Running dry Aug 21st 2008 | NEW YORK From The Economist print edition Everyone knows industry needs oil. Now people are worrying about water, too “WATER is the oil of the 21st century,” declares Andrew Liveris, the chief executive of Dow, a chemical company. Like oil, water is a critical lubricant of the global economy. And as with oil, supplies of water—at least, the clean, easily accessible sort—are coming under enormous strain because of the growing global population and an emerging middle-class in Asia that hankers for the water-intensive life enjoyed by people in the West. Oil prices have fallen from their recent peaks, but concerns about the availability of freshwater show no sign of abating. Goldman Sachs, an investment bank, estimates that global water consumption is doubling every 20 years, which it calls an “unsustainable” rate of growth. Water, unlike oil, has no substitute. Climate change is altering the patterns of freshwater availability in complex ways that can lead to more frequent and severe droughts. Untrammelled industrialisation, particularly in poor countries, is contaminating rivers and aquifers. America’s generous subsidies for biofuel have increased the harvest of water-intensive crops that are now used for energy as well as food. And heavy subsidies for water in most parts of the world mean it is often grossly underpriced—and hence squandered. http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?source=hptextfeature&story_id=11966993
So about 1/2 the world's population, who won't be in a position to do anything about it, can look forward to shrivelling to death in some desert, created by rich industrialists who see access to water as their inalienable right so they get richer and famous (for a while, as the ignorant a-holes who did it)? I foresee a revolution or two, in such people's futures.
I think, in about 50 years, the rich and poor will be defined by who has water and who does not.... The interesting part is, as global warming occurs, there will be more rain fall in some part of the world. But society has to manage that...If Colorado river dries out as green river did, Californias will be in deep trouble....
Please. Do you have to make everything an us-versus-them and the rich are the cause of all the world's woes argument? The chief culprit is not the rich: It is the poor nations who are undergoing unsustainable population growth, and doing so because the evil rich people have made the people in these poor nations a little less poor. Look at the graph from the article: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! The key problem is agriculture, and agricultural use is growing because the world's population is growing. The graph is a bit deceiving in that it shows worldwide consumption of water. The graph would show agricultural usage only if it only showed consumption of water in places where water shortages are expected to be severe. The poor nations are poor in large part because they have little or no industry. While better manufacturing techniques will help alleviate the problem a little, better irrigation systems will help alleviate the problem a lot.
Not only are we running out of hydrogen and carbon but now we're running out of oxygen? How do people come up with this unscientific nonsense? Don't they teach chemistry anymore?
Not to you they don't. You need a brain, so you can pick up some of the fundamentals; you failed the first test, sorry.
The thing that worries me most of all about this business is that with continued global warming, and with the world's snowfields and glaciers melting at a great and increasing rate (for the most part) we are going to be dealing with the reduction in flow or outright drying-up of all of Eurasia's major river systems--i.e. Ganges, Indus, Bramaputra, as well as the great Siberian rivers which flow north out of the high mountains. THEN we're in serious trouble.
And many places like Holland will have floods because the ocean will rise some meters with the melting of glaciers. Many people will die and only the richest people will live. The generation of easy life won't be here when the generation of hard life due to the easy generation. Human kind has too much too learn and they don't want to learn, companies with high profits and the powerful governments. And right now there is corruption everywhere, for 1 rich 1 million of poor has to live. Too many people since the rise of oil. Only the richest or smartest will survive.
Hydrogen and oxygen are infinite. Hydrogen is the most common element in the universe and oxygen is the third most common element in the universe. They found ice on Mars...Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Do you really think you're going to impress anyone here by being a pedantic little smart-ass? Obviously there is still plenty of hydrogen and oxygen in the universe. The issue is getting water in sufficient quantities in a way that's economically viable. If clean fresh water becomes more difficult to obtain, it will be a problem for many industries.
So according to you scientific truth is "being a pedantic little smart ass"? Interesting. I wonder why you are reacting with emotion and not logic. Oh wait, nevermind, I don't...Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I rest my case. LMFAO. The tap is free. If a giant meteorite strikes the earth or a supervolcano erupts it will present problems for many industries as well. If the Lord comes back to Earth that would also present problems for many industries.
I guess thats true in a way Ha...Ha .. I guess thats true in a way but there is certainly nothing wrong in analyising what to do just in case such a situation arises though for a short time. May be it would ignite the foundation for a future "atomic reframer"(one which creates custom molecular structures from atoms and radiation in space) in some ones brain . Neccessity has always certainly been the mother of invention .... lol - Pardon me about my optimism Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! In case i find it before water is out ,I will make gold and join the rich people Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
No, deliberately misinterpreting the topic of the OP to mean "it will be impossible for humans to get more water" when you know damn well that it meant "we are straining our supply of easily-accessible clean water" makes you a pedantic little smart-ass. Water on Mars is of zero relevance to the discussion, unless you know of an economically-competitive way to transport it to earth and purify it in mass quantities.
We can have infinite hydrogen but once the oil has high prices it'll be very expensive and it won't bring very much. Right now this is the situation, we need many oil to go up there, probably at a near future we see hydrogen motors.
Fresh water is one of the most renewable resources we have. It is generated by the sun and falls from the sky in such vast quantities that it reduces mountains and carves huge fishers in the earth. Global warming will increase the amount of rain. The problem we have is not the amount of fresh water but the systems we use to colect, store and transport the water. Just look up, all those clouds are clean fresh water..
I agree. The only thing more renewable than water is oil. Owned imo. Shhh, don't tell a Leftist they might blow a wingnut.
Tell that to the Australians. Fresh water is being mined - sources depleted faster than they are renewed - almost everywhere. The Oglalla aquifer in North America is merely one of the most flagrant, best studied cases oif a world wide phenomenon. The outlet of the Colorado River, the Ural Sea - there are many forerunner examples of the consequences.
