India's water use 'unsustainable'

[dipsydoodle]

Source: BBC News

Parts of India are on track for severe water shortages, according to results from Nasa's gravity satellites.

The Grace mission discovered that in the country's north-west - including Delhi - the water table is falling by about 4cm (1.6 inches) per year.

Writing in the journal Nature, they say rainfall has not changed, and water use is too high, mainly for farming.

>

That report noted that access to water was one of the main factors governing the pace of development in the world's second most populous nation.

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8197287.stm

[No Elephants]

1. Carl Sagan tried and tried to warn us. Population growth is unsustainable

[The2ndWheel]

5. What type of growth isn't?

[opihimoimoi]

2. Thats a BIG CANARY over there...can it happen here? are we ready? Prepared?

[rfranklin]

3. this is why the corporations are trying to buy up water companies...

The profit potential from people dying of thirst is tremendous!

[dipsydoodle]

4. They already had these issues in some Latin American countries

where water has been privatised to the extent it becomes illegal to collect rainwater. x(

It's the exact opposite in the UK where rainwater collection is encouraged.

[CrispyQ]

9. FLOW: For Love Of Water

http://www.flowthefilm.com/

Every one should watch this movie!

[Javaman]

6. Let the water fights begin!

it's just a matter of time.

first it will be border skirmishes, then limited conflicts, then all out war.

[InfiniteThoughts]

7. some lessons from within India

One of the states in India - Tamil Nadu made water harvesting (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_harvesting) compulsory across the entire state. This state is different from other Indian states that it doesn't get rains from the south west monsoon (June-Sep) but derives majority of it's rain from the retreading north east monsoon (Oct-Dec) and most of the rain is in the form of short term hurricanes & cyclones (thus most of the rain running off into the sea!)

I remember numerous reports of drought & water shortage in Chennai (Madras) and thus in 2002-03, the state government was forced to pass a law. It was enforced strictly with water dept inspectors having to certify most of the installations (which were simple & not prohibitively expensive!)

The results of the program are outstanding. The water table in Tamil Nadu (& esp. Chennai) has risen dramatically over the last 5 years.

I don't claim that Waterharvesting is the one & only solution but i think it has immense benefits not just for India but across the globe.

[mbperrin]

8. Amazing that people who want to sell water can convince people that

a commodity that covers 70% of the earth's surface is in shortage.

Desalinate and use.

Nobody even start on how tough it is to get salt out of water and pipeline it to where it's needed. If we can ship crude oil halfway across the planet, refine it to make styrofoam, make cups out of that, ship the cups all over and sell them for less than 2 cents each at retail and make billions of dollars for both Exxon and Walmart, then we should be able to get salt out of water and send it where it's needed.

Old-time thinking: find a problem and solve it for money.
Current thinking: create and problem and solve it for money. Way easier to just stop what you're doing than to actually figure out stuff.

[The2ndWheel]

10. The solution creates the next problem

[Confusious]

11. I will

:)

The desalination of seawater takes a lot of energy, since water can absorb so much heat.

running it through reverse osmosis also takes a lot of energy because of the water pressure needed and the filters get eaten up pretty quickly.

Its possible though, but very few use it. You have to be desperate. Saudi Arabia uses it,but they have a lot of money and no fresh water sources.

[mbperrin]

14. Newer technology is already available.

http://www.globalwaterintel.com/archive/10/2/market-insight/2009-global-water-awardsmembrane-desalination-plant-year.html

http://www2.hawaii.edu/~nabil/solar.htm

http://www.physorg.com/news82047372.html

And do you not feel that much energy is used to refine petroleum products? Done daily, cheap products sold daily.

[ensho]

12. tick

can't live without clean drinking water, period.

[Gregorian]

13. I wish we could stop calling it "water shortage". That is not what it is.

Let's not accept false statements. The water that was here, is here. All except for a cup or two that went into space. I had to say that last part since a poster on this forum argued this with me once. The point is, it's not the water, as that is a constant. It's population.

POPULATION. When are we going to talk about it, let alone do something about it? Never. It's a hit and run problem. Your kids pay your price for you.

[The Stranger]

15. OVERPOPULATION is the biggest problem we face on the planet.

Perhaps only eclipsed by the problem of those who inexplicably claim that it is not.

[The2ndWheel]

16. A problem, not the problem

Overpopulation doesn't happen by itself. There wouldn't be 6.7+ billion of us if we also weren't creating the particular circumstances that allow 6.7+ billion of us to be here.