Hey gang! Here's some more info about our precious h2o.
1. I read chapters 3-5, which covers pages 57-134.
2. Main topics of Chapter 3 discussed how exactly our water is disappearing. The factors include climate change, global warming, poor and outdated infrastructure systems, leaky faucets leading to a big waste, and uneven water rationing amongst the country. Chapter 4 covers the how our water becomes contaminated by human consumption of toxins and how we excrete them into the water which can't be filtered by our outdated water systems. In addition to this, lead is traced in our water from old pipes that need to be replaced with a pretty penny. Agriculture runoff, man made pollutants, natural pollutants. With all this being said, many people think our drinking tap water is safe, but even bottle water has traces of pharmaceuticals, hormones, antibiotics, and mood stabilizers. Chapter 5 reveals how Politics is dragged into this. Since we are running out of water, who gets what water supply? Cases are being brought to the supreme court because people are doing what they need to to get water for them and their crops. Even if it means taking it. There are three ways of giving water rights to the people, but some experts are mentioning laws on water will only making things worse.
3. The first term that I came upon is on the issue that people are moving to arid or semi-arid land. This is land that is dry climate which creates because we have to transport the water to them. More energy for transportation=more water usage and loss through leaky old pipes. These pipes lead to the loss of 7 billion gallons of water a day. Overall I learned that the water supply is a cycle and humans are interrupting that cycle by globally warming our earth, blocking it with concrete foundations, and polluting it with our living styles. Our climate is changing and a huge problem arises when people aren't willing to change with it. We need to build new damns and reservoirs to conserve water for when we need it.
True or False; our drinking water is safe and it's especially safe from bottled water? FALSE! Per year 7 million Americans get sick from our drinking water. This is due to lead in old pipes that haven't been replaced. Our water systems are not able to filter the chemicals we excrete and eliminate. You can bet that when you take tylenol, antidepressants, and other pharmaceuticals that it's going to end up in the water. O did I mention that we also have arsenic, salmonella, fertilizers, and other pollutants from manure run off. The newest one is methyl tert-butyl. This is when they add oxygen to gasoline and it ends up in our water and causes cancer issues.
Chapter 5 discusses how the war over water will be developed and who the key players are. The two ways that water rights will be decided on are riparian right and prior appropriation. Riparian means the land owner that touches the water gets to use it, and prior appropriation is what private owner seizes and uses the water first gets to keep it. However people get the ownership of water, that means there might be rules and people will get in trouble if you violate them. Some experts say that making rules will just make more issues for America.
4. This is already affecting society, and if we do not change with the ways the water changes we could see a battle for one of our most basic living. If we do not conserve water we may find the day that we turn on the tap and nothing comes out. Lowering water levels could mean that ships in the Great Lakes may not have the water to provide their mode of travel. This could hurt our pocket books severely.
Here are ways we can start to fix things:
On an individual basis:
1) Turn off the tap water while brushing your teeth. (this will save up to 8 GALLONS PER DAY)
2) Change to water friendly appliances (save up to 30% water waste)
3) turn your facets on below full water blast.
4) give left over water to plants and animals.
5) Abusing extra pharmaceutical chemicals and other chemicals will wind up in our water...the less the better
6) Produce less CO2 to contribute to global warming
7) Use 6o gallon barrels to capture rain water for water storage and usage
On a national level
1) Build more damns and reservoirs
2) Replace old leaky and toxic pipes
3) Shift population to where the environment can sustain people for drinking water
etc
I will make a new post that shows small ways to conserve on water and how to communicate with others on how to conserve water.
First of all, I love your picture at the top of your post! This instantly grabbed my attention. I couldn't believe all of the chemicals in our water. It is scary to hear that our drinking water isn't safe and that 7 million Americans get sick every year!!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate that you suggest ways to change our behaviors. After hearing these facts I want to do what I can to alter these statistics. Turning off your tap water while brushing your teeth is an easy fix that I already do but I bet many individuals could try. When I build my future home I will incorporate water friendly appliances and make sure they are not on full water blast. Finally, I think a great suggestion for anyone is to give your left over water to plants and animals. Super easy and effective. Thanks for these suggestions!
I can't believe that 7 million people get sick each year from our drinking water. You would think that it would not be that high and that really goes to show that we need to do something about how we clean our water. I also can't believe that we lose 7 billion gallons of water a DAY due to leak pipe. This is a major problem that needs to be fixed. I also really like how you gave us ways that we can help conserve water everyday and even though they are little thing to do that they still help out in the long run to help conserve water.
ReplyDeleteYou write about some interesting and disturbing information this week on water pollution and toxins, but I'm more caught up in the loss of water overall and the concern over who gets the rights to what water sources. Living right next to the largest fresh water lake in the world we tend to forget that there is a water shortage. I am sure I am guilty of wasting water, but it is really interesting to see just how much you really need to live on versus what we normally use.
ReplyDeleteMy family went camping this summer and there was no water source at the campground so we had to carry in all our water for drinking, cooking and cleaning/washing. When you don't have that tap to flip on and just run you can bathe in a fraction of what we are accustomed to use. You can wash dishes in a fraction of what you'd normally use. And, though I love having a flush toilet, using a chamber pot and emptying it once a day saves huge amounts of water.
Places all over the world still get by without running water, and yet people in our country move into deserts and expect to grow green grassy lawns or have swimming pools. It's kinda crazy. It's kinda like using credit cards. You lose track of the fact that there is a limit, and you don't spend wisely. One day you wake up and realize you are broke.