'Peak Water' ?

In terms of Natural resources if we run out of Oil as is predicted,some say we have passed the point of 'peak oil' some time ago,it would not be the end of the World if we couldn't get in our cars or fly off to foreign lands,infact some may argue there could be some advantages to this.However,now we are faced with the prospect of 'Peak Water',that is the availability of useable/drinkable water.
You may wonder whats all this about as the Earth is mostly covered with the stuff !

Is there a crisis bigger than anything else about to come to the fore.Already some countries are over extracting from the rivers and depriving neighbouring countries through which those rivers also flow.

Read On,there's lots more out there............http://www.worldwater.org/data20082009/ch01.pdf

Lioned, the link didn"t work here so I copied and pasted it on to google and it said "web page not found"

It is the right link

Try putting it into the search box not in the address bar and it can be found that way

http://www.worldwater.org/data20082009/ch01.pdf

OK you can copy and paste into your address bar,but here's another article,interesting as we were discussing China on the 'Finance' Debt thread earlier.

http://www.pacinst.org/press_center/press_releases/worlds_water_0809.html


“China has developed a set of water quality and quantity problems as severe as any on the planet,” said Gleick. “Rivers and lakes are dead and dying, groundwater aquifers are over-pumped, uncounted species of aquatic life have been driven to extinction, and direct adverse impacts on both human and ecosystem health are widespread and growing.”

I suggest you google 'Peak Water' if you want to know more.

There is a real potential to cause major conflict between neighbouring countries maybe more so than the search for oil.

The concept of peak oil, where the inaccessibility of remaining deposits ensures that extraction rates start an irreversible decline, has been the subject of regular debate for decades. Although that argument still hasn't been settled—estimates range from the peak already having passed us to its arrival being 30 years in the future—having a better sense of when we're likely to hit it could prove invaluable when it comes to planning our energy economy. The general concept of peaking has also been valuable, as it applies to just about any finite resource. A new analysis suggests that it may be valuable to consider applying it to a renewable resource as well: the planet's water supply.

When we talk about water being a 'renweable resource it should be remembered that some 'Aquifers' replenish at a rate that makes them close to being considered as nonrenewable.

Interestingly US water use roughly paralleled GDP growth for most of the 20th century but has apparently now tailed off slightly.

Experts have also ruled out the viability of large scale desalination.

We are lucky in the U.K. that we are surrounded by water, imagine living in China or the African or Australian Desert.!!

We can't drink sea water !

The UK has become the sixth largest net importer of water in the world, the environment group WWF will tell a meeting of international experts in Stockholm, with every consumer indirectly responsible for the use of thousands of litres a day. Only 38% of the UK's total water use comes from its own resources; the rest depends on the water systems of other countries, some of which are already facing serious shortages.

The average UK consumer uses about 150 litres per day, the size of a large bath.

Ten times as much is embedded in the British-made goods bought by the average UK consumer; but that represents only about one-third of the total water embedded in all the average consumer's food and goods, with the remainder coming from imports.

This could get serious !

Lioned, when I lived in Jersey they built a desalination plant at enormous expense , so much so that they couldn"t use it. That was a long time ago when Guest Houses and Hotels accounted for the huge supply of water needed. I don"t know if it is being used now. Some time ago all households where I live were given plastic bags to cover the stopcock, thereby not using so much water to flush the Loo. We all pay Water
Rates based on our consumption . More and more people have Showers insstead of a Bath so I can"t see we have such a problem , it"s the
people who live in Desert Areas I feel sorry for.

We all know that countries will fight over Oil rights but the same can be said for water.............

Water, Israel's History and the Occupation

Many believe that water was the underlying reason for the invasion and occupation of the West Bank in 1967. Among Palestinians, it is understood that the location of the apartheid wall (security fence in Israeli terminology) has more to do with continued Israeli control of the Western Mountain Aquifer than with security. The possibility has been raised that a major reason for the removal of the settlements in Gaza was that the Coastal Aquifer upon which these settlements and all of Gaza have depended became almost useless due to over-pumping and pollution. Some believe that the reason for the widespread destruction and de-occupation of Southern Lebanon in the recent war was to realize the age-old hope of Zionists to include the southern bank of the Litani in the state of Israel.

So, what is the basis for these speculations?

Water has been a key element of local and regional politics in the Middle East for centuries. The early Zionists recognized that water was critical to the realization of their dreams. In a proposal to the League of Nations in 1919, the World Zionist Organization delineated borders for the future Jewish homeland based on watershed boundaries so as to include the headwaters of the Jordan River, the lower Litani River in Lebanon and the lower reaches of the Yarmouk River. In the 1947 partition plan, none of these areas were included in the new state of Israel.

I suspect the conflict here is much more fundamental but no doubt it could be argued that natural resourses plays a part in all conflicts.

I was only watching the News yesterday about an area in India which has suffered so much because of drought that the Cotton Farmers
are committing suicide , leaving Wives and children to fend for themselves,

More people in the world own cell phones than have access to a toilet. And as cities and slums grow at increasing rates, the situation worsens. Every day, lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills thousands, leaving others with reduced quality of life.

China desperately trying to solve its water problems with the ever depleting 'Aquifers'...............

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/24/china-water-crisis

Lioned, we really don"t know how lucky we are and take so much for Granted . I have subscribed to WaterAid for years after watching an Ad about Aid Workers in Africa trying to ease the misery of the population by digging for water.

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A decision on Anglian Water's application is expected within a fortnight





11:03pm UK, Friday November 18, 2011



Emma Birchley, East of England correspondent






Anglian Water has applied for a drought permit allowing it
to pipe millions of litres of water from a river to a reservoir as fears
of a shortage next summer grow.


The driest spring for more than 80 years and a lack of autumn rainfall have left rivers and reservoirs at low levels.


The water company has become the first to take the precautionary measure by approaching the Environment Agency.


"You wouldn't expect us to be talking about drought in winter but
this is really the result of the cumulative effect of successive dry
seasons that we have had throughout the year," said Anglian Water spokesman Ciaran Nelson.


"We know that going into next spring and summer, when we will really
need water, our network could be under strain and that's why we're
putting this precautionary measure in place."


The drought permit would allow the firm to extract an extra 17
million litres of water a day from the River Nene near Northampton until
the end of March.










Reservoirs around the country are running low for this time of year





It would be piped north to Pitsford Reservoir which is currently only 56% full.


Pressure is being put on businesses and residents to avoid using too much water.


But for Paul Martin, who owns a hairdresser's a couple of miles away in Brixworth, it is easier said than done.


"We can try to save as much water as we can, but at the end of the
day we have to provide a service and do the best for our customers, so
we are caught between a rock and hard place."


The last time a drought permit was applied for in autumn or winter was in 2003.


A decision on this latest application is expected within a fortnight
and Anglian Water may need to apply for further permits elsewhere.


But whatever the outcome, customers are being urged to start saving water now to help prevent a hosepipe ban come the summer.