Water!

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
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Water. Without it life cannot continue. I will be thirsty. Have you ever been thirsty?

I live in Atlanta, Ga, US, and we have been in a drought for a couple of years now. I haven’t thought much about it until recently. I have taken care to go easy on water consumption, short showers, efficient toilets, no lawn watering, etc. However in the last week, we have just been informed that our water supply is projected to have only 4 months left of water. Our lakes will actually be dried up! The same lakes that I used to go boating and water skiing on. The rest of the Southeast United States are also in drought although I’m not sure of their particular standings.

4 Months left of water! So what exactly does that mean? We need rain badly. Unfortunately weather patterns over the years are showing that water fall is dwindling. (Maybe global warming? I don’t know.) It is cyclical, however, and we will have rain again when the rainy season returns but as for now we are looking at possibly a time where we will not even have enough water for showers, etc. Maybe even drinking water will be gone temporarily.

I can always go to the grocery store and buy bottled water, but hydration is not the only thing I’m worried about. Our businesses, power plants, agriculture, and food industry cannot perform without water. I am looking at potential chaos in my own back yard and it isn’t that far off. There are 6 million people in Atlanta and it’s surrounding suburbs. This could cause a total infrastructure meltdown like I have never seen in my lifetime.

I may be overreacting, and we may pull through this year with some crafty engineering and some extreme water conservation, but what about next year? The year after? It will continue to get worse.

Why is this happening?! Overpopulation! The world population is now growing exponentially and we don’t have the resources to support it. Now, I realize this is nothing new and we have seen this coming, but for me this is the first time I have had the honor of it hitting home. I personally will not have water.

And for you, keep in mind, you’re next. It is projected that in 2025 (this is only 17 years from now), 1 in 3 people will not have enough water to survive on this planet. I personally believe that to be an over-projection, it might be 2015 or earlier. The wars of the future will be fought over water . . .

What will you do?

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That sucks.

I have no idea on what to do. If the problem is overpopulation, I have many solutions (not very humane ones though).

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Source?

The future wars won’t be fought over water. We’ll find a way to make it out of salt water (I think we’ve already got a way, don’t we? It’s just expensive), and it’ll cost like about the same as gas. Which just means will be more conservative in our use of it.

As for your weather problem, that can be solved by a Tesla Tower contraption, no?

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Eventually I’m sure we can create water by connecting ions to make water molecules.

5

running out of water? just melt a glacier…

-Imp

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Crap, what ever you do please don’t get the area to start praying for water. The last time folks up North did that we got drowned down here. Your rain starts off as huge storms down here. Serious, it seems to happen that way, you all get droughts , pray for rain, we coastal people get run over. If you do pray, Be specific that you want it and to not give it to anyone else. OK? :laughing:

They never have dug wells up where you live, you folks might want to suggest such an action. Many large cities use wells.

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The moisture farmers on Tatooine seem to get along just fine.

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Nuff said!

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Eeew have you seen whats in those Glaciers? Yech, I don’t want to pour a glass of water and get Mastadon hair or feces specks. eEEeewwwww.

Think about all the hybernating germs and viruses trapped inside, Oh boy yummy. There is your pandemic disease; skin rotting mastadon leperesy…

Leave the iceburgs where they are thankyou.

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Whiskeys’ fer drinkin’ and waters’ fightin’. We’ve known that out west for ever.

Of course, you folks think a well is 30’. LOL! We go a 1,000’ without a thought.

I don’t like to wish bad on anyone, but if it makes them change their ways for the better when they have refused to do so of thier own accord after plenty of notice (like 30 years since the oil embargo), then I say suffer.

We have “first in time, first in right” while you all have “riparian rights”. When you start larn’n the nasty lessons, let me give you some advice on how to get out ahead of the curve: Study up on “The Tragedy Of The Commons” and maybe you won’t have to re-invent the wheel or steal water from other’s glaciers.

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Start building more of the high-efficiency desalination plants that have been developed in the last five years. By using the existing pressure to drive subsequent reactions they are at something like 80 per cent efficiency, if I remember correctly. Most of the planet is covered with water; after a period of shortages leading to the construction of such facilities, I think we’ll do all right…

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All you have to do is boil the water first, Kris :wink:

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Actually what they won’t tell you is that there is a water shortage currently world wide.

It is a global phenomena.

14

Just drink beer. Water sucks anyway.

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I’m not sure you can water your crops with beer. Even if you could, it seems like a shameful waste of beer.

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This is the source of the majority of the worlds drinking water. The off-flow of mountain glacier waters into rivers, dams, and lakes.

Top (1968) / Bottom (2007)

It seems that this is a topic that hits home for a lot of you. Thanks for all of the great replys. Now hear my answers. I have spent a lot of time in research over the last week, in lieu of my future. Please read the following facts:

Half an Olympic-size Swimming Pool per Person

# Few of us realise how much water it takes to get us through the day. On average, we drink no more than five litres. Even after washing and flushing the toilet, we usually consume no more than 150 litres. But when we add in the water needed to grow what we eat and drink, the numbers soar.

# It takes between 2,000 and 5,000 litres of water to grow one kilo of rice, over 1,000 litres for a kilo of wheat, between 2,000 and 11,000 litres to grow the feed for enough cow to make a quarter-pound hamburger, and between 2,000 and 4,000 litres for that cow to fill its udders with a litre of milk.

# Every teaspoonful of sugar requires 50 cups of water, and every cup of coffee 140 litres. Hoekstra calculates that his fellow Netherlanders require the virtual-water equivalent of 4% of the flow of the Rhine to produce the coffee they drink in a year. To feed and clothe a typical meat-eating Westerner for a year takes around 1,500 cubic metres – rather more than half the contents of an Olympic-size swimming pool.

Source: United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Orginization portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ … N=201.html

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I have been of the liberal perspective for many years; I am now conservative. I have strongly believed in equality and fair treatment for all, but the truth of it is: when it comes to survival of the fittest, I will survive at any costs, including the unthinkables.

I am happy to provide any needed sources. I am also not one to use any hyperbolic, falsifiable source. I will only use clearly credible sources. Please feel free to call me out if I screw something up.

Source: United Nations University
unu.edu/media/archives/1999/wwaterday.pdf

No rain, no ground water, no wells. I know a few remote people that have survived on well water only to have to recently move to the more expensive network of piped water after the wells dried up.

I can agree, 100 percent, with you on this. Now it’s my turn to learn the lesson. Can you tell me in all honesty that you have not contributed to the problem?

Coastal Georgia, Savannah uses desalination plants, and despite the horrendous sulfur taste, they do fine with it.

I really wish this was a viable answer, and maybe someday it will be the only answer, but the problem lies not only in the extreme expense of desalination, but land topography. Moving billions of gallons of water daily from the coast at sea level 0ft to inland Atlanta at 1050ft, is not efficiently feasible per the laws of physics. This is the case with nearly all inland cities. Coastal real estate will probably sky-rocket over the next several years. However, keep in mind that the coast is also in danger as the ocean levels continue to rise due to polar ice caps melting.

The first thing you will want to use as an example is the enormous chains of oil pipelines throughout the world. First of all, there is nowhere near the need for oil per day as their is for water. Just the city of Atlanta uses somewhere in the range of 32 billion gallons a month. Secondly, oil wells are pressurized and flow from an above sea-level topography to sea-level where it is loaded on to barges. I am not sure of the actual energy requirements to make this happen, but I’m sure it is a very efficient system relatively.

It is unfortunate and unfair but absolutely true. The majority of you will not begin to panic until it is in your own back yard. Well, if you start looking around, you will clearly seeing the problem seeping in, as the water is seeping out.

Finally, someone with a sensible resolution. I’ve had a few already this week and will probably partake this evening with friends as we try and forget what’s to come.

The negatives: First, alcohol is dehydrating and will only require the need to drink more water than my usual. Secondly, there has already been discussions of shutting down the breweries. (Yes, the American beers that we all know and love will be gone! :unamused: ) Keep in mind, all things come from water. Food, electricity, manufacturing, plants, animals, the ability to remove sewage, and of course, hydration!

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No, but the truth of it is: when it comes to survival of the fittest, I will survive at any costs, including the unthinkables. Hell, I may even choose to keep my lawn green while you die of thirst. I already buy Wal-Mart, drive cars and do other stupid things under the tragidy of the commons. If it’s any consolation though, I do vote green and against my short term interests because I think the tragedy of the commons has taught us that mandatory group action under the social contract is the only way to solve some problems. Not driving and living in a cave won’t help unless everyone does it.

If I did contribute to the problem, it was probably through my contribution to global warming or another, more butterfly effect type contribution since I am way out west.

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I cannot contest that I do not take the same position. Unfortunately this selfishness is the root of all the unnatural evil in this world: war, poverty, famine, etc. On the other hand, survival of the fittest is the most natural of all life processes. Selflessness will only crush you.

My escape plan for Seattle, WA is already in progress. Luckily, I have nothing major tying me down here. I do feel bad for all those that are locked in to the infrastructure, via now worthless real estate, business, and the like. It will crumble hard when the water supply finally goes for good.

Agreed. However, this is no longer an effect on the commons, like buying from Wal-Mart/China, this effects the whole range of status. Underground piping shows no bias as it goes dry due to lack of source.

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Drink my own pee, and if it comes down to it, Mcdonalds milkshakes. Theres deffinatly nothing natural in them