Pesky humans are drinking all the world's water!

[JellyBaby]

According to Report Says Worlds Fresh Water Supplies in Peril we've been using too much water. The lo-flow toilet was not enough, folks, it's time for dreadful measures or 50% of us are gonna have very dry lips by 2025. I personally recommend every literate being on earth read Frank Herbert's Dune. Then they'll get that "oh so parched" feeling in their mouths.

Given Bush's stance on the environment, e.g. "I won't allow the US to take up the world's burden on global warming" I wonder, if elected, things will only get worse in the next 4 years at least in the States. At the very least he should steal Harry Browne's idea to offer a multi-billion dollar reward if somebody, anybody in the private sector can come up with a way to deal with the problem before it becomes serious.

 

[Windogg]

The scary statistic I learned back in Biology was that 1% of the world's water is fresh water. Of that 1%, About 50% is locked in polar icecaps. The rest is potable fresh water minus those in inaccessable areas (mountain tops), undesirable (swamp water), and highly polluted.

Windogg

 

[Killbat]

All of the world's water is going to soak into the core. Then we'll see who's laughing.

 

[UG]

3/5's of the Earth is covered by water. We call the planet 'Earth'.

When we run out of fresh water, we will have enough money and technology to create fresh water from desalination of ocean salt water, and from nuclear fusion power generation, probably using He3 mined from the moon and extracted from the oceans.

Filtration technology will also help.

Changing to Scotch will help, also.

It's only been the last almost two centuries that humankind has had plentiful potable water, thanks to the technology of the sewer.

Before that, most urban dwellers existed on distilled beverages, or unclean water.

Humanity survived.

 

Desalination processes are really expensive, but already operating in parts of the world. I think Saudi has a few of them.

I'm sure we'll have something figured out to alleviate the problem after a few decades.

 

[JellyBaby]

<< I'm sure we'll have something figured out to alleviate the problem after a few decades. >>

Bobtist,

Yes but we ought to start sooner than later, don't you think? Given the pace of governmental reform, the private sector's (in)ability to &quot;get a clue&quot; and the length of time it takes to re-educate the public on stuff like this (look how long it took before tobacco went from &quot;in&quot; to &quot;out&quot, I'd say we could be screwed.

Time for Kevin Costner to do a WaterlessWorld (and hey Kevin do a better job this time, Waterworld blew!

 

[Tripleshot]

Isreal uses the desalination process(thats what I heard) and so does japan and several island countries. We will always have water but we need to advance the technologies to bring to market here in the US and it is equally necessary to begin the serious process of conservation.

Those pesky environmentelists must be on to something. But the conservatives will ignore them because there cause may enterfere with thier capitalistic expansion.

Ever see a republican brag about wanting to protect the environment?















Me either!:disgust:

 

[Moonbeam]

Boy isn't technology wonderful! I can't wait till I can drink distilled water and go out in piss in the brown dead waters of the world. Food made from rock sounds good too. It's gonna be a great life, I mean survival.

 

The technology exists. It is very expensive.

The trillions that rich&amp;greedy have tied up in the stock markets of the world will quickly dash to the rescue when the earth runs dry of drinking water.

Of course, thousands of people died today of dehydration today as well. So it's already a problem to probably the majority of the population of the world, but we lovely people don't give a rat's behind until it affects our daily life.

 

[RSI]

Excellent point, Moonbeam.

-RSI

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

I think you mean &quot;wasting all the world's water!&quot;, not drinking.

 

[UG]

Moonbeam;

So, do your share now: stop using water, and stop pissing into the water table.

 

[Isla]

Actually, Mr Isla is building a rain barrel system and we just bought a bilge pump so we can use bath water on our plants and stuff. In fact, the main reason my sweet conservative Republican husband has come around to my point of view a bit more is because &quot;it's about the environment, stupid&quot;. When I first met him, he was spouting all that &quot;there is no proof of global warming&quot; crap.

I think a law should be passed that makes xeriscaping mandatory.

Have you any idea how much water is wasted on manicured lawns down here? It is sickening. Reclaimed water should be the only water used for golf courses, etc.


BTW, JellyBaby... the Dune books rock. I heard that they are making another attempt at the movie, due out soon.

 

[JellyBaby]

<< BTW, JellyBaby... the Dune books rock. I heard that they are making another attempt at the movie, due out soon. >>

Isla,

Really? What was so wrong with the first flick? Sure it was a little esoteric and possibly too cerebral. But the special effects were killer, the acting was?well?adequate, and it had Patrick Steward and of course a grand story. Long live the fighters!!!

Actually I wonder if a Gore administration would be much better. He?d kill NASA while at the same time telling it to solve the problem. Ugh.

 

[Isla]

Actually JellyBaby, I was one of those who really liked the movie, too. I wanna be a Bene Gesserit when I grow up.

I have no idea why they are redoing the movie, but I can't wait to see it and compare notes. It may be a just-for-cable thing, but I am not sure. I saw the preview a few days ago and got pretty excited over it.

Muad'Dib!



As for Gore, I think he is just as bad as all the rest. Puppets, puppets, puppets. I am totally disappointed in the candidates... the only one who had me going was McCain... maybe next time.

 

[JellyBaby]

Isla,

They could be dumbing it down for today's mass market audience. And they'll need to keep it short, too, because if the teens I see when I go to see flicks like Dances with Wolves was are any example, kids these days won't accept anything over 1:40 long. They'll probably increase Lady Jessica's breast size and put Chani's (sp?) character in tight leather, too. Just speculating.

Our candidates suck immensley this time around. The VP-seekers are a bit better but I still have reservations about Censorman. Lets get ready...to....gridlock!

 

[abracadabra1]

maybe that's why we called it earth in the first place- we were perceptive to our very own demise.

 

[AndrewR]

The interesting thing about this topic is that the use of a water is a localized issue. Or, did the knee jerk tree huggers forget that we don't import water (well, other than Evian -- hardly an enormous drain on the Swiss water table, we export Dasani after all)?

In any case, I'd venture to say that the 50% that are imperiled reside largely in those developing countries that are seeing booming populations since they apparently do not understand the use of a condom (or are simply hedging their bets against famine and disease, while contributing to the higher likelihood of the same). India, China, and many countries in Africa are seeing tremendous population growth without the infrastructure to support it. Is it any wonder that food, water, and usable land are becoming scarce? Hardly. Are we in danger in the US? No. There are water issues in the West, and some of the rivers are being overused. What's the biggest culprit, however? Agriculture. So stop eating your damn vegetables.

As far as I remember, the Saudis do more than &quot;just have a few desalination plants&quot;. They have some of the (if not the)best desalination technology in the world since they have the money to spend on it.

Oh, and this struck me as funny:


<< Given Bush's stance on the environment, e.g. &quot;I won't allow the US to take up the world's burden on global warming&quot; >>




<< that 1% of the world's water is fresh water. Of that 1%, About 50% is locked in polar icecaps >>



Seems like the secret plan is to increase the amount of fresh water by melting the ice caps through global warming. LOL!

 

[JellyBaby]

<< India, China, and many countries in Africa are seeing tremendous population growth without the infrastructure to support it. >>

Andrew,

I propose here in the states we use some fuzzy math and suggest to all families they limit themselves to just 2 children instead of 2.2.

<< Seems like the secret plan is to increase the amount of fresh water by melting the ice caps through global warming. >>

Damn these guys are good.

 

[Double Trouble]

<<I think a law should be passed that makes xeriscaping mandatory.>>

Oh geez, sounds great, lets get the government involved in my landscaping. Isn't it enough that they tell me how much water goes down my crapper???

Anyway, this is completely overblown nonsense. I lived on an island in the Caribean where they had virtually no fresh water and used a nice desalination plant to do the job. It works just fine, and the free market economy will adjust water usage with pricing as needed. All this alarmist stuff like &quot;we're gonna run out of oil!&quot; or &quot;we're running out of water&quot; etc is all a 'chicken little' effect....... We definitely need to get a grip on all our waste and pollution, but we're not running out of water considering the planet is composed of 2/3 water, and we have the technology to make it usable on a massive scale if needed.

 

[AMDJunkie]

They're redoing the movie on the Sci-Fi channel with the aid of computer generated technology. Who remembers what happens when a laser meets a sheild in the series? I wanna see that in the movie.

Oh, and desalinisation/distillaries/fusion byproducts all the way!

 

[Isla]

tagej, the government IS involved in my landscaping, at least locally.

It is VERY annoying to have the deed restriction police bitch about a frikkin' dry patch in the middle of a drought.

Resod and water every day even tho' the water shortage is critical! Okay... ????

I can't imagine what sense it makes to try to uphold 'neighborhood beautiful' standards when the entire state is experiencing the worst recorded drought ever.

I guess what I mean is that some intelligence should be used in these situations, and not &quot;oh, we are perfect and every blade of grass must remain green!&quot;. I'm so burnt on it, it isn't funny!



(Anyway, that is what brought that rant on. I'm sure for everyone, it is different! Down with the Home Owners Association! )

 

[Double Trouble]

Isla, I know aaaaaaaall about it! That's why I'm against any increase in government involvement in anything.

Build a pool, have to have fence around it to keep from getting sued 'cause people can't watch their own damn kids. Then you put a fence around it, and the homeowners association bitches about fences in the neighborhood. Sheeeesh.......

 

[Isla]

Ah, tagej, you have been burned, too!

Nothing like having the local government yank you about.

Makes that cabin in the woods of Montana look pretty good, eh?

 

[Dig]

Ok, can somebody explain why the water cycle doesn't prevent us from wasting fresh water? Aside from heavy pollution, the things we do to waste water, such as lawn manicuring, are mostly done outside. Assuming that, won't the water cycle eventually evaporate that moisture back up into the air and rain it down somewhere else, and after so many cycles, rain into our resevoirs? What am I missing?