Water and the future of modern society

[MadamePapillon]

Water is one of those things that is hugely important yet hardy ever talked about. Without clean, fresh water we (humanity) could not survive, it is essential, not only to keep us alive but to keep our modern way of life running smoothly.

It is predicted by many if not most of the worlds leading minds that in a relatively short time the world could be facing a serious water crisis that would trump even the oil issues of today. Why is this? Well a number of reasons:

A great deal of the worlds fresh water supply is either polluted or being polluted right now (in fact, 50%-88% of the worlds diseases are caused by unsanitary/polluted water) making it impossible to use for either drinking, irrigation, or for sanitary purposes.
The underground water supplies are being depleted as well as vast numbers or lakes and rivers drying up due to human consumption.
Climate change is also to blame with the melting of the glaciers that is an important water source to many people. If the glaciers go, so does a big percentage of usable drinking water.

But mostly it is human activity to blame: massive consumption, reckless waste and chemical dumping are finally showing their long term effects and it is predicted that within our lifetime humanity could be facing global droughts that could kill millions.

This is a serious issue that has yet to be seriously addressed by the general public and governments. Every year we see decreased water supplies and over pollution but as of now there is hardly any talk on the matter and there doesn't seem to be any plans on how to prevent a water crisis, much less what to do if one occurs. It seems the public and the governments are once again turning a blind eye to another serious issue.

So what are you thoughts on this. Why is nobody talking and doing any risk management and what do you think will happen if something isn't done within the next few years to prevent a drought/water crisis?

 

[Haruspex]

My opinion on this topic is that loads of "We must satisfy our people blah blah yadda yadda." deceiver hypocrites need a nice butchering. Comfort can go **** itself, life's quality is best determined by health. Thinking of it, eco-terrorism could perhaps solve the issue.
I mean, if we look at it, this is a war just like any other, but the main front is the media, yes propaganda is the worst enemy, and the lazyness of people.
People struggle for oil, land, shores, markets... how bloody stupid they are. They can shove it all up when they're contaminated by filth and choked by thirst.
Oh yes, and btw, aren't there a little too many of us here on this planet? 6.5 billion jerks here contribute a lot to the pollution of water, nay?
Hell, I am ready to pay more for stuff If they handle the filth properly.
Might I also mention that I am completely deaf to "Bad, bad boy. You should value human life!" speeches. I refuse to to respect the life of those who work against me in the guise of honest people. Borrowing a little from a certain band, VS the World I say!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hose pipe bans can save a lot of water- yes people's nice lawns dry up, but then again most lawns recover during the winter and spring even if they almost completely die off, all is needed is a little grass seed and you're sorted.
I've heard loads of people in the warmer places of America have swimming pools, swimming pools use up a huge amount of water- why do so many people need their own swimming pools? If you really want to swim, there's always public swimming pools.

Although when i do water changes on my fish tanks, if i do a 50% water change on every tank i will end up taking out and replacing about just over 600litres of water, i use the really dirty water from the tank filters to water all of my indoor plants (they love the stuff in particular because of all the nitrates in the fish tank water), so this helps put a little bit of the waste water to use .
A moderator on a fish forum i'm a member of even went a step further- he has some huge tanks (including a 900gallon one) and when put his tanks into place he made a sink and a drain to put all of the waste water from water changes into, this drain goes through the fish tank room wall and comes out onto a large flower bed outside, so whenever he does water changes he waters the flower beds in his garden at the same time .

The amount of water in the world is finite, but as people's populations increase we will put ever more strain on the worlds water supplies. I personally think we could do a lot to actually control the size of our populations better with things like certain number of child limit policies (i did a thread on this a while back)- if we control the size of our populations better, we won't cure the many problems of creating enough food and drink to feed our populations, but we'll certainly help improve such problems a lot better .

 

[Haruspex]

The amount of water in the world is finite, but as people's populations increase we will put ever more strain on the worlds water supplies. I personally think we could do a lot to actually control the size of our populations better with things like certain number of child limit policies (i did a thread on this a while back)- if we control the size of our populations better, we won't cure the many problems of creating enough food and drink to feed our populations, but we'll certainly help improve such problems a lot better .

Well, the "Human Life is SACRED!", "I do as I please!" bunch is the problem, and most of Earth's population falls into that group.
And some people say that we're not living in a decadent age.
You can build whatever special system, if it makes life easier, humans will bloody catch up. Say, someone invents a revolutionary water-saving super-duper mechanism, the instant people hear about it, they just say "Aah, our problems are all solved." and they continue their swallow lives.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Well, the "Human Life is SACRED!", "I do as I please!" bunch is the problem, and most of Earth's population falls into that group.
And some people say that we're not living in a decadent age.
You can build whatever special system, if it makes life easier, humans will bloody catch up. Say, someone invents a revolutionary water-saving super-duper mechanism, the instant people hear about it, they just say "Aah, our problems are all solved." and they continue their swallow lives.

Yeah i agree, people would probably rather wait upon for someone to come up with some revolutionary water-saving super-duper mechanism and then use it, than actually bother to change their lives/the way their continue their existence.

The water problems will only get worse the more our populations increase, so IMHO the logical way to helping prevent the situation getting worse would be to help prevent our populations increasing . People may complain that they can't have like a dozen kids, but heck its for the greater good that they don't when it comes to stuff like this .

 

[MadamePapillon]

@ Derfel

Human life is sacred...if you live in a first world country. The majority doesn't really care about people in places like Africa that would be hardest hit by a water crisis...all they would care about is that they couldn't take an hour long shower or keep their lawn green and their pools filled. Only when a water crisis truly hits the first would countries is anyone going to start caring.


@ Tokis-Phoenix

As to the super duper machine... Colbert and Kamen Solve the World's Water Problems
It might have already been invented.
The only thing is...like you both pointed out it, will be as good as saying 'continue what you are doing, all is well' when there should be efforts focused on reducing and reusing. A super duper water machine will only take us so far before massive consumption catches up with us once again.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

@ Tokis-Phoenix

As to the super duper machine... Colbert and Kamen Solve the World's Water Problems
It might have already been invented.
The only thing is...like you both pointed out it, will be as good as saying 'continue what you are doing, all is well' when there should be efforts focused on reducing and reusing. A super duper water machine will only take us so far before massive consumption catches up with us once again.

Yeah thats the problem, people really need to change their ways if we really going to properly progress anywhere, otherwise sooner or later we'll end up back at square one with the same old problem.
Population control, better/more efficient use of current resources and more avid re-cycling/re-use of stuff are the way to go forward .

I've heard that traditional Japanese style bathing can help save water as i've heard that after you've rinsed yourself down, you turn off the shower and soap yourself down, then down the shower back on the rinse off all the soap and stuff (is this correct?)- because the shower isn't on the whole time, it helps save a lot of water .

 

[Haruspex]

Not bathing can save 100% of the water you would use.
Ok, thats a joke, but still, If we don't save now, we'll have to get used to that in the future.

 

[bruno]

Water and Waste will be the topics for the next decades !
But solutions can only be realized with the help of the
population, means you and me !

 

[Haruspex]

Exactly, I didn't want children to begin with, but surely, ever since I realized how crowded our planet is, I've became even more firm in this question.
Also, I have no intentions of "standing in the line" just like 99% of the population.

 

[Revenant]

I've heard that traditional Japanese style bathing can help save water as i've heard that after you've rinsed yourself down, you turn off the shower and soap yourself down, then down the shower back on the rinse off all the soap and stuff (is this correct?)- because the shower isn't on the whole time, it helps save a lot of water .

The members of my wife's family don't do that. The usual is a 15-20 minute shower. I've always known that as a Navy shower though. I was just reading on MSN that besides the armpits, groin, ***, and feet, that the rest of your body would be better off without the use of soap (healthier skin), and that would also go some way in saving water.

Some of the new and pioneering eco-toilets would also save loads of water, and I've seen a couple that look better than most of our modern toilets these days.