Friday, February 4, 2011

water

1) one out of eight people does not have access to clean water. Every day, the global water and sanitation crisis claims the lives of as many children under five to equal that of jumbo jets crashing. Global warming dumps salt into freshwater, making it undrinkable instantly. Storm water is also a problem, with so much concrete, the water has nowhere to go, so it picks up a lot of garbage and floods into the sewer and later on out into the river. Also fertilizers used in farming, wash off the farms, down the roads, into the sewers, and out into the river. The fertilizers kill the animals in the river and make it undrinkable.

2) to deal with the shrinking amount of drinkable water, we are combating global warming to stop salt being dumped in freshwater. To deal with the storm water, more straining systems have been put into use in sewers to eliminate the garbage during flooding. To help with the fertilizer problem, more organic farms are being introduced, to lower the amount of fertilizers used. To solve the not having access to clean water, many organizations are creating easy ways to access a hidden source of clean water. Such as Ryan's wells, which builds wells that lead to clean water sources underground.

3) Water allocation is a very big problem. Its where people dam up a river so farmers/industries/power plants can get all the water for their needs, but the people/farmers/industries/power plants who gain the water from the natural course of the river don't get any water at all. One way to solve the problem is to split the water half and half to each group that needs it. Or split a little part off the river, but increase the efficiency the farmer/industries/power plants use it with. For example, the power plant could recycle the water it uses to turn the turbines which in turn (sorry for the pun) make electricity. The basic idea is to use, clean (if needed), and re-use the water. Or have a meeting with all of the people who need the water, and find if someone doesn't really need that much water. Or use new technology that makes water that was currently unusable, able to supply one or more of the water consumers.

4) We should shorten our showers so we save water, and avoid taking baths unless absolutely needed because they use up a lot of water. Don't water the lawn, only water your potted plants. Also cut the grass more to make the individual grass plants need less water, and when they need less water, they don't die because you didn't water them. That prevents erosion from happening when the grass dies and no longer holds the ground together, and no dirt washes down the street, into the sewer, and into the river where it might clog it up. Use more water efficient cooking. If you need to water plants, use rainwater collected from rain barrels to water them, this might work for cars as well. When we save all this water, we allow more of it not to be wasted, and are demand for water goes down in our neighbor hood, and it can be diverted to other places that need it more.

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