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You've got to be kidding me... right?

BrianW June 01, 2019 at 06:39 3625 views 10 comments
The total volume of water on Earth is estimated at 1.386 billion km³ (333 million cubic miles), with 97.5% being salt water and 2.5% being fresh water. Of the fresh water, only 0.3% is in liquid form on the surface. In addition, the lower mantle of inner earth may hold as much as 5 times more water than all surface water combined (all oceans, all lakes, all rivers).
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_distribution_on_Earth

The amount of safe drinking (fresh) water is on the decline the world over. It is estimated that in the next decade there may be a water crisis in terms of free (relatively cheap or generally affordable) safe drinkable water.

Why aren't we extracting more fresh water from the oceans or from beneath the earth's surface?

Comments (10)

VagabondSpectre June 01, 2019 at 06:41 #293485
Reply to BrianW Because it will just evaporate and then get pissed back into the sea. We would only need to extract it on an as-needed basis, and that costs electricity among other things.
BrianW June 01, 2019 at 06:44 #293486
Reply to VagabondSpectre

It could be done on a large-scale, maybe continent-wide scale if not country-wide. That way the costs could be better distributed to the consumers.
Shamshir June 01, 2019 at 07:00 #293488
Quoting BrianW
Why aren't we extracting more fresh water from the oceans or from beneath the earth's surface?

Because it's not part of the script.
BrianW June 01, 2019 at 07:04 #293491
Quoting Shamshir
Because it's not part of the script.


:rofl:

That just makes us sound really dumb. I'm laughing but I'm also terribly ashamed (on the inside) because I know it's true.
Schzophr June 01, 2019 at 07:10 #293492
I propose we create an emergency movement.

We'll live in massive free energy domes, even with computer rooms powered by wind.

We'll demolish towns and replace with plantations, placing all waste in sealed, deep pockets underground.

We'll opt for green energy alternatives, properly moderate our intake and output.

This is the only way to a healthy future!
Shamshir June 01, 2019 at 07:13 #293493
Reply to BrianW It's the oldest trick in the book, as the saying goes. You make the audience watch one hand and con them with the other.

There's a folktale called 'Sick carries the healthy' about a crippled wolf who lugs a sly fox on his back. Things haven't changed.
Possibility June 01, 2019 at 12:05 #293552
Reply to BrianWIn Australia, groundwater makes up approximately 17 per cent of accessible water resources and accounts for over 30 per cent of our total water consumption. Some sources are as susceptible to rainfall and drought as dams and river, while others like aquifers are ancient, finite supplies that are replenished much slower than they are being consumed. Groundwater is not a long term solution.

More recently we have desalination plants, which are quite energy intensive for the amount of fresh water they produce - giving with one hand while it takes with the other...

Our best option is still to reduce our per capita consumption of fresh water.
Sculptor June 01, 2019 at 12:56 #293557
Reply to BrianW Why are we not extracting more water? Because only poor people have no water.
tomatohorse June 01, 2019 at 16:22 #293603
Because we as humans are bad at long-range, delayed-gratification-type things. If there is not a pressing need right now, other things will take priority.
ssu June 01, 2019 at 16:58 #293606
Desalination of seawater to provide freshwater has actually already turned the tables in Israel.

They were at first having problems with fresh water use, but now it's not a problem anymore. Or hasn't been for years now. Also the newsclip explains the technology too.

🔗 Media content


So that of the typically totally forgotten and very unpopular positive news about the subject.