13 replies to this topic

[wjfox]

Water: Balancing demand

By 2050, the world's growing population will use 55% more water in their homes, to grow food, and to produce electricity and manufactured goods. To ensure enough water to meet this demand, we will need to stop wasting it and find new ways to make sure there's enough to go around. For more info visit: www.oecd.org/water

[stevo]

we need to go 100% hydroponic when it comes to growing food so the water can be reused over and over again and no soil is needed
you can also desalinate your own urin. infact, that's what the astronauts on the ISS do.
Or, you can use this, http://www.lifesaversystems.com/
There are also ways to get water from fog and humidity as well

[Alric]

I like the video but the answer they gave was kind of a cop out. Just tax people for water? Really? That isn't going to solve anything. They did all that work getting the data but put little real thought into the answers to our problems. I agree with stevo, if we go far more into hydroponics that will solve the water issue right there. Then when we throw in other technologies like desalination, which are improving all the time, we should be able to handle it. We just need to get these technology spread all over the planet. If we ever get super efficient with desalination then that is obviously going to solve all the water problems since the sea has all the water we need.

Charging high prices for water is just wrong though, we need to keep water cheap for everyone. You need water. You will die in just a few days without water, so changing high prices for it is insane. A lot of areas are unstable and might break out in war over water, no reason to provoke people and start even more wars by making water less available to people.

[SG-1]

I thought he was sarcastic about the charging. In 2050 the economy isn't going to be in shape to do something like that.

This is one way, use technology like the lifesaver bottles to filter crap-water in cities' water supplies. Factories filter all the crap that comes out of the plants. It should be illegal to pump unsanitary water to rivers, lakes and oceans. That is doable. By 2050 I hope we will have a cheap way to do that, and we most likely will since the filters rely on nanotechnology to make them.

Another thing that would help create water for people rather than managing it for the other unintelligent species on earth, is to desalinate cheaply. We could take water from the ocean and use it for whatever we wanted. That will sustain us for a long time, as Earth is 70% water, and we only populate 4% of it.

Desalination plants and filtering systems will have to be mandatory in 2050, and it won't be that much of a problem either since the technology that those are based off of is what is going to be improving the most in the next 40 years.

[Alric]

They reduced sickness by like 95 percent in some areas in third world countries by putting water in old plastic bottles(just like normal soda bottles) and leaving them out in the sun for like 6 hours. As long the plastic is in good condition and clear, and the water is clear the sun's rays kill most of the stuff in the water. Obviously while this kills most disease causing organisms it isn't going to get rid of chemicals though.

[EVanimations]

They reduced sickness by like 95 percent in some areas in third world countries by putting water in old plastic bottles(just like normal soda bottles) and leaving them out in the sun for like 6 hours. As long the plastic is in good condition and clear, and the water is clear the sun's rays kill most of the stuff in the water. Obviously while this kills most disease causing organisms it isn't going to get rid of chemicals though.

Alternatively, you can put sand and gravel in an old sock, fill it with water, and swish it around so that it gets filtered. It won't take any of the chemicals or ickiness out, but it filters out the nematodes and other nasties. Or, you know, there's always boiling the water...

[Alric]

Well I was talking about places in third world countries where they don't have much electricity. Boiling water isn't practical if you have to go get wood to burn and you are living in a village where everyone has to do the same.

[Logically Irrational]

Perhaps this will help:

http://www.singulari...ions-of-people/

[SG-1]

I think the filter would be cheaper and easier though. What about desalination?

[Logically Irrational]

I think the filter would be cheaper and easier though. What about desalination?

Right now desalination is pretty expensive for most countries. However, the technology will advance fairly quickly in the next few decades. I can guarantee that Australia will start relying on it heavily, and probably some of the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries. You can bet that the tech will be looked at much more seriously before things get really bad. I could see water filters being widespread for personal, family, and community use while desalination is used in bulk for cities and agriculture.

[stevo]

i heard that human only use 3-10% of all water on earth

[tornado64]

I think fixing the energy problem will fix the water problem also.

[Alric]

i heard that human only use 3-10% of all water on earth

It is way less than that. Only 2.5 percent of the earths water is fresh water and we barely use a fraction of the fresh water. In fact I looked it up, and only .007% of the earth water is used by humans. There has never been and never will be a shortage of water. The issue has always been a shortage of clean drinkable water.

[stevo]

It is way less than that. Only 2.5 percent of the earths water is fresh water and we barely use a fraction of the fresh water. In fact I looked it up, and only .007% of the earth water is used by humans. There has never been and never will be a shortage of water. The issue has always been a shortage of clean drinkable water.

well with improving filtering technology along with better water desalinization, we will hopefully fix that

well