What is Digg?178 Comments
- MrColdheart, on 04/12/2008, -5/+43technically speaking we'll never run out of water the problem is how much resources it takes to purify what we have.
we could spend money to make underground reservoirs (like in the book "Dune") to help protect it - CapCzar, on 04/12/2008, -26/+60Hang on here. I thought we had too much water because of all the melting glaciers??
- Lucas123, on 04/12/2008, -10/+42I don't think water has anywhere to go. It's kind of contained here on Earth.
- inactive, on 04/12/2008, -1/+27Actually... The sun is able to crack water molecules in the upper atmosphere, and the hydrogen atoms rise up and are blown into deep space by the solar wind. NASA has directly observed this process and has measured the amounts of hydrogen leaving the planet this way. Last I checked there was only like a billion years of water left. IIRC this is also the process that creates the ozone layer.
- burchie2, on 04/12/2008, -6/+22RD runs this article at least once a year.
- Scruffydan, on 04/12/2008, -3/+19Of course we are not running out of water... however drinking water is another issue entirely just ask the people of Atlanta.
- Berkana, on 04/12/2008, -6/+20There aren't glaciers in the American southeast nor in the southwest, you fool.
- DeskFlyer, on 04/12/2008, -6/+19It's evaporating INTO SPACE! Everybody panic! ;P
- McGee, on 04/12/2008, -0/+11Wow, you guys are idiots. Of course we're not running out of water... there's just more salt water. The freshwater from melting glaciers doesn't go directly into aquifers that farmers use or reservoirs that cities use (Lake Mead & Las Vegas, for example), it goes into the ocean. Less than 3% of the world's water is freshwater (WHICH IS WHAT WE AS HUMANS USE, NOT SALT WATER... durr glaciers are melting lol we have more water, right?). And no, desalination plants are not economically feasible answers to the issue.
For example... The water levels in Lake Mead have dropped substantially over the past years and have not been replenished by rainfall / natural water flow in the Colorado River. If water is taken out of a source, it doesn't magically go back because of evaporation - it evaporates and moves on elsewhere, it goes through a water treatment plant and is sent into a river and goes bye-bye, or it can be absorbed by the ground. There are huge underground reservoirs of water called aquifers, which aren't owned by anyone and are used by a plethora of farmers over large regions (check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer The ogallala aquifer is underneath 8 different states, and farmers from each of these states use this and don't pay a cent for their water aside from drilling & pumping). Water is being used at record rates per capita (in fact, desert regions in the southwest US use more water per capita than any other region in the US - people in Las Vegas use 75 gallons a day vs. about 55 for all other residents). This is because people living in the desert prefer to have unnatural lawns, pools, etc. rather than adapt to the natural landscape of the desert. Most of this water goes straight into the ground or into the air - leaving the Colorado River (primary water source for southwest US) for good.
Anyways... This article is definitely sensational, but it's a very realistic problem. You guys know about Darfur, right? Muslim herders are fighting with local farmers over the rights to water... In the past, there was enough for both, but now water is a very limited resource. You think this won't happen elsewhere? What will happen when the aquifers become so dry that it is too expensive for farmers to drill that deep? What will happen when artificial reservoirs created by damming rivers become too low to supply water for cities? Sure, maybe not a full-blown genocide like in Sudan, but there definitely will be global repercussions.
I don't think this is a problem directly linked to global warming - in fact, I feel bad for all of you morons who think that "melting glaciers" will save us from this problem - it is linked to overpopulation of the world and consequently the overtaxation of global resources.
And to wecaanation: Recycling poop water? Water treatment facilities aren't really there to "recycle" water... It's to keep our water sources clean. Do you want to go fishing or boating on a river that has tons of turds floating in it? STFU.
Most of you guys are uneducated about the issues or using pseudoscience to base your opinions. Open a ***** book before you make yourselves look even more like ignorant *****. - byronne, on 04/12/2008, -3/+14That's really some hard-hitting coverage by Reader's Digest.
- thecheatah, on 04/12/2008, -1/+12Son, you need to take short breaths. We can afford your constant wheezing.
- Tyrghast, on 04/12/2008, -3/+14It's the Russians. 20 years out and they still have it in for us.
- slifty, on 04/12/2008, -1/+11Bah. smartass.
- Tyrghast, on 04/12/2008, -0/+10As long as it involves killing giant, armor plated, sharp-toothed worms, I'm in.
However, you control the spice, you control the... water tower? - Scruffydan, on 04/12/2008, -2/+11We wont run out of water, but we could run out of drinking water
- atarijedi, on 04/12/2008, -0/+9Easily accessible fresh water? maybe, Glacial Melt which is melting into the ocean becoming salt water? no.
- DeskFlyer, on 04/12/2008, -3/+11Not in my neck of the woods.
- whoreable, on 04/12/2008, -2/+10Dugg for Dune reference.
- chrissku, on 04/12/2008, -1/+9Everyone needs to relax. Even if we run out of water we still have plenty of ethanol to save us. Ethanol will save the world right?
- Scruffydan, on 04/12/2008, -2/+9You can run out of drinking water... I think that is what they meant
- receev, on 04/12/2008, -0/+6We should shoot all of our water into space that would be funny.
- TrevorBradley, on 04/12/2008, -0/+6That's what reservoirs are (at least in this part of the world - Western Canada)... Glacial runoff.
We're seeing our reservoirs go down as there's less glacial runoff.. because there's less glaciers... Our rain patterns are shifting too. - TrevorBradley, on 04/12/2008, -0/+6How much resources you have to purify it for 6.5 billion people. *That's* the problem.
- speezer, on 04/12/2008, -2/+8People are 98% water and there is no shortage of them.
- inactive, on 11/13/2008, -0/+6Don't be a cockhead.
Read this http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/08/09/business/wa ... - Berkana, on 04/12/2008, -1/+7RTFA.
- novask, on 04/12/2008, -0/+6Destroy the ozone layer! Protect our water!
- sadGuru, on 04/12/2008, -1/+7dont worry about it. you can just invade another country and take its water. deja vu.
- McMaster88, on 04/12/2008, -1/+6Online petitions don't mean anything to anyone.
- pleeker, on 04/12/2008, -4/+9Come up to the N'west. We have more snow and water than we know what to do with....
- notoneofus, on 04/12/2008, -1/+6Certainly not of the hot variety.
- wecaanation, on 04/12/2008, -3/+8I guess I am the first one to comment on the ***** Mayor praying for rainfall like it's the middle ages allover again. GAH! And surprisingly, it rained the next day! This can only mean god answered their prayer ::rollseyes::
- TrevorBradley, on 04/12/2008, -0/+4And for the significant portion of the planet living on less than a dollar a day? That's a lot of infrastructure. They'd rather just cross the border into another country.
- hyaena, on 04/12/2008, -0/+4those look badass, almost as cool as my tron outfit
- Pake, on 04/12/2008, -0/+4DON'T PANIC!
But just to be on the safe side, make sure you have your towel. - inactive, on 04/12/2008, -3/+7When a glacier melts into saltwater, it's fairly unusable.
- Pake, on 04/12/2008, -0/+4He's no god... HE'S A WITCH! A WITCH! GRAB HIS LEGS AND DUNK HIM!
wait... there's a water crisis supposedly.... TO THE STAKE! WE SHALL BURN HIM ALIVE! - nullcodes, on 04/12/2008, -0/+4you can purify drinking water .. turn it to steam and distil and filter etc. desalination via reverse osmosis etc.
It's an energy problem not a water problem.
By the way it costs only 30 cents (energy + desalination plant cost share) to turn one cubic meter of seawater into drinking water. - bartofdahammer, on 04/12/2008, -1/+5it ends up in areas that already have enough water. And its not so much running out of water, but more people need water
- Scruffydan, on 04/12/2008, -1/+5I think they are referring to drinking water.
- dougdiggerton, on 04/12/2008, -3/+7if i ever run out of water id just use public drinking fountains
- BlackJacket, on 04/12/2008, -9/+13Without reading or considering the thoughts of the story behind the headline, I can answer this question with confidence, and hopefully, bring this to an end.
The answer is no. - Dermah, on 04/12/2008, -2/+5Ever read the bible?
- XristosAnesti, on 04/12/2008, -0/+3You zarkin frood.
- inactive, on 04/12/2008, -0/+3I don't, at all, disbelieve you, but that is a fascinating concept that I'd not heard of. Planetary dynamics are absolutely fascinating.
- Deathrah, on 04/12/2008, -2/+5...does that mean you keep ignoring it?!?
- macofish, on 04/12/2008, -1/+4finally someone else saw it, thanks.
- Scruffydan, on 04/12/2008, -1/+4inventing such a device, and being able to successfully deploy it and provide drinking water to millions are two very different things. While Kamen's invention looks very promising it is still to really to tell what kind of impact it will have.
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