractive sectors, is a major challenge facing Angola.

 

Corruption for Angola is only a problem at the commercial and business level, not at government levels. Seeing as the government of Angola has taken control of much of the countries economy, especially the oil institutions (which last thing I knew where owned by Sonangol group), and to a lesser extent it’s industry, it would not be harder for Angola to develop than most other countries in Africa. Lack of infrastructure is a problem, though. But with oil wealth as great as Angola’s, this latest contract with China, and good relations with Libya and Namibia, there’s no reason why that cannot be changed.

 

Population below poverty line:70%

Quote:

Debt - external:$11.24 billion

 

The economy is recovering fast enough, (GDP real growth rate is at 19.1% (and has been for some time now) NationMaster - Statistics > GDP > Real growth rate by countryand the civil war is all but ended.

 

and

a decent government

and

no war and homeless displaced persons

Quote:

 

On February 22, 2002, Jonas Savimbi, the leader of UNITA, was killed by government troops, and a cease-fire was reached. UNITA has given up its armed wing and usurped the role of major opposition party, and President dos Santos has announced he will hold elections in 2008. This might be a desperately poor country, but what you haven’t grasped is that it is recovering and has the resources to provide itself with water. Now that the war is over, they can reduce their military expenditures to a more sensible level. (In 2003 they were ludicrously high at 22%, and even now they are at 5.5%).

 

I fail to see how Angola, Namibia or Libya for that matter can have problems with water supplies. Also, I suggest you look at the link, because it does state clearly there that Angola has a renewable supply of 13,204 cubic metres per person. Only if you have 1,700 per capita can you have a shortage, and only if its less than 1000 per capita is it water stress.

 

Naiive confidence? Don’t think so somehow….

[Michaelangelica]

Naiive confidence? Don’t think so somehow….

Your optimism astounds me

Keep it up! - but not to the detriment of logic

[Michaelangelica]

Salt water can be used instead of fresh water ;)

Water salinity levels for various uses

Source/Use

EC (dS/m)

Distilled Water

0.00

River Murray (SA, 1993)

0.79

Desirable potable limit for humans

0.83

Grape, potato, sweet corn yields reduced by 10%

1.7

Lucerne yield reduced by 10%

2.2

Absolute potable limit for humans

2.5

Limit for mixing herbicide sprays

4.69

Limit for poultry

5.8

Limit for pigs

6.6

Limit for dairy cattle

10.00

Limit for horses

11.60

Limit for beef cattle

16.6

Limit for adult sheep on dry feed

23.00

Sea water

50.00

The Dead Sea

555.00

 

Source: Dowelling in Taylor 1993

 

Salinity Solutions - Urban salinity

[TheBigDog]

Niagara Falls has a volume of 750,000 gallons/second. That is enough water to give each of the 6 billion people on earth 10.8 gallons every day. That is just one river.

 

It is not supply, it is distribution.

 

Bill

[Michaelangelica]

Niagara Falls has a volume of 750,000 gallons/second. That is enough water to give each of the 6 billion people on earth 10.8 gallons every day. That is just one river.

 

It is not supply, it is distribution.

 

Bill

But would you want to drink it??

Niagara Falls - Great Lakes Wiki

By the 1970's, life in the Niagara River was exhausted from all the toxins. Fish were dead, some species even completely gone. Each day waterfowl could be found dead on the banks of the river. More chemical dumping continued:

 

* SCA Chemical Services announced plans in 1979 to dump 110 million gallons of chemical waste into the lower Niagara River. Even through citizen opposition, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued a permit and the dumping took place from 1981 through 1988.

* Hooker Chemical and Plastics Corporation were licensed by the EPA to dump 950 lbs of toxic chemicals per day.

* In 1981 it was discovered that 37 million gallons of radioactive waste from the Manhattan Project had been injected into shallow wells near the Niagara River .

 

In 1984 it was estimated by the Canadian government that 9,000 lbs of toxic chemicals were being legally dumped into the Niagara River every day. Today the United States EPA has listed 26 superfund sites along the Niagara, and nearby cities have began cleanup projects for improve the river. With the past 100 years of toxins going into the Niagara River, it would take over 200 years to renew the river if all current dumping was immediately stopped.

 

by toxic chemicals such as PCBs, mirex, chlordane, dioxin, dibenzofuran, hexachlorocyclo-hexane, PAHs, and pesticides.

. Metals and cyanides in the sediment prevent open lake disposal of bottom sediments dredged from the river. Sources and loadings of pollutant causing use impairments in the Niagara River include these sediments as well as inactive hazardous waste sites, combined sewer overflows, and other point and nonpoint sources. Contamination originating from discharges within Lake Erie's watershed contributes t

Great Lakes Area of Concerns (AoCs): Niagara | Great Lakes | US EPA

 

I rains more than enough in the wet season in Northern Oz too

But the economics and engineering of getting it to the south are impossible

 

This was interesting & probably necessary if you are about to drink Niagara water

Water Purification Techniques:

 

Different water purifiers use different techniques of purification. The common techniques used to purify water include boiling, carbon filtering, distilling, reverse osmosis, ion exchange, electrode ionization, water conditioning and plumbo-solvency reduction.

 

Carbon filtering: This technique is commonly used in home water filters. Charcoal, a form of carbon with a high surface area due to its mode of preparation, adsorbs many compounds, including some toxic compounds. The water is passed through activated charcoal to remove such contaminants. Granular charcoal filtering and sub-micron solid block carbon filtering are the two types of carbon filtering systems.

 

Granular charcoal is not very effective for removing contaminants such as mercury, volatile organic chemicals, asbestos, pesticides, disinfections byproduct (trihalomethanes), mtbe, pcbs etc. The sub-micron solid block carbon filter is the better system that removes all of the contaminants.

 

Home water filters drinking water sometimes also contains silver. These small amounts of silver ions can have a bactericidal effect.

 

Reverse osmosis: The reverse osmosis water system is the technique in which mechanical pressure is applied to an impure solution to force pure water through a semi-permeable membrane. The process is called reverse osmosis, and is theoretically the most thorough method of large-scale water purification.

 

Ion exchange: Most common ion exchange systems use a zeolite resin bed and simply replace unwanted Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions with benign (soap friendly) Na+ or K+ ions. This is the common water softener. A more rigorous type of ion exchange swaps H+ ions for unwanted cations and hydroxide (OH-) ions for unwanted anions. The result is H+ + OH- → H2O. This system is recharged with hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, respectively. The result is essentially deionized water.

 

Electrodeionization: It includes passing the water through a positive electrode and a negative electrode. Ion selective membranes allow the positive ions to separate from the water toward the negative electrode and the negative ions toward the positive electrode. It results in high purity de-ionized water. The water is usually passed through a reverse osmosis unit first to remove nonionic organic contaminants.

 

Water conditioning: This is a method of reducing the effects of hard water. Hardness salts are deposited in water systems subject to heating because the decomposition of bicarbonate ions creates carbonate ions that crystallize out of the saturated solution of calcium or magnesium carbonate. Water with high concentrations of hardness salts can be treated with soda ash (Sodium carbonate) that precipitates out the excess salts, through the common ion effect, as calcium carbonate of very high purity. The precipitated calcium carbonate is traditionally sold to the manufacturers of toothpaste.

 

Plumbo-solvency reduction: In areas with naturally acidic waters of low conductivity (i.e. surface rainfall in upland mountains of igneous rocks), the water is capable of dissolving lead from any lead pipes that it is carried in. The addition of small quantities of phosphate ion and increasing the pH slightly both assist in greatly reducing plumbo-solvency by creating insoluble lead salts on the inner surfaces of the pipes.

About the Author

 

Paul MacIver writes about Water Filters & Purifiers. Visit the Water Purification website for further info on water purifiers and Water Filters You may freely reprint this article as long as nothing is changed, bio is included with links intact

microwater microwater microwater microwater

 

Tags: Water Filters

 

Filed under Water Filters by other

[Queso]

Also,

 

Grapefruit seed extract purifies water in just under a minute.

[Michaelangelica]

Does it?

I am told that a few drops of lemon juice to a cup will do the same.

althoug in some places it might be safer to drink the lemon juice

 

Just came accross this interesting article from Cosmos

The Water Services Association of Australia predicts that if no water conservation measures are taken, and climate change and population growth continue as forecast, Australia's 10 largest cities will - by 2030 - be consuming 854 gigalitres (GL) more water than they use.

That's a monumental increase in demand. To put it in perspective, that's nearly two times more water than the whole of Melbourne currently uses in a year.

Clearly, the driest inhabited continent in the world has a problem.

It's a perversely comforting thought that Australia is not alone it its predicament. Climate change is a worldwide phenomenon, uniting the human species - and every other living creature, whether they like it or not - in hardship. The United Nations describes the global water situation as a "crisis ... essentially caused by the ways in which we mismanage water". The U.N. is so concerned about water, it has named 2005 to 2015 as the Decade of Water.

According to the U.N., water use has risen six-fold in the past 100 years. We are now at the point where half of the world's wetlands have vanished, and 20 per cent of freshwater fish are endangered.

More than one sixth of the world's population, some 1.2 billion people, do not have enough clean water to drink every day.

It is estimated that 3.3 million people die as a result of drinking this untreated water every year.

But disease is not the worst of the world's water worries: running short is a far more pressing problem.

The U.N. forecasts that by 2050, between 2 billion and 7 billion human beings will be affected by chronic water shortages. Climate change will have a bearing, as will population growth and improving living standards, which leads to higher rates of consumption.

In an article for the U.N. Chronicle, Albert Schumacher, a Canadian physician, says: "China is an excellent illustration of the daunting water management challenge that we face in this century.

It has approximately 21 per cent of the global population, but access to only 7 per cent of the planet's fresh water. This situation is exacerbated by its rapid industrialisation, with millions of people migrating from the countryside to the cities, a greatly increased use of indoor plumbing and changing diets that include water-intensive foods like beef and pork."

It's when the water runs out that things really start to get ugly. Many analysts have forecast that wars in the future will not be fought over land, religion, or oil; it is water that will trigger conflict.

"Just as war over fire sparked conflict among early prehistoric tribes, wars over water may result from current tensions over this resource in the next few years," according to a 2001 report prepared by the consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers. "The Near and Middle East are the zones where there is the greatest threat."

In 2002, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that "Fierce national competition over water resources has prompted fears that water issues contain the seeds of violent conflict." Since then, the U.N. has backed away from the suggestion of all-out warring over water, but maintains the situation is nonetheless grave.

In a report released to celebrate World Water Day 2006 (March 22), the U.N. said, "Conflicts occur, in particular, between users sharing the same resource - a situation often exacerbated by traditional values, customs and practices, historical factors and geographical vagaries."

Singapore is one country. . .

The water crisis | COSMOS magazine

There is lots more. It is an excellent article. Australians especially should read it

The water crisis | COSMOS magazine

[jungjedi]

i saw a report on FRONTLINE about this issue of scarecity of water and lack of proper sanitation leading to billions of people dying from the year 2020 to 2060.i recon wars will be raised in the middle east over this issue

[InfiniteNow]

i saw a report on FRONTLINE about this issue of scarecity of water and lack of proper sanitation leading to billions of people dying from the year 2020 to 2060.i recon wars will be raised in the middle east over this issue

 

Of course. As we all know, the middle east is known for it's vast fresh water supply. :rant:

[jungjedi]

no,they were talking about fighting over what little there was

[Zythryn]

While I can see war breaking out over scarce resources, I don't think water will be the trigger in the middle east (oil maybe, but not water).

 

War is breaking out, at least in part, due to scarcity of water. This can be seen in darfur:( Take a look at lake Chad. 33 years ago it was the 6th largest lake in the world. Now it is almost gone. As the lake dries up, people come into conflict over the remaining water.

[Michaelangelica]

no,they were talking about fighting over what little there was

Water and power is a problem in Jordan

"Water supplies are unevenly distributed around the globe," which is the point TBG was making?

A prof from Adelaide Uni says underground water is made underground. It does not come from above. He has just written abook about it. I will try to find the ref. and put it in "strange claims"?

More precious than oil, yet routinely wasted, water is arguably the world's most pressing resource issue.

 

Ensuring Water Supply

Human development depends on adequate water—a fact that has driven the location of communities, the extent of agriculture, and the shape of industry and transportation for centuries.

 

Because of its central place in our activities, water is also the focus of much engineering activity and investment in the form of dams, canals, pipelines, and irrigation systems.

Today, there are more than 45,000 large dams (dams more than 15 meters high) in the world—most of them built in the last 35 years (WCD 2000:8, 11). This storage capacity represents a 700 percent increase in the standing stock of water in river systems since 1950 (Vörösmarty et al. 1997:210).

 

The increase in storage capacity has permitted the expansion of agriculture through the use of irrigation, as well as the capability to distribute water more evenly throughout the year in many areas of the world where seasonal water shortages are a problem.

But water demand is growing quickly, jeopardizing the availability of the supplies we would like to collect, store and use.

Global water consumption rose sixfold between 1900 and 1995—more than double the rate of population growth—and continues to grow rapidly as agricultural, industrial, and domestic demand increases (WMO 1997:9).

 

Not surprisingly, the environmental impacts of our water consumption are growing rapidly as well. For example, the enormous increase in the number of dams has fragmented and seriously altered the flow of roughly 60 percent of the world's major river basins.

These fragmented rivers carry nearly 90 percent of the water flowing through these major basins (Revenga et al. 2000:17).

As population increases and freshwater systems are modified to a point where many of their basic functions are affected, it becomes increasingly difficult to ensure that there is enough water for both people and nature. (See related feature: Freshwater Biodiversity in Crisis.)

 

How Scarce is Water?

Humans now withdraw about 4,000 km³ of water a year—about 20 percent of the base flow (the average dry-weather flow) of the world's rivers (Shiklomanov 1997:14, 69).

Understanding what this means in terms of the global water cycle requires some context: scientists estimate that the average amount of global runoff (the amount of water that is available for human use after evaporation or absorption into groundwater aquifers) is between 39,500 km³ and 42,700 km³ a year (Fekete et al. 1999:31; Shiklomanov 1997:13).

 

However, not all of this water is available to humans. Much of the runoff occurs in flood events or is inaccessible to people because of its remote location.

In addition, part of the runoff needs to remain in waterways so that aquatic ecosystems continue to function. In fact, only around 9,000 km³ is readily accessible to humans every year as runoff. An additional 3,500 km³ is stored in reservoirs (WMO 1997:7).

 

In any case, such global averages fail to portray the details of the world's water situation.

Water supplies are unevenly distributed around the globe, with some areas containing abundant water and others a much more limited supply. For example, arid and semiarid regions receive only 2 percent of the world's runoff, even though they occupy roughly 40 percent of the terrestrial area (WMO 1997:7). In river basins with high water demand relative to the available runoff, water scarcity is a growing problem.

 

New estimates of water scarcity calculated by the World Resources Institute in collaboration with the University of New Hampshire show that some 41 percent of the world's population, or 2.3 billion people, live in river basins under "water stress," meaning that per capita water supply is less than 1,700 m³/year (see Figures 1 and 2). An area in "water stress" is subject to frequent water shortages.

 

 

In many of these areas, water supply is actually less than 1,000 m³ per capita. In these "highly stressed" river basins, the consequences of water scarcity can be much more severe, leading to problems with local food production and economic development unless the region is wealthy enough to apply new technologies for water use, conservation, or reuse. Some 1.7 billion people (out of the 2.3 billion noted above) live in such high water-stress basins.

 

Assuming that current water consumption patterns continue unabated, projections show that at least 3.5 billion people—or 48 percent of the world's projected population—will live in water-stressed river basins in 2025 (see Figure 2). Even regions where per capita water availability appears sufficient when averaged over the year may actually face water shortages in the dry season.

 

 

The results of this analysis make it clear that many of the most populous river basins will gradually slip into water stress (with water per capita falling below 1,700 m³ per year) over the next quarter century as water consumption rises.

 

Wasting Water: Inefficiency, Overuse, and Pollution

Global food production must increase in the years ahead to accommodate population growth. United Nations projections put global population at nearly 8 billion in 2025—up 1.7 billion from today (UNPD 2001:vi). This means the world's farmers will need more water for irrigation. Growth in food production in the last 50 years has been roughly matched by a proportional increase in water use, with grain yields rising 2.4-fold between 1950 and 1995 and irrigation water use rising 2.2-fold (Postel 1999:165). At present, irrigated agriculture accounts for 40 percent of global food production, even though it represents just 17 percent of global cropland (WMO 1997:9). As a consequence, agriculture is society's major user of water, withdrawing some 70 percent of all water (WMO 1997:8) (see Figure 3).

 

 

Unfortunately, most irrigation systems are relatively inefficient and result in massive water waste. Global estimates of irrigation efficiency show that around 60 percent of irrigation water never reaches the crop and is lost to evaporation and runoff (Postel 1993:56; Rosegrant 1997:4; Seckler et al. 1998:25).

 

Adding to the problem of inefficient irrigation techniques is the fact that farmers usually pay low prices for irrigation water, giving them little incentive to conserve. Government water subsidies that artificially lower water prices are the primary culprit. In the western United States, for example, water subsidies total some $2-2.5 billion per year. Throughout the world, government support typically allows water utilities to sell irrigation water for far less than the cost of supplying it. In arid Tunisia, farmers pay no more than one-seventh the cost of their water (de Moor and Calamai 1997:14-15). Such low prices and subsidies encourage inefficient use and discourage the adoption of water-saving technology like drip irrigation (Johnson et al. 2001:1072; Postel 1999:228-231).

 

Water pollution adds enormously to existing problems of local and regional water scarcity by removing large volumes of water from the available supply. In many parts of the world, rivers and lakes have become so polluted that their water is unfit even for industrial uses (WMO 1997:11; UNEP/GEMS 1995:6). (See related feature: Dirty Water: Pollution Problems Persist.)

 

Groundwater is Scarce, Too

Global concerns about water scarcity include not only surface water sources but groundwater sources. More than 1 billion people in Asian cities and 150 million in Latin American cities rely on groundwater from wells or springs (Foster et al. 1998:xi). In addition, although there are no complete figures on groundwater use by the rural population, many countries are increasingly dependent on this resource for both domestic and agricultural uses (Foster et al. 2000:1).

 

Currently humans withdraw approximately 600-700 km³ of groundwater per year—about 20 percent of global water withdrawals (Shiklomanov 1997:53-54).

Some of this water is fossil water (ancient water that isn't routinely replenished) that comes from deep sources isolated from the normal runoff cycle, but much groundwater comes from shallower aquifers that draw from the same global runoff that feeds freshwater ecosystems. Indeed, overdrafting of groundwater sources can rob streams and rivers of a significant fraction of their flow.

In the same way, pollution of aquifers by nitrates, pesticides, and industrial chemicals often affects water quality in adjacent freshwater ecosystems. Although overdrafting and contamination of groundwater aquifers are known to be widespread and growing problems (UNEP 1996:4-5), comprehensive data on groundwater resources and pollution trends are not available at the global level.

 

Wiser Management Means More Water

Better management of water resources is the key to mitigating water scarcities in the future and avoiding further damage to aquatic ecosystems. In the short term, more efficient use of water could dramatically expand available resources.

This is particularly true in the agricultural sector, where experience shows that drip irrigation systems routinely cut water use 30-70 percent, while simultaneously increasing crop yields 20-90 percent. Although the use of drip irrigation has grown more than 50-fold over the last 20 years, it is still used in only 1 percent of the world's irrigated areas (Postel 1999:174).

 

More efficient water technology alone will not be sufficient to fully address the looming water crisis. It will also require difficult policy choices that reallocate water to the most economically and socially beneficial use. This may mean diverting water from agriculture to commercial or household uses. In China, for example, planners estimate that a given amount of water used in industry generates more than 70 times more economic value than the same water used in agriculture (Postel 1999:114).

 

To a certain extent, the transfer of water from low-value uses to higher-value uses is already well under way, especially where individuals hold legal water rights that they can sell to others. Farmers outside the city of Tirupur in southern India, for example, have begun to abandon farming so that they can sell their groundwater at a premium to water-hungry industries and urban users (Postel 1999:114). Such "water markets"are becoming more common in arid regions of the western United States and Australia.

 

An important key to using and allocating water more efficiently is phasing out subsidies and allowing water prices to reflect the true cost of supply. Price reforms in Chile reduced irrigation water use 22-26 percent and saved $400 million in costs for developing new water supplies. In Bogor, Indonesia, price increases cut domestic consumption by 30 percent (Johnson et al. 2001:1072). However, effective water pricing, particularly of irrigation water, remains a highly sensitive issue in low-income countries, where agriculture still dominates the economy and most farmers have limited incomes.

 

 

 

 

Assuming that current water consumption patterns continue unabated, projections show that at least 3.5 billion people—or 48 percent of the world's projected population—will live in water-stressed river basins in 2025 (see Figure 2). Even regions where per capita water availability appears sufficient when averaged over the year may actually face water shortages in the dry season.

[freeztar]

I hope water becomes as valuable as oil. Seeing how I live on Lake Erie, one of the largest fresh water lakes in the world, I will be rolling in dough! Woo Hoo!

 

Bill

 

You do realize that Lake Eerie is probably the biggest settling pond in the world, right?

 

You could dredge up some lake-bottom soil and apply it to your skin for some DDT-fortified protection from the killer mosquitoes up there though. :hihi:

[freeztar]

I am told that a few drops of lemon juice to a cup will do the same.

althoug in some places it might be safer to drink the lemon juice

 

:hihi:

[TheBigDog]

You do realize that Lake Eerie is probably the biggest settling pond in the world, right?

 

You could dredge up some lake-bottom soil and apply it to your skin for some DDT-fortified protection from the killer mosquitoes up there though. :hihi:

The biggest worry with Lake Erie is how to put it out if it catches fire again.

 

The chemicals in the water can be dealt with. Millions of people can live on that water for a long time, with a small percentage suffering side effects of contamination. 100% of those who have no access to water die very shortly, within days or weeks. I think most people prefer the risk and the challenge of thee former over the later.

 

Bill

[freeztar]

Aye, true enough.

Biomagnification of the toxins is much worse than a diluted-polluted water source. (ie, eating fish from Lake Eerie is much worse than drinking the surface water, by an EXTREME magnitude)