If water is recyclable, then how is it harmful to use it in abundance?

Question

My brother doesn't want to listen to me when I tell him it's not good for then environment to take long showers and use water as much as we like. I don't have a valid explanation that will make him understand. Can someone please explain it to me?

Answer 1

Well let's say you earn $200 a day and you also have a saving of $1000. If your expense is $300 a day, you have to realize that you'll run out of money pretty soon.

Our water consumption rate is very high compared to the water that is recycled and water from other sources combined.

Answer 2

basically, the water that is piped to your house is not free for a reason. typically it is either extracted from a river or drawn up from the underground aquifers. this would use some electricity for the pumps. then, the water would be treated to ensure that it is safe to use. conventional water treatment is filtration with chlorine added in, and in some places, fluoride. some plants also treat the water after that with UV radiation, and/or ozone. some places desalinate water from the sea, or recycle used water from toilets and domestic use by reverse osmosis filtration. all of these processes to turn used water back into clean water use energy, and therefore produces some pollution depending on the energy source that is used (coal? nuclear? oil? gas? wind?). and also, used water (like sewage and some industrial waste) needs to be treated before it can be allowed to re-enter waterways, in order to protect the quality of water sources, and the environment in general. this also requires energy.

in addition, although water is abundant on the planet, fresh water is only a tiny portion of it. globally there is an increasing shortage of fresh water due to:

a) increasing demand from population increase and demand from industry (many factories use a lot of water, and need it to be really clean)

b) changing rainfall patterns, due to climate change

c) pollution of existing rivers, thus causing water to be more expensive to treat

d) increased urbanisation causes more surfaces of populated areas to be paved, and rainwater directly channeled to drains and into rivers, discharging eventually to the sea, instead of slowly percolating into the groundwater. according to New Scientist, several countries are extracting more water from the ground aquifers than is being replenished by natural recharge (usually by rainwater infiltration). among these countries are the US, UAE, saudi arabia, pakistan and india.

so, although water is recyclable, it is not free to do, and the more wasteful we are and the more careless we are in protecting the quality of freshwater sources, the more difficult it will be to get water, and the more expensive it will be.

Answer 3

I just like to tell the perso that said water was limited is wrong 3/4 of earth is water but power is someti=hing that is needed to power it and power is limited

Answer 4

Fresh water is a limited natural resource.  The only reason why you have water running in pipes is because people built huge reservoirs to trap rain water and snow melt coming down the mountains in streams.  Normally, in nature, all but the largest rivers dry out in summer.

If you've ever noticed drought warnings, you'll realize how precious water is and how precariously our civilization and our lives hinges on receiving adequate rainfall for our needs, so please don't waste water.

Water is so precious in many municipalities that waste water from the sewers is actually purified and pumped back into the water system.  This takes energy and it takes some very expensive filtration systems to get out the viruses, bacteria, and industrial chemicals and drugs which are in sewage.

Answer 5

As we use water we dirty it and it is expensive to clean water and remove all contaminates

One point the people on the space station recycle their water  all of it

Answer 6

Every drop of fresh water we use was once "used" water before us....meaning some dinosaur took a drink and peed it out.

How many millenia to you supose it took the earth to filter it back into clean drinkable water, and not dino pee?

Concidering how much "fresh" (meaning not salt water) is now serriously contaminated with pollution, and the fact that humans cannot live more than a few days without fresh DRINKABLE water, is your brother really sure he wishes to waste such a precious resource that takes the earth a very, very long time to filter back to being clean, drinkable water?

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 7

Actually, He was right, Groundwater makes up only .62% of all water on earth and water in streams and rivers makes up only .0001% of all water on earth. Most of it is ocean water which is very expensive to desalinate.

Answer 8

In the US and some other parts of the world, water used in the shower and bathroom sink is drinking water, meaning it's been extensively treated and filtered to be safe to drink. In Latin America and Eastern Europe that isn't the case, you don't rinse your mouth or even let the water into your mouth in the shower, you have to use bottled water to brush your teeth.

All that filtering costs money so it's a good idea to turn off the shower while you lather up and a long shower is wasteful. Even where this water isn't drinkable it's still wasting a resource as others indicated above, especially if water is in short supply at the time.

It's not too hard to start conserving water, they sell shower-heads with reduced water flow that work so well you likely won't notice any difference. You can also get one with a little bypass switch, you push that and the water will stop flowing without touching the taps. After you're done treating your hair or lathering, you push it again to resume and the water is exactly the same temperature as when you 'shut it off'.

Answer 9

In order for the water to come through that pipe, electricity/energy is needed to power it through. That is what is meant when you 'waste water'. Really, your wasting the energy needed to get the water.