Is the planet going to run out of water, (clean water to drink & use) And if so aprox. when will that be?

Question

Is the planet going to run out of water, (clean water to drink & use) And if so aprox. when will that be?

Answer 1

the future wars will be for potable water someone once said

not a drop of water ever leaves the planet ,but it changes its form ,and location.

75% of the worlds potable water supplies are being lost into the seas,

And much of the little that is available is being contaminated

and we have an extra 70.million people each year that drink wash ,waste water ,not to speak of the extra irrigation needed to grow the extra crops to feed all these new additions

farming alone uses more than 60% of all water supplies.

This has brought the good(sweet) water supplies to critical levels ,

Perhaps there is plenty of water where you are ,but

some countries have been in trouble already quite a while .

In Tasmania 1 liter of good drinking water is worth 2 liters or petrol

In Southern Portugal and southern Spain ,Wine is cheaper than water

and the food you buy comes from many third world countries that have mayor irrigation problems

When the price of beer goes up because of the water it uses ,you will know that we are in big trouble .

here is a story on water shortage

WATERSHORTAGE

we should not only conserve water ,we should also collect it

PERMACULTURE ANSWER ON WATER HARVESTING AND CONSERVATION

WHY SHOULD WE HARVEST WATER

because there is so little that we can use

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25% of the planets surface is land

75%of the surface is water and it is rising

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97%of the Earths water is salt

fresh water is only 3% of all the Earths water

most of it is beyond out reach

now much ice is melting and running into the seas fresh water lost for ever.

STORAGE or Location of % of the fresh water

ice and glaziers 74%

groundwater 800 meters + 13.5 %

groundwater less than 800meters 11.o%

Lakes 0.3%

soils 0.006%

Atmospheric in circulation 0.0035%

rivers 0.03%

frozen land or permafrost is not included and represent an unavailable storage of 40%

so of the 3% about 11.6 ,is easily available to us ,in rivers, lakes and ground water surface aquifers,more and more of this is becoming contaminated

.

Now climate change and desertification, because of irresponsible agriculture ,overgrazing and deforestation is damaging world fresh water production .

It is a good reason for concern and if we do not rectify matters by changing agricultural methods ,reforest ,stop deforestation,become more economic with water use ,stop producing more people ,stop wasting and contaminating water, we will be in serious trouble all round

and could end up looking like Mars

And these are some of the things we can do

tp conserve water use

EFFICIENT WATER USE

IN THE HOUSE and GARDEN

one can connect the sink straight to the toilet cistern and so use the water twice ,first to have a shave and then to flush the toilet

also if you bend the ball valve you can regulate the level of the cistern

Always have your Grey water and Black water separate,so that the sink and shower water goes directly into the garden saving on irrigation and at the same time ,making the sewage smaller and easier to deal with ,

This also goes and irrigates the garden but via a cistern of two compartments and a French drain ,on which you plant trees,

when it rains ,make your lawn and garden receptive to absorb water ,and not let it run off onto the street.

And cars can be washed with rain water ,it does not have to be drinking water.

The summary for the garden is mulching and lowering the flower beds

having the paths high so that they form basins that absorb the water .

ON THE LAND

Economic systems of irrigation, like drip irrigation

and water harvesting design, using a lot of stone walls ,that condense water in the night

and planting leafy plants ,for the same purpose,

Building wind breaks ,to counter act the drying effects of the wind and farm towards Aggro forrestal ,using as many trees as possible to limit evaporation .

Using shade nets before we have tree cover

and use MULCH

By cutting down the weeds before they produce seeds and leave them where they fall.

They will cover the ground add even more organic matter on top,(you can use saw dust,leaves green or dry),

And when you plant make a little space and plant in the mulch.this is the easiest quickest and by far most beneficial way(for the quality of you soil)to prepare the land for planting.

To prevent weeds from coming all you have to do it turn out the lights,you can even use cardboard or black plastic(this is good for strawberries because they will rot if they touch humid ground,and the bugs can get to them).

Mulch is organic material green or dry that covers the ground,the thicker the better the composting process will turn it in to black topsoil

The humidity is preserved underneath and promotes the development of worms(there exists no better compost than their excrements)and a variety of micro biotic life which together within the mulch produce more topsoil.

The mulch also keeps the ground temperature even and guards against the impact of the rain ,which would other wise brings salt to the surface if on unprotected land.

Mulch also prevents the soil from drying out because of the sun and,wind erosion.

WATER HARVESTING

As far as catching rain is concerned ,we do this all the time ,and have done so already since Babylonian times,and is a part of the more advanced Agriculture,that existed with the Egyptians,,Moors, Arabs and probably many more

Central ,and South American indigenous people had this idea coupled to their pyramids ,catching the water of the slopes and leading it into tanks or onto the fields .

And many others ,today we call this WATER HARVESTING.

Only Modern Man is totally extravagant with the rain water given ,and complains of the wetness ,letting it run off into the rivers lost forever ,With out even attempting to hold on to it .

And then later complains of not having water ,when times are dryer

In Permaculture the rule is to harvest water to the point of Zero runoff.

This means that all of the rain that falls on an area is absorbed by the terrain and not a drop leaves it.

By building dams,ponds or Swales, with inter connecting ditches,

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

If there are enough of these ;the places ,where before ,the rain water ran over the ground into the rivers and on to the sea ,in a matter of minutes or hours

It now runs into absorbent dams or Swales and saturates the ground and eventually reaches subterranean water deposits ,taking many months to do so.

Or it fills up ponds that can be used for Aquaculture.

And so a convex situation that repels water is transformed in a concave ,absorbent one and turning the area in to a sponge.

In Spain and Portugal ,which still display many examples of the conquering Moorish influence one can find many remnants of Water harvesting,such as Aqueducts and tanks underneath the patios ,which collect the rain water from the roofs ,to be used in dryer times.

In Arabia ,on a large scale ,land has been shaped to catch and lead,rain water into sandy areas or to agricultural lands.sand is almost as good as dams because it absorbs water and holds it.

Here in Mexico we collect the rainwater in our school for sustainable agriculture,but it is too near Acapulco to trust the rain water for drinking ,and this holds true for most places ,so we use it for irrigation.

the rain water from a gutter runs via a filter into a tank.

In Europe in my parents house ,when i was young ,we had a rain barrel,where the water from the gutter ended up .

this was usual in those days ,but i have seen few in modern times.

We can use this action also in other ways ,

for example the roof water via a ditch can run trough the chicken house ,cleaning it and end up fertilizing the vegetable plot(this is called the creation of energy flow.

this water used to be Ok in times gone by before Air pollution ,

Today i would recommend it only for washing and irrigation

for more information on Water Harvesting

read The Permaculture designers manual by Bill Mollison,which cost about 40 dollars.

and is the best all round book you can get,on Environmental design,.(tagiari publishing, [e-mail])

Answer 2

Running out of water-

-The "world" will not run out of water however, areas of the world do change so yes, there could be droughts in certain areas that once had great water supply.  (See Africa for example).

-The way we behave does make the difference and we can cause our own distress so we must be careful in our own endeavors.

-There is indeed a God and He is not going to allow those whom He loves go without water.  "He will supply all our needs".

Answer 3

This site shows you were water is already in short supply.  In some places its due to low rainfall and in others from pollution an salinity.  Water shortages affect the entire economy particularly when poor people rely on water for food (fish) so they starve.

Answer 4

No, it will never run out. Because clean water is renewable. Rain is clean. The only way we could actually run out is if it never rained again. What may happen though is that there isn't enough rain each year to replace the clean water as fast as we use it. In other words, when the reservoir runs dry, we will only have water when it rains. So then we will be forced to use less. We will be forced to use only as much as rains down on us at any given time. But we will NEVER be forced to use none. Not as long as there is rain somewhere in the world.

Answer 5

I think we are running out of water right now.  I never see water!  Then again, I live in the desert...

Answer 6

No, the planet will never run out of water for EVERYONE.  But clean water is starting to become scarce, so that means it will be getting more expensive.  So obviously the first people that are already doing without enough clean water are the poor people all over the world.  The more expensive it is to obtain clean water, the more people that there will be without it.  The wealthy will never run out of clean water just because they can still afford to pay for it if it becomes really costly.