Comments on: If Water Runs Out, Oil May Be Hard to Swallow http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/ Making Sense out of the Green Environment Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:35:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: chemicallygreen.com http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3852 chemicallygreen.com Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:14:38 +0000 http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3852 @David Zetland: Thank you for your comments. Desalinization is no silver bullet, but if people need clean drinking water, such as Tampa, and Boston, desalinization plants will be built. Clean drinking water is scare in certain areas in the U.S. and people need to think about this. American people are creatures of habit and until the price of water really has a major up-shift, then water will continue to be wasted. Same with oil prices, if gas dropped back to $2.00-2.50 per gallon range, would Americans still want to break the chains of our oil addiction? Time will Tell. @David Zetland: Thank you for your comments.
Desalinization is no silver bullet, but if people need clean drinking water, such as Tampa, and Boston, desalinization plants will be built. Clean drinking water is scare in certain areas in the U.S. and people need to think about this. American people are creatures of habit and until the price of water really has a major up-shift, then water will continue to be wasted. Same with oil prices, if gas dropped back to $2.00-2.50 per gallon range, would Americans still want to break the chains of our oil addiction? Time will Tell.

]]> By: chemicallygreen.com http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3850 chemicallygreen.com Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:57:11 +0000 http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3850 @Ericson Wilkerson: Thanks for the comments, time will tell. Also depends what part of the country you are in and whether or not you have clean drinking water. Boston Mass. just spend $60 million dollars on a desalinization plant to insure they will have an adequate supply of clean drinking water. http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/05/29/water-rich-new-england-builds-a-desalination-plant/ @Ericson Wilkerson: Thanks for the comments, time will tell.
Also depends what part of the country you are in and whether or not you have clean drinking water.
Boston Mass. just spend $60 million dollars on a desalinization plant to insure they will have an adequate supply of clean drinking water.
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/05/29/water-rich-new-england-builds-a-desalination-plant/

]]> By: David Zetland http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3841 David Zetland Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:21:44 +0000 http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3841 I agree with Ericson, but I think "higher prices and more demand will cause a shift towards more efficient uses of water" -- not sure how high demand causes a shift, but I AM sure that higher prices will do that. Not only will higher prices (for those pumping the aquifer as well as others) give people the signal that water is scarce, but prices allow people to adjust in many different ways. (Not like mandatory conservation programs, etc.) Desalination, BTW, is not a silver bullet. It's so energy-intensive that it should be left for special situations. Read more about why there will be no shortage at my blog, aguanomics.com I agree with Ericson, but I think “higher prices and more demand will cause a shift towards more efficient uses of water” — not sure how high demand causes a shift, but I AM sure that higher prices will do that.

Not only will higher prices (for those pumping the aquifer as well as others) give people the signal that water is scarce, but prices allow people to adjust in many different ways. (Not like mandatory conservation programs, etc.)

Desalination, BTW, is not a silver bullet. It’s so energy-intensive that it should be left for special situations.

Read more about why there will be no shortage at my blog, aguanomics.com

]]> By: Ericson Wilkinson http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3649 Ericson Wilkinson Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:08:27 +0000 http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3649 I don't think that water scarcity will be as big of a crisis as this article implies. We waste a lot of water, and I think higher prices and more demand will cause a shift towards more efficient uses of water, along with reclaimed water increasing in popularity for non-potable uses. We have so much room to improve our water usage, and water scarcity is going to drive that change. For example, farmers can shift to drip irrigation, cities can enforce using reclaimed water for lawn watering, and industrial uses of water can explore more efficient methods. Are these changes going to be quick, cheap, and painless? Of course not, but the world isn't going to end either. If we were using our water resources at 100% efficiency and still running out then it would be troublesome, but we are far from that kind of efficiency. I don’t think that water scarcity will be as big of a crisis as this article implies. We waste a lot of water, and I think higher prices and more demand will cause a shift towards more efficient uses of water, along with reclaimed water increasing in popularity for non-potable uses. We have so much room to improve our water usage, and water scarcity is going to drive that change. For example, farmers can shift to drip irrigation, cities can enforce using reclaimed water for lawn watering, and industrial uses of water can explore more efficient methods. Are these changes going to be quick, cheap, and painless? Of course not, but the world isn’t going to end either.

If we were using our water resources at 100% efficiency and still running out then it would be troublesome, but we are far from that kind of efficiency.

]]> By: chemicallygreen.com http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3640 chemicallygreen.com Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:27:04 +0000 http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3640 @Xane: I meant to tell you that their is a reverse osmosis plant on the Colorado River and a RO plant in Tampa, Florida. Saudi Arabia used massive desalination operations (which includes RO) to make pure water. RO=Reverse Osmosis @Xane: I meant to tell you that their is a reverse osmosis plant on the Colorado River and a RO plant in Tampa, Florida. Saudi Arabia used massive desalination operations (which includes RO) to make pure water.
RO=Reverse Osmosis

]]> By: chemicallygreen.com http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3639 chemicallygreen.com Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:24:04 +0000 http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3639 @Xane: Thanks for your question. I am enclosing a link that explains how seawater is treated to make freshwater. The process is not that difficult if you have the right equipment. Enjoy the read: http://www.coastal.ca.gov/desalrpt/dchap1.html @Xane: Thanks for your question.
I am enclosing a link that explains how seawater is treated to make freshwater. The process is not that difficult if you have the right equipment.
Enjoy the read:
http://www.coastal.ca.gov/desalrpt/dchap1.html

]]> By: Xane http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3636 Xane Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:25:26 +0000 http://chemicallygreen.com/america-water-supply/#comment-3636 How hard is it to turn seawater into freshwater? How hard is it to turn seawater into freshwater?

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