*[Enwl-eng] Panel Discussion Explores the Future of Water
0 views
Skip to first unread message
ENWLine
Mar 15, 2013, 4:25:07 PM3/15/13
to "ENWL-uni"
*Where's the Water of the Future? Right Here*
Wynne Parry, LiveScience Contributor
Date: 04 March 2013 Time: 01:15 PM ET
Illustration Omitted:
If all the world's water were to form a single drop, this is how
big it would be: A sphere stretching from Salt Lake City, Utah to
Topeka, Kansas. Though this mega-droplet looks small compared to Earth's
bulk, the two dimensionality of this image is somewhat deceiving. In
fact, the water sphere would have a diameter of about 860 miles (1,385
kilometers) and a volume of about 332,500,000 cubic miles (1,386,000,000
cubic km). CREDIT: Illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution (©; Howard Perlman, USGS.)
NEW YORK --- Fresh water. The planet has only so much to meet the needs
of a growing world population. And global warming throws more
uncertainty into the mix by increasing chances of extreme weather, such
as more intense droughts in some places.
Dry spells, such as the devastating drought that gripped much of the
United States last year, come with economic costs in the developed world
and deadly consequences in poorer countries.
There is no secret source of water of the future. Conservation is the
best answer, agreed panelists at a discussion held Thursday (Feb. 28)
here at the New York Academy of Sciences.
Better than building
Using the available water is much cheaper than building more reservoirs,
pipelines, desalinization plants (to remove salt from seawater) and
other infrastructure, said panelist Brian Richter, director of global
freshwater strategies for The Nature Conservancy. [Dry and Drying:
Images of Drought]
"'I related it to my personal banking account,'" Richter said, quoting a
friend. "'If I am overdrafting my personal bank account it is going to
do me no good to open up another account.' You can't build your way out
of the problem. We are not making any new water."
The good news is, he said, "We're wasting so much, so there is a lot of
potential to do a whole lot better."
Curbing demand
History shows that conservation is realistic, said panelist Peter
Gleick, co-founder of the nonprofit Pacific Institute.
Between 1900 and 2005, the U.S. gross domestic product (goods and
services produced by the economy) grew rapidly. Water use paralleled
this growth until 1980, then it leveled off.
"The assumption that our demand for water has to go up with population
and economy is a false assumption," Gleick said.
In reality, it is unlikely the United States could have found the water
it needed if water withdrawals had continued to grow, he said.
A number of factors tamped down demand for water over the past three
decades, he said. Irrigation systems have become more efficient, losing
less water to evaporation; Americans are eating less beef, which
requires water to raise; toilets, washing machines and industrial
processes require less water; Americans are reusing treated wastewater,
although "we don't do it much and could do it more," Gleick said.
In fact, wastewater treatment infrastructure could be distributed within
particular areas, rather than centralized in a single plant, allowing
water to be recycled within those areas. Wastewater would be treated,
redistributed to users, then returned for treatment, reducing the
substantial costs associated with pumping water across long distances,
noted Upmanu Lall of Columbia University's The Earth Institute.
At its source
New York City itself offers an example of good planning, said Adam
Freed, director of the Nature Conservancy's Global Security Water
Program, who said that cities are often focal points for the global
water crisis. [Earth in the Balance: 7 Crucial Tipping Points]
About 2,000 square miles (5,180 square kilometers) of watershed (land
that drains into a particular waterway) has been set aside in the
Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River Valley to supply the city with
clean water. By investing in protecting the watershed from pollution,
the city has saved itself the much larger costs associated with treating
the water it needs, Freed said.
This strategy of protecting the water at its source needs to be
replicated elsewhere, he said.
Water and money
The private sector has an important role to play, said Brooke Barton,
who leads the water program of Ceres, an organization that advocates for
sustainable leadership in business.
A number of large companies, such as Coca-Cola and Ford, have recently
made commitments to address water use. But the private sector still has
far to go, she said. In a study conducted last year, Ceres researchers
found that many large companies were far behind the curve with regard to
water conservation, Barton said.
The investment community is likely to play an important role in change
by pushing companies to gather more data about risks associated with
water use, she said.
The cost of water use is often hidden, changing water's price could
affect usage, just as gas consumption changes with price, Richter
pointed out, with a caveat: "We do have to be careful not to raise the
price out of the [range of] affordability of the poor."
Future climate
Warming brought by climate change is expected to intensify the water
cycle --- the processes by which water travels between the oceans, land
and atmosphere --- by increasing evaporation. This is expected to cause
changes in extreme weather, including more heat waves and heavy
downpours, as well as intense droughts in some, not necessarily the
same, places.
These changes will affect water resources, Gleick said.
"Our water systems were designed for yesterday's climate, and managed
for yesterday's climate," he said.
Although current changes are the result of human activity, climate
change itself isn't a new phenomenon. Lall said that in the past, nature
has shown great variability, at least as large as anything projected for
the future. Knowledge of this history can provide a place to start with
regard to adaptation, he said.
"We have to deal with variability," Gleick said. "But climate change may
also impose unexpected problems that our past experience isn't
sufficient to deal with."
Author and journalist Fred Pearce moderated the discussion.
http://www.livescience.com/27610-future-fresh-water.html
*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this
material is distributed, without profit, for research and educational
purposes only. ***
From: "Yahoo Newsgroups" <vasi...@ramapo.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2013 1:19 PM
Subject: News: Panel Discussion Explores the Future of Water
------------- * ENWL * ------------
Ecological North West Line * St. Petersburg, Russia
Independent Environmental Net Service: http://www.bellona.ru/enwl/
Russian: ENWL(discussions), ENWL-inf(FSU information), ENWL-misc(any topics)
English: ENWL-eng (world information)
en...@lew.spb.org, enwl...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org
Subscription, Moderator: vf...@lew.spb.org or en...@enw.net.ru
Archive: http://enwl.bellona.ru/pipermail/
and http://groups.google.com/group/enwl/
SEE ALSO: http://www.bellona.org (English)and http://www.bellona.ru
(Russian)
RSS: http://groups.google.ru/group/enwl/feeds?hl=ru
(C) Please refer to exclusive articles of ENWL
-------------------------------------
ONLY if your address is subscribed:
Enwl-eng mailing list
Enwl...@enwl.bellona.ru
http://enwl.bellona.ru/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/enwl-eng
Wynne Parry, LiveScience Contributor
Date: 04 March 2013 Time: 01:15 PM ET
Illustration Omitted:
If all the world's water were to form a single drop, this is how
big it would be: A sphere stretching from Salt Lake City, Utah to
Topeka, Kansas. Though this mega-droplet looks small compared to Earth's
bulk, the two dimensionality of this image is somewhat deceiving. In
fact, the water sphere would have a diameter of about 860 miles (1,385
kilometers) and a volume of about 332,500,000 cubic miles (1,386,000,000
cubic km). CREDIT: Illustration by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution (©; Howard Perlman, USGS.)
NEW YORK --- Fresh water. The planet has only so much to meet the needs
of a growing world population. And global warming throws more
uncertainty into the mix by increasing chances of extreme weather, such
as more intense droughts in some places.
Dry spells, such as the devastating drought that gripped much of the
United States last year, come with economic costs in the developed world
and deadly consequences in poorer countries.
There is no secret source of water of the future. Conservation is the
best answer, agreed panelists at a discussion held Thursday (Feb. 28)
here at the New York Academy of Sciences.
Better than building
Using the available water is much cheaper than building more reservoirs,
pipelines, desalinization plants (to remove salt from seawater) and
other infrastructure, said panelist Brian Richter, director of global
freshwater strategies for The Nature Conservancy. [Dry and Drying:
Images of Drought]
"'I related it to my personal banking account,'" Richter said, quoting a
friend. "'If I am overdrafting my personal bank account it is going to
do me no good to open up another account.' You can't build your way out
of the problem. We are not making any new water."
The good news is, he said, "We're wasting so much, so there is a lot of
potential to do a whole lot better."
Curbing demand
History shows that conservation is realistic, said panelist Peter
Gleick, co-founder of the nonprofit Pacific Institute.
Between 1900 and 2005, the U.S. gross domestic product (goods and
services produced by the economy) grew rapidly. Water use paralleled
this growth until 1980, then it leveled off.
"The assumption that our demand for water has to go up with population
and economy is a false assumption," Gleick said.
In reality, it is unlikely the United States could have found the water
it needed if water withdrawals had continued to grow, he said.
A number of factors tamped down demand for water over the past three
decades, he said. Irrigation systems have become more efficient, losing
less water to evaporation; Americans are eating less beef, which
requires water to raise; toilets, washing machines and industrial
processes require less water; Americans are reusing treated wastewater,
although "we don't do it much and could do it more," Gleick said.
In fact, wastewater treatment infrastructure could be distributed within
particular areas, rather than centralized in a single plant, allowing
water to be recycled within those areas. Wastewater would be treated,
redistributed to users, then returned for treatment, reducing the
substantial costs associated with pumping water across long distances,
noted Upmanu Lall of Columbia University's The Earth Institute.
At its source
New York City itself offers an example of good planning, said Adam
Freed, director of the Nature Conservancy's Global Security Water
Program, who said that cities are often focal points for the global
water crisis. [Earth in the Balance: 7 Crucial Tipping Points]
About 2,000 square miles (5,180 square kilometers) of watershed (land
that drains into a particular waterway) has been set aside in the
Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River Valley to supply the city with
clean water. By investing in protecting the watershed from pollution,
the city has saved itself the much larger costs associated with treating
the water it needs, Freed said.
This strategy of protecting the water at its source needs to be
replicated elsewhere, he said.
Water and money
The private sector has an important role to play, said Brooke Barton,
who leads the water program of Ceres, an organization that advocates for
sustainable leadership in business.
A number of large companies, such as Coca-Cola and Ford, have recently
made commitments to address water use. But the private sector still has
far to go, she said. In a study conducted last year, Ceres researchers
found that many large companies were far behind the curve with regard to
water conservation, Barton said.
The investment community is likely to play an important role in change
by pushing companies to gather more data about risks associated with
water use, she said.
The cost of water use is often hidden, changing water's price could
affect usage, just as gas consumption changes with price, Richter
pointed out, with a caveat: "We do have to be careful not to raise the
price out of the [range of] affordability of the poor."
Future climate
Warming brought by climate change is expected to intensify the water
cycle --- the processes by which water travels between the oceans, land
and atmosphere --- by increasing evaporation. This is expected to cause
changes in extreme weather, including more heat waves and heavy
downpours, as well as intense droughts in some, not necessarily the
same, places.
These changes will affect water resources, Gleick said.
"Our water systems were designed for yesterday's climate, and managed
for yesterday's climate," he said.
Although current changes are the result of human activity, climate
change itself isn't a new phenomenon. Lall said that in the past, nature
has shown great variability, at least as large as anything projected for
the future. Knowledge of this history can provide a place to start with
regard to adaptation, he said.
"We have to deal with variability," Gleick said. "But climate change may
also impose unexpected problems that our past experience isn't
sufficient to deal with."
Author and journalist Fred Pearce moderated the discussion.
http://www.livescience.com/27610-future-fresh-water.html
*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this
material is distributed, without profit, for research and educational
purposes only. ***
From: "Yahoo Newsgroups" <vasi...@ramapo.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2013 1:19 PM
Subject: News: Panel Discussion Explores the Future of Water
------------- * ENWL * ------------
Ecological North West Line * St. Petersburg, Russia
Independent Environmental Net Service: http://www.bellona.ru/enwl/
Russian: ENWL(discussions), ENWL-inf(FSU information), ENWL-misc(any topics)
English: ENWL-eng (world information)
en...@lew.spb.org, enwl...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org
Subscription, Moderator: vf...@lew.spb.org or en...@enw.net.ru
Archive: http://enwl.bellona.ru/pipermail/
and http://groups.google.com/group/enwl/
SEE ALSO: http://www.bellona.org (English)and http://www.bellona.ru
(Russian)
RSS: http://groups.google.ru/group/enwl/feeds?hl=ru
(C) Please refer to exclusive articles of ENWL
-------------------------------------
ONLY if your address is subscribed:
Enwl-eng mailing list
Enwl...@enwl.bellona.ru
http://enwl.bellona.ru/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/enwl-eng
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages