Knee Deep Pocket Deep: Water’s role as a resource and water’s promise as a product

8/3/2019 Knee Deep Pocket Deep: Waters role as a resource and waters promise as a product

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Knee-deep, pocket-deep:

Waters role as a resource and waters promise as a product


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Don't it always seem to goThat you don't know what you've gotTill it's goneThey paved paradiseAnd put up a parking lot

- Joni Mitchell Big Yellow Taxi

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DISCUSSION GUIDE*

1. Impermeable Solutions

2. A Civil Engineer is Born

3. Sculpting a Civilization

4. The Oscillations of an Ancient Civilization

5. Fast-forwarding to a Modern Day Comparison

6. The Great American Water Resource

7. Modern and Ancient Human-Environmental Impactions

8. Blue Gold, Black Gold, and Gold

9. The Civil Engineer, The Market, and The Politician

10. The Markets and Politics at War

11. Privatization in an Era of Globalization

12. In Hindsight and Foresight

13. Bibliography

* units in paragraph

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While brainstorming my shear force and bending moment diagrams for an

exam in my structural analysis course, I was confounded by why my bending moment

diagram did not conclude at zero, rendering the system to be statically unstable and

furthermore yielding an invalid solution to any structural engineering reality. Mysupport reactions indicated stability by equating the system to be zero and my shear

force diagram agreed. I assumed my error was in formulating my bending moment

equations for some section of the beam and I fruitlessly reevaluated the equations

until my time expired. In my haste, I overlooked an error in my algebra near the

beginning of my work. While two plus three equals five, another possible solution

may be seven minus two equals five. This demonstrates that additive properties such

as those displayed with shear may seemingly have more than one solution. My shearsolution was the wrong solution because it affected my bending moment to finalize at

a non-zero number. A simple error of having a positive number represented by a

negative number caused a handful of points to be deducted from my exam. However,

such a simple calculation error in reality would compromise a bridge or a skyscraper,

and moreover a career.

Often in life a problem will seemingly have many solutions. More often a

particular solution will prove itself to be the most sufficient of a set of solutions while

some solutions (perhaps some of the remaining ones) will cause further problems or

imprint problems that will later be recognized in hindsight. Several answers are

discovered in the classroom while many are learned throughout life experiences.

Numerous questions have been satisfied by our ancestors while countless still remain

a mystery to current generations. Ultimately, before any dilemma can be truly

resolved, the problem should be thoroughly understood. A hasty solution may

provide a short-term solution yet may additionally generate devastating and possibly

irreversible long-term effects. Similarly, before the topics of centralization and

privatization regarding public water works are debated, I invite you to the analysis of

the pressing concerns with the nations and the worlds water resources as well as in

the depths of history.

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Before engineering became subdivided into many distinct disciplines as it is

now, it was broadly the field of either civil engineering, pertaining to civilian or

public works, or military engineering, pertaining to military works. Amongst many

functions, civil engineers would build homes, towns, cities for civilians to live in,

roads, highways, bridges to transport people and goods between places, and water

treatment plants and water distribution plants to provide clean water to a population.

Civil engineers now customarily specialize in a civil engineering sub-disciplines.

Geotechnical and structural engineering focus on

designing the many foundations from which

structures stand and the many building frames that

provide shelter. Transportation engineering centers

various modes of transportation between rural and

urban areas for commercial and residential uses.

Environmental and hydraulic engineering aims to

restore and replenish natural resources and

distribute these resources in the most optimal ways

to support both the needs of mankind and the needs of the environment around us.

Current military engineers now commonly start their study as civil engineers

alongside civilians at accredited colleges and universities; where the duties eventually

diverge for example is providing shelter for the public or providing shelter for U.S.

troops. Conversely, where the duties converge is to the oath and obligation of

providing and protecting the general interests and the well-being of Americans.

Figure 1: Civil Engineering Students atWest Point. Founded in 1802, theUnited States Military Academy at WestPoint was the first school in the U.S. tooffer a formal program of instruction inengineering.

From ancient history to modern day, engineers are valued to be the strong

foundation of civilizations. Homes accommodate civilians with shelter for their

families and buildings supply merchants with a marketplace for their business. Roads

and bridges provide transportation for people and the goods people need in and out of

cities and towns, rural and urban alike. Irrigation systems, aqueducts, or dams were

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instruments utilized to transport water to lands for crops or to people for drinking,

bathing, cooking, and cleaning. All of these systems, buildings, transportation

systems, and producing fare, compile to form a functioning community and as one

part fails, the others are hindered or in many cases fail as well. As an engineer is

responsible for designing and constructing these means, if they prove to be

unsustainable and render to be eventually useless then the fault of that failure may

reflect on the engineer.

For example when Austen Henry Layard, a British archaeologist, visited a

region rich with history since the times of Mesopotamia known as Nippur on detour

from his excavations in Assyria in January 1850, he sought the dunefields of Hilla

which were renowned to be formed within only the previous thirty years over what

once was fertile marshlands. Layard once

detailed, it was possible to go all the way to

Nippur by boat down the Euphrates, across

major branch canals and then across the

marsh. (Brandt 68) He boasted of the plant

life, wildlife, and communities which were

synonymous to numerous historical accounts

of that time. By 1889, Brandt later

documented that drastic changes had

occurred in the landscape. It was impossible to get supplies by boat from Hilla to

Nippur. The channels were almost completely dry, and the local inhabitants were

desperately digging wells in the river bottom. (68) Brandt concluded that Both

marshes and dune zones are prominent environmental features directly related to

irrigation agriculture and, more broadly, water managementDunes developed

around tamarisk stumps and seemed to begin as small piles of drifted material at the

edges of cultivation. For miles there was evidence of recent desertion of the land and

Figure 2: Canal at Bassorah

in Ancient Mesopotamia

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encroachment of dunes. (69) Where water thrives, produce thrives, towns and

businesses thrive, and civilizations both of small or grand size are born. The paradox

great civilizations have fallen before to wars over fertile land and once flourishing

civilizations that seemed impeccably sustained during their time have crashed from

over exhaustion at a magnitude just as grand or even greater than as they started.

Mesopotamia is considered one of the earliest technologically and culturally

advanced ancient civilizations and is credited for engineering the first wheel. In those

times, the civilizations needed water to farm those lands to furthermore feed their

families and commune in a society that revolves around this production. Civilizations

that prospered were ones that were able to engineer ways to yield and deliver

resources where necessary. While technology was booming in its time, technology

was still far from what is considered advanced now. Perhaps the people were not

excessive but the technology certainly was not sustainable. More likely the case now,

a US home and town will have an overabundance of food and choices. Americans in

these times will have refrigerators full of wasted foods (25% of all food is wasted or

about 96 billion pounds of annually wasted food in US N), cabinets stocked with

bottled water at hand (gallons of water consumed annually in the US increased from

less than 400 thousand in 1976 to over 3.3 million in 1997 to over 8 billion in 2006 N),

and many homes furnished with air conditioners, dishwashers, multiple bathrooms,

luscious lawns, or lavish swimming pools. Our needs are certainly sufficed. Our

energy and resource use is collectively excessive. Our technology is very advanced.

Our water resources are currently being depleted at an unsustainable rate. Many

people, especially Americans as a top world multiple-resource consumer, may afford a

comfortable life now but cannot afford to turn a blind eye to the diminishing and

mishandling of such a precious natural resource as water that will affect not only our

own future and civilization but mankind worldwide.

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Americans have tapped into a hidden,

massive treasure chest of water which spans

across eight states including Wyoming, South

Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas,

New Mexico, and Colorado the Ogallala

Aquifer. The region once called the Great

American Desert by conquistador Coronado

in 1541 is now called the Great Plains or the

High Plains; the semi-arid land, infertile

without the assistance of irrigation, was once

valued useless for farming is now considered

one of the leading agricultural areas of the

world. This underground ocean contains

enough water to fill Lake Erie nine times and

sprouting at the ground surface is over fourteen million acres of crops which

accumulate about one-fifth of Americas total annual agricultural harvest. (Ashworth

10) William Ashworth, author of Ogallala Blue, warns, Five trillion gallons of water

are drawn from the Ogallala annually - about 30% of all groundwater used for

irrigation in the United States Water is being pulled out much faster than it is being

put back in. Since widespread irrigation began in the 1950s, the Ogallala has sustained

a net loss of as much as 120 trillion gallons 11 percent of its original volume. (11)

This water is used to irrigate land (mostly semi-arid), to grow produce, to feed

livestock, to provide drink and to fuel recreation. The water in Ogallala Aquifer,

which is considered a renewable resource, is originally a result of the melting glaciers

of the Ice Age and can be replenished by groundwater discharges or seepage from

precipitation. The significant reduction of this resource is due to a faster depletion

rate than its recharge rate.

Figure 3: Outline of the Ogallala Aquifer

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Figure 4: The decline of water levels in the Ogallala Aquifer from 1980-1995

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Strikingly similar to Mesopotamia with water resource fatigue is the

agricultural and municipal standard of living which is demonstrated by Karl W.

Butzer in his commentary of Human Impact on the Environment: Ancient Roots,

Current Challenges. He states, The implications of agricultural lifeways for new

environmental adaptations are illustrated [one] example is ancient Mesopotamia,

where overirrigation during the period of centralized control under the Ur III

Dynasty led to salinization and declining productivity from 2400 to 1700 B.C. [The

Ur III] efforts represent metastable systems predicated on centralization and

maximization, and their collapse led to scaling back and diversification that better

served long-term productivity. (176) Likewise, if Americans cannot learn to well

manage the use of our natural resources, we may be forced to manage or mitigate by

nature.

The World Health Organization reminds us that in a world with a population

Figure 5: Global Water Stress 1995 (actual) and 2025 (virtual)

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of over six billion people, over one billion people do not have access to potable

drinking water. (3) The modern awareness of the limited resource of potable water

has rightfully earned water the label blue gold just as petroleum currently wears the

label of black gold. Ashworth concurs, Groundwater is a mineral, and like most

minerals it has practical value. Mining it is a means to realizing that value. (11) Gold

propelled people out on mining frenzies for its value in the market. Petroleum has

fueled territorial wars for decades. However, gold in contrast to petroleum and water

is a luxury not necessary for life to exist. Petroleum though a highly dependable non-

renewable resource can be greatly reduced in demand by alternative energy sources,

recycling of petroleum based products such as rubber, and better energy efficient

technologies. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Americans

consume 35% of the worlds oil production with 20,687 thousand barrels expended a

day. In comparison, Americans alone trump the remaining fourteen top world oil

consumers averaging at 2,756 thousand barrels a day by 17,931 thousand barrels. If

water takes on a prized value as petroleum has when its demand skyrocketed past the

supply, we can anticipate similar challenges. Petroleum, in the end, can be replaced

with alternative energy sources while water will always be in demand as it is essential

for life. Ashworth reiterates, WATER IS LIFE. It is our primary support system, the

chief component of our tissues, and the only substance that all living things must

have or die. There are bacteria that can live without oxygen; there are cave creatures

and deep-sea dwellers that can live without sunlight. Nothing can live without

water. (9) The depletion of gold was a factor in the inflation of the US dollar by the

overproduction of quantities of money insufficiently based on the obtained quantity

of gold in response to augmented demand. The wasteful usage of petroleum may

eventually force Americans to reinvent their lives to environmentally practical

measures if we do not reevaluate our current overuse and high demands. Water,

being almost absolutely inelastic in comparison, however will not have as much

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mercy. Ashworth agrees, Groundwater overdraft is not an accident here; it is a way

of life. But because it means that the water will someday disappear, it is also a way of

death. (11) The analysis of water consumption should be a concern of today and not

tomorrow. If we run out of petroleum we would not even have the energy to sustain

desalination plants with our currently practiced technologies which furthermore

negatively impact marine ecology. It is an imperative to manage a sustainable usage of

water now and to exercise viable demands that cater primarily to our needs rather

than our wants.

When presently examining a development, project managers and authorities

subdivide the efforts needed to complete the endeavor and will delegate duties

accordingly. An engineering plan will customarily circulate through planning, design,

and construction phases. Depending on what sub-field or related field of engineering

is of tailored concentration per a particular person determines the scope of work for

that person and it is not conventionally practiced to overextend ones delegated

duties. Similarly, a market and a government serve a purpose and neither should truly

behave like each other or breach their scope of work. A market serves a society and

without people a market is not sustained. A government serves a people and without a

government a society, as history defines, is not

conventionally sustained. A market is profit driven

and a government is need driven. A market

stimulates economic growth, the growth of a

business, and the growth of a city or town. A

government protects the well-being of a people, their

businesses, their cities and towns, their lives and

prosperities. Water is a resource and not a product,

and furthermore water is a necessity and not an

amenity. With this in mind it is easy to determine the realm of work should be

Figure 6: Water bottles are moneyconsumers.

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allocated to the government. Our water should be protected and be available equally

to all persons. All people have the right to water and businesses should never

challenge that right.

America seems to be fiscally deteriorating. Concerns are debated over the

expenses of our country being at war. Economists loom about the fragile market. Sick

citizens often cry for more aid with their health bills than their health. Meanwhile

our Earth is suffering and our environments are oversaturated, polluted, and

unsustainable. If we were cautious as a society of the pollutants that we put in the air

by emissions and that we put in the water by chemical treatments of our soils or by

erroneous disposing of our wastes perhaps our health and the ecology surrounding us

would not be compromised. If we were conservative with how we spent our money,

with how much energy our homes, cars and lives consume or with how much

unnecessary cosmetics or products we collect that take immense amounts of energy

just to be made available, we would have a significantly lower demand for goods and

resources in the market and our market would furthermore not be so easily shaken.

We are fighting a war in a country that does not even have access to clean water, that

does not have reliable electricity, that does not have adequate schools for their

children, that has an extremely outdated infrastructure, that considers meat a rare

luxury and struggle to feed their war-broken families, and the list goes on. These same

Iraqis have endured decades of oppression from the radicals amongst them. These

Iraqis are the people we are fighting to secure, by rebuilding their unstable

infrastructure, by providing water treatments plants to offer them potable water to

drink, by providing electricity to hospitals, police stations, and homes, by providing

schools with actual floors and roofs for children to learn within, by providing security

to the community so they may run their own markets, their own churches and

hobbies in peace. By retreating now, it would be like taking the crutches away from

someone whose legs have not healed yet. While we have the luxury to exercise our

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liberties and enjoy the comforts our society offers even while we are in what is

considered a financially challenging state, we should consider the good that may

come out of our adversities and learn from the things that have proven to be

hindrances. By securing them and building a foundation of peace overseas, we hope

to be securing ourselves from the radicals that oppose our lifestyles and that have

successfully targeted our soils. In marketing terms, we should view our efforts in Iraq

as an investment with long-term benefits and a retreat as a quick-fix that may have

short-term benefits but additionally long-term instabilities.

Privatization during an era of globalization does not go merrily together unless

you are on the profit receiving end of the bargain. Maude Barlow of the International

Forum on Globalization contributes, Everything is for sale, even those areas of life

once considered sacred, such as health and education, culture and heritage, genetic

codes and seeds, and natural resources such as air and water. Increasingly, these

services and resources are controlled by a handful of transnational corporations who

shape national and international law to suit their interests. The Washington-based

Institute for Policy Studies reports that the top two hundred corporations are now so

big that their total sales surpass the combined economies of 182 countries and they

have almost twice the economic clout of

the poorest four-fifths of humanity. Of

the 100 largest economies in the world,

53 are now transnational corporations

The richest fifth of the world's people

consumes 86 percent of all goods and

services, while the poorest fifth

consumes just over 1 percent.

Privatizing the resources needed for life

make the market the referee amongst

Figure 7: Men struggle to draw water from a drying

well in Rabdore, Somalia, where rival clans fought a

two-year war over the water supply.

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battling consumers, a referee who profits from that high demand. That battle could

translate into wars as it already has demonstrated in third-world or poor countries.

Our focus should be on maximizing governments efficiency not on transferring the

reins of control. The time wasted in transition could be better used to fast-forward

the current research and technologies to implementation. Incentives should be

encouraged in Congress as well as practiced in our law. On an individual level, we

should re-evaluate our personal energy and resource consumptions and live

conservatively, not only for the sake of our disadvantaged counterparts but for our

future.

In conclusion, the rise and collapse of civilizations has repeated itself

throughout the course of history. This paper attempts to analyze the trend. Are

societies governed by capital or resources? If there were no valuable resources would

there be any capital? Capital will likely mitigate as it has to another region that offers

resources. However, while water is a resource people cannot afford to deplete, capital

would not have anywhere to mitigate if its supply was diminished and furthermore

life could not be sustained. While America might not endure the pressures of

insufficient water supplies now, it is a fair and probable possibility we will. Ashworth

warns, Some of the consequences of groundwater mining are environmental: springs

dry up, rivers diminish, the numbers and varieties of plants and animals are reduced.

Some are economic: increased pumping costs as wells deepen, increased food costs

and decreased land values as crops shrink. And some are human. The human costs

may include bankruptcies, foreclosures, and forced migrations. They may include

failed businesses and abandoned towns. They are not likely to include thirst

municipal water systems will be among the last users of Ogallala water but they

may well include starvation. (12) While wars spread through poor countries like

viruses, others look to us for aid. Many of them are environmentally and

economically torn, suffering from starvation and thirst and facing fallen markets and

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fighting for their homes and lives. As a wealthy

nation we may not be responsible for assisting

other nations in need, but as humans and for the

sake of humanity we need to place our values

primarily on life and consider the positive effect

we can have with assisting our neighbors as well

as the negative effects that may translate over

political boundaries. While lending a fraction of

our wealth to the needy, we need to invest the

remainder into our own domestic sustainability.

It is imperative that America shifts from a nation

that strictly abides by intervention rather than

prevention. Critics may argue that the government contributes to the issue. Subtract

the government out of the scheme and inevitably by our lifestyles, the issue still

exists. Rather, the government provides solutions and programs to preserve or protect

the American ways of life and our interests. Improving the implementation of

preserving our resources and using them wisely, as well as maintaining the foresight

of the future for generations ahead, is a necessary objective of our government and

must be taken into serious priority now while the great seeds of our future must be

sown.

Figure 8: Energy Conservation Evolution

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BibliographyAshworth, William. Ogallala Blue: Water and Life on the High Plains. New York:

W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2006.

Barlow, Maude. The Impact of Globalization. International Forum on Globalization.

25 February 2008

Bottled Water : Pure Drink or Pure Hype? Natural Resources Defense Council. 26

February 2008

Brandt, Margaret Catlin. Nippur: Building an Environmental Model. Journal of Near

Eastern Studies 49.1 (1990): 67-73. 05 March 2008

.

Butzer, Karl W.. Rev. of Human Impact on the Environment: Ancient Roots, Current

Challenges. By Juditch E. Jacobson and John Firor. Ethnohistory, 43.1 (1996): 175-177. 01 March 2008

.

Newman, Chris. US EPAs Food Waste Activities. United States Environmental

Protection Agency, Chicago, Region 5. 26 February 2008

Meeting the MDG Drinking Water and Sanitation Target: The Urban and Rural

Challenge of the Decade. World Health Organization and UNICEF. 26 February

2008

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http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Water/Impact_Globaliz_BG.htmlhttp://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/bwinx.asphttp://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00222968%28199001%2949%3A1%3C67%3ANBAEM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Whttp://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00222968%28199001%2949%3A1%3C67%3ANBAEM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Whttp://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00141801%28199624%2943%3A1%3C175%3AHIOTEA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00141801%28199624%2943%3A1%3C175%3AHIOTEA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23http://www.epa.state.oh.us/ocapp/food_scrap/Newman-slides.pdfhttp://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/monitoring/jmpfinal.pdfhttp://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/monitoring/jmpfinal.pdfhttp://www.epa.state.oh.us/ocapp/food_scrap/Newman-slides.pdfhttp://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00141801%28199624%2943%3A1%3C175%3AHIOTEA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00141801%28199624%2943%3A1%3C175%3AHIOTEA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-%23http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00222968%28199001%2949%3A1%3C67%3ANBAEM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Whttp://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=00222968%28199001%2949%3A1%3C67%3ANBAEM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Whttp://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/bw/bwinx.asphttp://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Water/Impact_Globaliz_BG.html


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Mitchell, Joni. Big Yellow Taxi. Ladies of the Canyon. Reprise, 1970. 6 March 2008

Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government: Country Energy Profiles. U.S.

Energy Information Administration. 25 February 2008

Index of FiguresFigure 1: West Point Bridge Design Contest. United States Military Academy. 13

March 2008

Figure 2: Ancient Mesopotamia. Karens Whimsy. 13 March 2008

Figure 3: The Ogallala Aquifer. High Plains Underground Water Conservation

District No. 1. 11 March 2008

Figure 4: Worm, Kally. Water is Life: Workwater Drawdown. Evergreen State

College. 11 March 2008

Figure 5: The Human Apocalypse: People as Agents of Geological Change. UN

Environment Programme. 8 March 2008

Figure 6: Money saving tip of the day - do not buy bottled water. Frugal 4 Life. 13

March 2008

Figure 7: Wax, Emily. Dying for Water in Somalia's Drought: Amid Anarchy,

Warlords Hold Precious Resource. Washington Post Foreign Service. 14 April

2006: A01. 8 March 2008

Figure 8: Shah, Deepal. Sustainability. University of Hertfordshire. Image Earth

Photo Competition 2006. 13 March 2006

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http://jonimitchell.com/musician/song.cfm?id=BigYellowTaxihttp://tonto.eia.doe.gov/country/index.cfmhttp://bridgecontest.usma.edu/purpose.htmhttp://karenswhimsy.com/ancient-mesopotamia.shtmhttp://www.hpwd.com/ogallala.asphttp://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/WORMKA/http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Geo/alums/http://www.frugal4life.com/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041302116.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041302116.htmlhttp://sitem.herts.ac.uk/sustainable/image_earth_2006_photos.htmhttp://sitem.herts.ac.uk/sustainable/image_earth_2006_photos.htmhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041302116.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/13/AR2006041302116.htmlhttp://www.frugal4life.com/http://www.brynmawr.edu/Acads/Geo/alums/http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz/WORMKA/http://www.hpwd.com/ogallala.asphttp://karenswhimsy.com/ancient-mesopotamia.shtmhttp://bridgecontest.usma.edu/purpose.htmhttp://tonto.eia.doe.gov/country/index.cfmhttp://jonimitchell.com/musician/song.cfm?id=BigYellowTaxi

Knee Deep Pocket Deep: Water’s role as a resource and water’s promise as a product

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Transcript of Knee Deep Pocket Deep: Water’s role as a resource and water’s promise as a product