“The world is changed. I feel it in the water.”
Galadriel from the film adaptation of Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings
In
1492 when Christopher Columbus made his historic voyage across the Atlantic in
search of a western route to Asia, the world’s population was approximately 425
million people (Ortiz-Espina). That’s just slightly less than the current
combined population of Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Over the past 500
years, the world’s population has increased by 1,550%! The spread of humanity
has left a huge environmental footprint on the face of the Earth, but only
recently has the human race begun to consider the environmental impact of
mankind’s ever increasing population. While the growth rate of the population
peaked in about 1962, the spread of humanity continues apace and humans
continue to utilize Earth’s resources (Ortiz-Espina). Because of ethical issues
associated with population control, the societies of Earth are, largely, not
yet ready to address ways in which the growth of the human race can be slowed or
reversed to preserve our planet for future generations. If we aren’t going to
seriously address the continued growth of the human population, we must take
seriously the fact that the resources to support such growth are limited. One
particularly limited resource is water.
While
a little more than two thirds of Earth’s surface is covered by water, more than
97% of Earth’s water supply is undrinkable salt water. Only 2.56% of Earth’s
water is freshwater and most of that, 69%, is stored in glaciers. 30% of
Earth’s freshwater is groundwater and this is where humans currently get most
of their water for drinking and irrigation (Tarbuck 16). As the human
population grows, more water is being pumped from the ground than is being put
back in by natural and manmade processes. The effects of the overuse of ground
water can be most strikingly observed in places like California’s San Joaquin
Valley where ground water pumping has caused the ground to subside by up to 28
feet in some areas. The compaction of the ground caused by over-pumping and
subsidence has resulted in an interruption in the groundwater flow in many
areas and the resulting agricultural drought combined with meteorological
drought can be both economically and environmentally disastrous. In coastal
areas where ground water is pumped out, there is a constant danger of salt
water intrusion poisoning the ground water supply which also has a detrimental
agricultural, economic, and environmental impact (“Land Subsidence”).
Beyond
agricultural and environmental issues associated with water, there is the
day-to-day use by humans in our homes, work, and schools. We pump in water for
drinking, hygiene, and sanitation. We continue to use and use without much
concern for the fact that we are running out of water. Already, 1.2 Billion people
live without a reliable source of clean drinking water. Another 1.6 Billion
face economic water shortage. By 2025, these numbers are expected to increase
by 1.8 Billion and 3.96 Billion respectively. With the world population
projected to be around 9.6 Billion by 2025, that means that 60% of the world’s
population will be facing a water crisis if action isn’t taken right now and
there are actions that can be taken (“Water Scarcity”). To see what changes can
be made to stave off future water shortages, we must look at countries that are
already successfully taking steps to conserve, recycle, and even produce
freshwater, countries like Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.
The
nation of Israel has set the standard for progress in many areas of
technological achievement, including in the areas of environmentalism and
sustainability. Where water conservation and sustainability is concerned, this
small desert nation has set the bar high. Israel has a population of 8 million
people, but only has one freshwater lake and one consistent freshwater river,
receives less than 2 inch of rain a year, and several thousand people immigrate
to Israel each year. In spite of this, Israel has a surplus of water. Israel
supplies its residents with plenty of water and the country is a net
agricultural exporter (“Can a Desert”). How do they do it?
First,
Israel forces the population to be water conscious by offering water as a
utility at its real price (“Let There Be” 238). There are no subsidies and as Seth Siegel
points out, “when you pay for something, you tend to be more careful with how
you use it” (“Can a Desert”). Many homeowners know that leaky pipes can cost
dozens to hundreds of dollars a year. Many cities are losing enormous amounts
of water in leaks with some countries losing up to 60% of their water (“Let There Be” 6). The drawbacks of leaky pipes are magnified in
countries where water is scarce. Israel mitigated the issue of leaky pipes by
installing monitoring systems in all public utilities. If a leak occurs,
utility technicians are notified immediately and repair crews are sent out to
repair the leak the very same day. This not only saves water, but it also has
the economic benefit of saving both homeowners and businesses on utility bills
(“Let
There Be” 49).
With
this “nothing wasted” mentality, even waste water is utilized as a water
resource. Sewage is processed, treated to an ultra-pure level, and then
utilized in agriculture. Israeli farms use drip irrigation instead of flood irrigation,
which has the benefit of adding to the groundwater, decreasing water loss
through evaporation, and uses less energy than many other irrigation methods. While
other countries use wastewater for commercial and decorative purposes like golf
courses and water features, no other country utilizes wastewater as widely as
Israel (“Can a Desert”). If people can get past their psychological
reservations about drinking purified wastewater, purified sewage could be used
to stem fresh drinking water shortages (“Reclaimed Water”). Astronauts on the
International Space Station have been drinking water recycled from a variety of
sources for years, including urine, sweat, and moisture released into the air
from breathing (“Water on the Space Station”).
Israel
also provides more than 80% of their country’s drinking water with desalinated
water taken from the Mediterranean Sea (“Can a Desert”). The problem with
desalination is that it tends to be an expensive process that uses a lot of
electricity and has several harmful by-products such as brine. Brine has twice
the salinity of normal sea water and is completely deoxygenated. Brine is
normally disposed of by dumping it back in the ocean. If brine is disposed of improperly,
it can kill sea life in the disposal area. Israel mitigates this by disposing
brine in heavy seas where the normal mixing action of the ocean will mix brine,
reducing the salinity, and naturally oxygenating the water (“Desalination”).
Saudi
Arabia mitigates the by-product issue by pulling out every economically usable
substance out of the brine, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium, chlorine,
bromine, and salt (Al-Mutaz). Egyptian scientists recently developed technology
that desalinates seawater with almost no electricity and fewer by-products
(Delacey). In these desert countries, necessity is driving technological
advances in water conservation and sustainability. As the old saying goes,
“Necessity is the mother of invention.”
While
these are all great technologies, some are a long way off in the United States.
Some technologies, like purified wastewater, will require the public to be
convinced of its safety before it can be implemented. Concerned individuals
need to preach the gospel of environmentalism and help everyone realize that
making these changes are in everyone’s best interest. We need to be active in
civic life, writing our elected representatives to push for the changes that
are needed. We also need to do our best to support businesses that make
environmentally conscious decisions. In the meantime, there things that individuals
can do to reduce their ecological footprint on the Earth’s hydrosphere. Instead
of planting grass, which not only uses much more water than any native plants
in water starved areas, plant ground covers or install a rock garden. Install
rain barrels under gutters and use rainwater for home gardening, car washing,
and other outdoor uses. Install drip irrigation systems or use soaker hoses to
minimize water lost through evaporation.
If
changes are not made soon, one only needs to look at countries and regions
struggling with water shortages to see the results of ignoring this problem. US
Intelligence Analysts have suggested that one of the major factors in the
Syrian Civil War is drought (General Jones). Drought and water shortages lead
to agricultural and economic crises that lead to famine and food shortages.
Water shortages lead to desperation, sickness, and, not to sound melodramatic,
death. The world will force humanity into a very painful equilibrium if the
proper changes aren’t made. Louis Pasteur once said, “Fortune favors the
prepared mind.” If we prepare ourselves now by making the necessary individual
changes, when the changes are mandated, the pain will be reduced or completely
mitigated.
Works Cited
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plants. Elsevier B.V. 1987, https://www.academia.edu/6527211/By-product_recovery_from_Saudi_desalination_plants.
Accessed 14 Oct. 2016.
“Current Land Subsidence in the San
Joaquin Valley.” United States Geological
Survey. http://ca.water.usgs.gov/projects/central-valley/land-subsidence-san-joaquin-valley.html.
Accessed 17 Oct. 2016
Delacey, Linda. “Cheap, simple
technique turns seawater into drinking water.” New Atlas. 20 Oct. 2015, Gizmag Pty, Ltd. 2016. http://newatlas.com/new-desalination-method-egypt/39941/.
Accessed 14 Oct. 2016
“Desalination.” Ask an Expert. Australian Broadcasting
Corporation 2008, http://www.abc.net.au/science/expert/realexpert/desalination/01.htm.
Accessed 19 Oct. 2016.
General Jones, James L. “Importance
of Elevating Water as a National Security Priority.” U.S. Water Partnership, 22
Mar. 2016.
Lord of the Rings: The
Fellowship of the Ring. Directed by Peter
Jackson, performances by Cate Blanchett, New Line Cinema, 2001.
Ortiz-Espina, Esteban and Max
Roser. “World Population Growth.” Our
World in Data. University of Oxford 2016, https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth/.
Accessed 17 Oct 2016
“Reclaimed wastewater: Using
treated wastewater for other purposes.” United
States Geological Survey, 2 May 2016, http://water.usgs.gov/edu/wwreclaimed.html.
Accessed 11 Oct. 2016.
Siegel, Seth M. “Can a Desert
Nation Solve the World’s Water Shortage?” PragerU.
Prager University, 2016. https://www.prageru.com/courses/environmental-science/can-desert-nation-solve-worlds-water-shortage.
Accessed 17 Oct. 2016
Siegel, Seth M. Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a
Water-Starved World. St. Martin’s Press, 2015
Tarbuck, Edward J. et al. Earth Science. 14th ed., Pearson, 2015
“Water on the Space Station.” NASA Science Beta. 1 Nov. 2000, https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/ast02nov_1.
Accessed 13 Oct. 2016.
“Water Scarcity.” Water for Life Decade. United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2014, http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml.
Accessed 17 Oct. 2016.
