Last year, I read a Wall Street Journal report that water managers in 36 states expect shortages by the year 2013. Why? The reasons are complex, but in a nutshell, the supply can't keep up with the demand.
The world's population tripled in the 20th century, and according to the World Water Council, the use of renewable water resources has grown six fold in that timeframe. Within the next 50 years, the world's population is expected to increase by another 40 to 50 percent. This population growth - coupled with industrialization and urbanization - will result in an increasing demand for water. But overall, little has been done to address this crucial issue. Consider the Clean Water Act of 1972. Although it was put into place to create an era of technological innovation in the United States, the promise is still largely unfulfilled. More progress has been made in Europe, with the EU Water Framework Directive, but there is still much to be done.
The statistics are sobering; 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies - that's approximately one in eight people. The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns. But investment in safe drinking water and sanitation contributes to economic growth. For each $1 invested, the World Health Organization estimates returns of $3 to $34, depending on the region and technology. So why aren't we investing more?
In California, a controversial water bond was just tabled until 2012, and the debate over the right approach to addressing that state's significant water challenges continues. In 2008, California implemented a statewide goal to reach a 20 percent per capita reduction in water use by the year 2020, and progress is being made, but there is more to be done, both in California and around the world.
Worldwide, up to 50 percent of usable water is wasted due to leaky pipes. That alone presents a huge opportunity for improvement and conservation, yet replacing or overhauling aged infrastructures is a capital investment that many are unwilling or unable to make. The good news is that there are many ways to extend the useful lifetime of our water infrastructures around the world - and to look at water management in new ways and build new, smarter systems that take into account the true value of this critical resource.
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which treats an average of 80-90 million gallons of wastewater per day during dry weather and up to 370 million gallons of combined wastewater and storm runoff per day during the rainy season, is using technology to enable smarter management of the city's 1,000 miles of sewer system and three treatment facilities. And water utilities around the world - in Europe, Australia, China, Japan, to name a few - are implementing similar technologies to improve the availability and quality of drinking water and to help add efficiency to the management of water management systems.
With advances in technology - sophisticated sensor networks, smart meters, deep computing and analytics - we can be smarter about how we manage our planet's water. We can monitor, measure and analyze entire water ecosystems, from rivers and reservoirs to the pumps and pipes in our homes.
We can give all the people, organizations, businesses, communities and nations dependent on this critical resource - that is, all of us - a single, reliable, up-to-the-minute view of the way we use water. And by doing so, we can help build a sustainable, smarter planet.
Follow Cameron Brooks on Twitter: www.twitter.com/smarterplanet
Rev. Peter M. Wallace: Thirsty for God: A Meditation on Water
My garden never looked better! Who knew the phosphates from my laundry detergent were ambrosia to my roses? Instead of piping my washer waste down the drain, I re-routed it to a drip hose in the rose garden. I was darned if I was going to lose my prized hybrids which needed daily water in the Summer!
That is the year I won ribbons at the Del Mar Fair for the first--and last--time. While I moved from CA in 1991, I still pipe my washer into my garden, with wonderful results.
http://www.westgov.org/wswc/july%202009%20atwater.pdf
http://lwa.gov.au/files/news/3751/youth-travel-fellowship.pdf
Question: How can we be running out of water? It never disappears. It just keeps moving through the water cycle.
—Jane Marriott (city unknown)
Answer: We are not using up the water on our planet. Instead, our burgeoning population is outgrowing the available supply. 2.5% of our water is fresh, and two-thirds of that freshwater is in the form of glaciers or permanent snow cover. Better water management will help contain the widening shortage but will not solve the problem.
Marilyn vos Savant
December 10, 2006
Parade Magazine
That sure is easy to understand, isn't it?
Why is the continued increase in human population a foregone conclusion? How can we not have the competence to address overpopulation, when that clearly is a fundamental cause of this and a host of other environmental problems, and simultaneously possess the ingenuity to outwit our ignorance that puts us into these messes? Lunacy.
These "solutions" adapt to the problem because they address only the symptoms. And because they do not address the cause, they cannot solve the problem. But, boy, it sure looks like we're trying.
What a species.
The information on this author is as follows:
Dr. Cameron Brooks is the Director of Solutions and Business Development for the Big Green Innovations Group of IBM in Somers, NY. This is a cross-brand group within IBM focused on incubating and growing a portfolio of environmentally-focused initiatives. Since 2008, one of the major objectives of this group has been to grow an Advanced Water Management business for IBM. Cameron is leading a team of technical experts and business development executives who are leveraging IBM’s information management, advanced analytics and technology services capabilities to develop water management solutions for government, utility and enterprise customers.
So, the sponsor in this case, is IBM.
It is simple. If we want peace we have to do what it takes to help people to be able to create jobs, careers and provide for their families.