Clean water is something most of us take for granted but not so for 1.1 billion people in the world. The lack of proper drinking water could soon be a dire dilemma faced all over the world. not just in developing nations. One such facing this has been exemplary prevention measures that should be adopted the world over.
Singapore relies heavily on water supply from Malaysia but disputes and increased prices will see the nation not renewing its water agreement with Malaysia that expires in 2011.
Singaporean households' consumption take up more than half of the nation's water with the flushing of toilets as the major offender. The rest is used up by the commerce and industrial sector.
To meet the needs of its people and yet still provide good quality water, Singapore has adopted the Four Taps Strategy, relying in part on water supply from its own reservoirs, recycled used water (NEWater) and desalination apart from water bought from Malaysia.
Massive reservoirs are being constructed to store even more rainwater and these dams will soon take up two thirds of the island even though land is scarce. There are also desalination plants to turn salt water to provide for ten percent of the country's needs.
But Singapore's main breakthrough is their NEWater. Often laughed at by Malaysians, NEWater is treated used water or simply put, sewage water. But will Singapore have the last laugh?
Thanks to the clever use of modern technology, NEWater has won Singapore the Environment Contribution of the Year prize at the Global Water Awards 2008.
Treating used water isn't new, and some parts of the US have been doing it for the past 20 years. How does it work? Though the simple science of purification and treatment process using advanced dual-membrane (micro filtration and reverse osmosis) and ultraviolet technologies.
Last year, its fifth and largest NEWater plant in Changi is to completed and with this addition, NEWater will meet 30 percent of the country's current water needs.
The cost of treating used water may be staggering but if we don't invest now, when? We dig deep within the earth for groundwater sources. We drain lakes and rivers, but what happens to dry nations where rainfall is rare ?
Malaysia is blessed, in some ways, as the country is never short of rain but with the unpredictable climate change of late, dry seasons here have also caused water to drop at our reservoirs
Although our planet may be covered by water, 98 percent of it is in the ocean, This means we only have two percent of fresh water suitable for for consumption. From this, 1.6 percent is locked up in polar ice caps and glaciers, 0.36 percent is found underground while a more 0.036 percent is found in our lakes and rivers.
HIGH AND DRY
According to reports from the Earth Policy Institute, the world's demand for freshwater has tripled in the second half of the 20th century as our population doubled while new technology allow farmers and water users to pump groundwater from greater depths and channel river water with more and larger dams.
Nearly 70 percent of global water withdrawals from rivers, lakes and aquifers are used for irrigation while 20 percent for industrial use and 10 percent for households.
Earth supply of water is depleting and it doesn't help to know that we are not doing more to conserve this precious resource. Could it be that water is so cheap we take it for granted? So as we leave the tap running, has it actually dawned on us that our taps will soon run dry? Despite the obvious numbers, it is frustrating to note that we will only look into the cure when the planet has reached its critical stage and not take preventive measures prior to that.
Reading up on Plan B 4.0 : Mobilizing to Save Civilization by Lester R. Brown reveals stark facts that the world is choosing to ignore.
Brown is the president and founder of the Earth Policy Institute and he may have started off his career as a tomato farmer but after earning a degree in agricultural science and spending time in rural India, he became aware of the food versus population issue.
He has won numerous awards including the 1987 United Nations Environment Prize and the 1994 Blue Planet Prize, for his work in providing a vision and road map to help achieve an environmentally sustainable economy.
Here is an adaption from his book on the water crisis the world is facing.
WATER TABLES FALLING AND RIVERS RUNNING DRY
Here is an adaption from his book on the water crisis the world is facing.
WATER TABLES FALLING AND RIVERS RUNNING DRY
"As the world's demand for water has tripled over the last half-century and as the demand for hydroelectric power has grown even faster ; dams and diversions of river water have drained many river dry, reducing river flow.
Scores of countries are over pumping aquifers as they struggle to satisfy their growing water needs, including each of the big three grain producers - China, India, and the United States. More than half the world's population live in countries where water tables are falling.
There are two types of aquifers; Most of the aquifers in India and the shallow aquifer under the North China Plain are replenish ables, When these are depleted, the maximum rate of pumping is automatically reduced to the rate of recharge.
For fossil aquifers, such as the vast US Ogallala aquifer, the deep aquifer under the North China Plain, or the Saudi aquifer, depletion brings pumping to an end. Farmers who lose their irrigation water have the option of returning to lower-yield dry land farming, if rainfall permits. In more arid regions, however, such as in the southwestern United States or the Middle East, the loss of irrigation water means the end of agriculture.
Since the over pumping of aquifers is occurring in many countries more or less simultaneously, the depletion of aquifers and the resulting harvest cutbacks could come at roughly the same time. And the accelerating depletion of aquifers means this day may come soon, creating potentially unmanageable food scarcity.
While falling water tables are largely hidden, rivers that are drained dry before they reach the sea are highly visible. Two rivers where this phenomenon can be seen are the Colorado, and the largest river in northern China.
Other large rivers that either run dry or are reduced to a mere trickle during the dry season are the Niles, the lifeline of Egypt; the Indus, which, which supplies most of the Pakistan's irrigation water; and the Ganges in India's densely populated Gangetic basin. Many smaller rivers have disappeared entirely.
Since 1950, the number of large dams, those over 15 meters high, has increased from 5,000 to 45,000. Each dam deprives a river of some of its flow. Engineers like to say that dams are built to generate electricity, but this is not entirely true since reservoirs increase evaporation. The annual loss of water from a reservoir in arid or semi-arid regions, where evaporation rates are high, is typically equal to 10 percent of its storage capacity.
The Colorado River now rarely makes it to the sea. With the states of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and most important, California depending heavily on the Colorado's water. the river is simply drained dry before it reaches the Gulf of California. This excessive demand for water is destroying the river's ecosystem, including it's fisheries.
A similar situation exists in Central Asia. The Amu Darya -which, along with the Syr Darya, feeds the Aral Sea -is diverted to irrigate the cotton fields of Central Asia. In the late 1980s, water levels dropped so low that the sea split in two. While recent efforts to revitalize the North Aral Sea have raised the water level somewhat, the South Aral Sea will likely never recover.
China's Yellow River, which flows some 4,000 kilometers through five provinces before it reaches the Yellow Sea, has been under mounting pressure for several decades. The Nile, sites of another ancient civilization, now barely makes it to the sea.
Pakistan, like Egypt, is essentially a river-based civilization, heavily dependent on the Indus. This river, originating in the Himalayas and flowing westward to the Indian Ocean, not only provides surfaces water, it also recharges aquifers that supply the irrigation wells doting the Pakistani countryside. In the face of growing water demand, it too is starting to run dry in its lower reaches. Pakistan, with a population projected to reach 305 million by 2050, is in trouble.
In Southeast Asia, the dams being built on its upper reaches by the Chinese are reducing the flow of the Mekong. The downstream countries, including Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam - countries 168 million people - complain about the reduced flow of the Mekong, but this has done little to curb China's efforts to exploit the power and the water in the river.
The same problem exists with the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which originate in Turkey and flow through Syria and Iraq en route ti the Persian Gulf, This river system, the site of Sumer and other early civilizations, is being overused. Large dams erected in Turkey and Iraq have reduced water flow to the once "fertile crescent", helping to destroy more than 90 percent of the formerly vast wetlands that enriched the delta region.
In the river systems just mentioned, virtually all the water in the basin is being used. Inevitably, If people upstream use more water, those downstream will get less. As demand and supply is imperative. Failure to do so means that water tables will continue to fall, more rivers will run dry, and more lakes and wetlands will disappear"
To get an extensive insight on what mankind is doing to the environment, you can buy Plan B 4.0; Mobilizing to save civilization or download the book on line at http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/books/pb4. IT is definitely a riveting and eye opening read.
EVERYONE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Green or perhaps blue is the colour of 1 Utama Shopping Centre. The mall has implemented its own water harvesting system since 2004 at its new wing. As a large shopping centre, the consumption of water for daily use is enormous.
As such, through the collecting, recycling and filtering of rainwater used for landscaping and the flushing of toilets, treated pipe water usage has been reduced to 30 percent. The system here has a huge water storage capacity of 2.35 million gallons of water that can lasts up to seven days.
Even in your own homes, look into your bathrooms and you'll notice that modern toilets now come equipped with dual-flush technology allowing the choice of using less water, Before, flush toilets used 13 litres of water or more for each flush. Today, the amount of precious water flushed is half of that.
Find out about newer showerhead designs with a low flow for more efficient use of water. Also take shorter showers and bath consume more water than a shower does. Turn off the tap when you're shaving, washing your face or brushing your teeth.
Use your dishwaters or washing machines when they are fully loaded or set to the correct water level according to the load size. Repair leaks and dripping faucets.
When it start pouring, line up your pails and buckets. You can use it to water plants and wash your car, plus a sponge and a bucket of water saves more than hosing down your car.This March 22 is World Water DAY. So let's celebrates it with a new resolution.
There are two types of aquifers; Most of the aquifers in India and the shallow aquifer under the North China Plain are replenish ables, When these are depleted, the maximum rate of pumping is automatically reduced to the rate of recharge.
For fossil aquifers, such as the vast US Ogallala aquifer, the deep aquifer under the North China Plain, or the Saudi aquifer, depletion brings pumping to an end. Farmers who lose their irrigation water have the option of returning to lower-yield dry land farming, if rainfall permits. In more arid regions, however, such as in the southwestern United States or the Middle East, the loss of irrigation water means the end of agriculture.
Since the over pumping of aquifers is occurring in many countries more or less simultaneously, the depletion of aquifers and the resulting harvest cutbacks could come at roughly the same time. And the accelerating depletion of aquifers means this day may come soon, creating potentially unmanageable food scarcity.
While falling water tables are largely hidden, rivers that are drained dry before they reach the sea are highly visible. Two rivers where this phenomenon can be seen are the Colorado, and the largest river in northern China.
Other large rivers that either run dry or are reduced to a mere trickle during the dry season are the Niles, the lifeline of Egypt; the Indus, which, which supplies most of the Pakistan's irrigation water; and the Ganges in India's densely populated Gangetic basin. Many smaller rivers have disappeared entirely.
Since 1950, the number of large dams, those over 15 meters high, has increased from 5,000 to 45,000. Each dam deprives a river of some of its flow. Engineers like to say that dams are built to generate electricity, but this is not entirely true since reservoirs increase evaporation. The annual loss of water from a reservoir in arid or semi-arid regions, where evaporation rates are high, is typically equal to 10 percent of its storage capacity.
The Colorado River now rarely makes it to the sea. With the states of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and most important, California depending heavily on the Colorado's water. the river is simply drained dry before it reaches the Gulf of California. This excessive demand for water is destroying the river's ecosystem, including it's fisheries.
A similar situation exists in Central Asia. The Amu Darya -which, along with the Syr Darya, feeds the Aral Sea -is diverted to irrigate the cotton fields of Central Asia. In the late 1980s, water levels dropped so low that the sea split in two. While recent efforts to revitalize the North Aral Sea have raised the water level somewhat, the South Aral Sea will likely never recover.
China's Yellow River, which flows some 4,000 kilometers through five provinces before it reaches the Yellow Sea, has been under mounting pressure for several decades. The Nile, sites of another ancient civilization, now barely makes it to the sea.
Pakistan, like Egypt, is essentially a river-based civilization, heavily dependent on the Indus. This river, originating in the Himalayas and flowing westward to the Indian Ocean, not only provides surfaces water, it also recharges aquifers that supply the irrigation wells doting the Pakistani countryside. In the face of growing water demand, it too is starting to run dry in its lower reaches. Pakistan, with a population projected to reach 305 million by 2050, is in trouble.
In Southeast Asia, the dams being built on its upper reaches by the Chinese are reducing the flow of the Mekong. The downstream countries, including Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam - countries 168 million people - complain about the reduced flow of the Mekong, but this has done little to curb China's efforts to exploit the power and the water in the river.
The same problem exists with the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which originate in Turkey and flow through Syria and Iraq en route ti the Persian Gulf, This river system, the site of Sumer and other early civilizations, is being overused. Large dams erected in Turkey and Iraq have reduced water flow to the once "fertile crescent", helping to destroy more than 90 percent of the formerly vast wetlands that enriched the delta region.
In the river systems just mentioned, virtually all the water in the basin is being used. Inevitably, If people upstream use more water, those downstream will get less. As demand and supply is imperative. Failure to do so means that water tables will continue to fall, more rivers will run dry, and more lakes and wetlands will disappear"
To get an extensive insight on what mankind is doing to the environment, you can buy Plan B 4.0; Mobilizing to save civilization or download the book on line at http://www.earth-policy.org/index.php?/books/pb4. IT is definitely a riveting and eye opening read.
EVERYONE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Green or perhaps blue is the colour of 1 Utama Shopping Centre. The mall has implemented its own water harvesting system since 2004 at its new wing. As a large shopping centre, the consumption of water for daily use is enormous.
As such, through the collecting, recycling and filtering of rainwater used for landscaping and the flushing of toilets, treated pipe water usage has been reduced to 30 percent. The system here has a huge water storage capacity of 2.35 million gallons of water that can lasts up to seven days.
Even in your own homes, look into your bathrooms and you'll notice that modern toilets now come equipped with dual-flush technology allowing the choice of using less water, Before, flush toilets used 13 litres of water or more for each flush. Today, the amount of precious water flushed is half of that.
Find out about newer showerhead designs with a low flow for more efficient use of water. Also take shorter showers and bath consume more water than a shower does. Turn off the tap when you're shaving, washing your face or brushing your teeth.
Use your dishwaters or washing machines when they are fully loaded or set to the correct water level according to the load size. Repair leaks and dripping faucets.
When it start pouring, line up your pails and buckets. You can use it to water plants and wash your car, plus a sponge and a bucket of water saves more than hosing down your car.This March 22 is World Water DAY. So let's celebrates it with a new resolution.
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