Water, Water Everywhere

But Not a Drop to Drink

LET’S START WITH THE BASICS:

WHAT ARE OUR SOURCES

OF FRESH WATER?

=

Global Distribution of Fresh WaterWATER SOURCE % OF FRESH

WATER

Oceans, Seas and Bays 0 %Ice Caps, Glaciers and Permanent Snows

68.7 %

*Groundwater Fresh Saline

-- %30.1 %

--Soil Moisture .05 %Ground Ice and Permafrost .86 %Lakes Fresh Saline

-- .26 %

--Atmosphere .04 %Swamp Water .03 %Rivers .0006 %Biological Water .0003

OCEAN STORAGE: 96.5 %

FRESH WATER: 3.5 %

THE WATER CYCLE QUIZ

E – P = Net Balance

AGRICULTURE (36%)

Industrial (5%)Public supply

(11%)Domestic (1%)

WHAT ARE OUR PRIMARY USES?

US citizens spend $100B a year on bottled water while $30B would create clean water systems worldwide.

“Technological Hubris”: We DON’T need to develop huge water collection sites to deliver water.

Why do the world’s greatest rivers no

longer reach the sea?

650 gallons for every # of rice

130 gallons for every # of wheat

65 gallons for every # of potatoes

3,000 gallons for every # of hamburger

500-1,000 gallons for every quart of milk

50 cups of water for every t. of sugar

A typical meat-eating, beer-swilling, milk guzzling Westerner

consumes a hundred times his/her own weight

in water daily. A vegetarian, half that.

Thus, what kind of food we eat is

just as important as the kind of car we drive.

And clothing – oh! Cotton is a HUGE guzzler. It takes 25 bathtubs of

water to create ONE cotton t-shirt!

THE ARAL SEA

THE CHANGING PROFILE OF THE ARAL SEA

1960 1971 1976

1989 2009(earlySept.)

2025?

Aral Sea Level: 1950-2010

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010

years

met

ers

abov

e se

a le

vel

Aral Sea

Large Aral

Small Aral

Separation of Large and Small Aral

PRIMARY ENVIRONMENTAL AND HUMAN PROBLEMS OF ARAL SEA

Salt/dust storms from exposed bottom affects wide area

Loss of commercial fishing

Climate change in area around sea

*Substantial drops in groundwater levels

Poor quality drinking water (saline)

High morbidity/ mortality given contamination

Primary DiseasesDISEASE CAUSE

•Respiratory Problems Blowing salt and dust

•Viral Hepatitis Contaminated water and poor hygiene

•Typhus/paratyphus Contaminated water and poor hygiene

•Liver and esophageal cancer (?) Blowing salt and dust

•Intestinal disorders Contaminated water, poor hygiene and (?) blowing salt and dust

•Kidney problems Highly mineralized water

•Congenital abnormalities Toxic contaminants

•Plague Explosion of rodent population on lake bottom

SHIPS’ GRAVEYARD NEAR MUYNAK, KARAKALPAKSTAN SEPT. 1989

(photo by P. Micklin)

ABANDONED SHIPS ON THE DRIED BOTTOM OF THE GULF OF SARYSHAGANAK (SMALL ARAL SEA)

SEPTEMBER 2005(photo by P. Micklin)

THE PROBLEMS DON’T EXIST ONLY IN OTHER

COUNTRIES

THE OGALLALA AQUIFER

*If spread across the U.S., the aquifer would cover all 50 states with 1.5 feet of water

*If drained, it would take more than 6,000 years to refill naturally

*More than 90 percent of the water pumped is used to irrigate crops

*$20 billion a year in food and fiber depend on the aquifer

CALIFORNIA’S SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY AQUIFER

•America’s largest farming region•Single-largest zone of groundwater pumping•Aquifer levels have dropped nearly 400 feet since 1960s•Groundwater usage is almost completely unregulated in CA•After 1900, with advent of large-scale farming, water tables dropped significantly

“The data is telling us that this rate of pumping is not sustainable.”

“All that water is gone … it’s left the building”

heading north

Water scarcity is experienced by humans

as famine.

MAXIMUM SUPPLY OF WATER

WORLDWIDE:

1400 CUBIC YARDS/PERSON/

YEAR

WESTERN ANNUAL USAGE:

2000 CUBIC YARDS/PERSON/

YEAR

THE SIXTH GREAT MASS EXTINCTION

We can continue on the path to our own extinction, or, preferably, we modify our behavior toward the

global ecosystem of which we are still very much a part. The latter

must happen before the Sixth Extinction can be declared over, and life can once again rebound.

India’s water crisis

You can live without oil, but you cannot live without water.

The demand for feed, fiber and fuel from agriculture will double by 2050: “Must meet that need without one drop more of water, one hectare

more of food”

(World Wildlife Fund)

SO, WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS?

WE NEED A REVOLUTION IN HOW WE USE WATER

Invest in *Play Pumps

Rethink dams (drought impact/ huge displacement)

Check out 350.org (as in parts/million CO2)

Build Water Cooperatives

Repair infrastructure

Grow crops appropriate to rainfall

Move from flooding whole fields to “drip” systems (thus limiting evaporation)

WE NEED A REVOLUTION IN HOW WE USE WATER

Harvesting rain with rain barrels

Investing in low-flow shower heads and toilets

Growing lawns appropriate to regional rainfall

Limiting use of lawn fertilizers

Choosing local foods

Living with lessUsing

environmentally-friendly cleaning products

Drinking local, unbottled water vs. bottled products

WHO OWNS THE WATER?

Nestle battles Michigan residents over water rights: “rule of capture”

Coca-Cola and Pepsico battle local Indians for water rights: Getting large amounts of water for free

WE NEED A REVOLUTION IN HOW WE USE WATER:

THREE GUIDING PRINCIPLES

Everything is connectedEverything is changingWe’re all in this together

You can live without oil, but you cannot live without water.

Jill Stiemsma gratefully acknowledges the University of Chicago’s Summer Teacher Institute, June 28-30, 2010, for scheduling the following presenters whose ideas are adapted throughout these slides:

Josh Ellis, Associate, Metropolitan Planning Council, ChicagoReuben Keller, Lecturer, Environmental Studies, U of CPamela Martin, Ass’t Prof., Geophysical Sciences, U of CMary Matlock, Prof. of Ecological Engineering, U of AKPhilip Micklin, Dept. of Geography, W. MI U: KalamazooFred Pearce, Freelance Author and Journalist, LondonMandy Poole, Engineering Consultant, Baxter & WoodmanJim Schulz, Exec. Dir., Democracy Center, Cochabamba, Bolivia