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The Hydrological Cycle (Week 1)
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Hey everyone,
Week 1 is fairly light-weight readings. Please add questions/comments and links to your version of the assignment. If you would like to present an alternative assignment - like linking to interesting articles and resources, please do so!
This weeks introductory readings are pretty brief. AFter I finished reading, I was thinking about the water cycle and all the interruptions in it (especially in the western world) whether it be diversion from hard surfaces (runoff) or use in production (food, goods & services). With the proportion of available freshwater on Earth so low, I wonder what the statistics are? How much of the earths available freshwater sources are diverted for human use?
Maybe everyone can help me research some statistics??
In the meantime, National Geographic has an interesting (American lifestyle-based) water-use calculator: http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/water-f...
My use was almost typical in the home (I'm a renter and the landlord has no interest in water-saving upgrades). However, my usage via food and goods/services consumption is extrememly low, which I was happy to see.
I wonder what the participants from other nations think of the high western use of water...
ALISON
I got a 994 out of the US Average of 1,981.
I just bought my house last year. I hate grass, and don't water it. I started digging up spots to put in rain gardens as well. I also had a lot of issue with the questions about stuff. Like, I get a lot of my stuff second hand or swap stuff so does that count less because it has already gone through being produced? I dunno. Plus, being vegetarian brought my score wayyyyy down. On days when I don't have to wash my hair I take super short showers like 3-4 minutes, but when I have to wash (about every 3-4 days) it takes longer and I am spoiled having running water that is warm (especially in a Minnesota winter). Plus I run a humidifier in my room in the winter otherwise bloody noses ensue because it is so dry (so that might jack up my water/energy use) but in the summer I use the water from my dehumidifier to water my vegetables since I am not supposed to use my rain barrel for food stuff.
I think even though I am below average for an American, I still use too much of everything.
I think it's cool that you're focused of "getting rid of the grass" and putting in rain gardens. Grass is better than pavement, but if you have to use water to maintain it for the glory of suburbia in summer, then it becomes a problem. I live in the pacific northwest, where we can collect rainwater for 3 seasons. But the summers are dry and I still see folks watering their lawns with sprinklers. It's madness!
Indoors, I think a big problem with western water use is fighting the tempations. For most North Americans, we have multiple spigots of potable, and hot, water all over the house. Kitchen sink, bathroom sink, shower, washing machine hook-up, etc. If it's already hard-wired into our houses, it's tough not to use it!
After finishing the 1º week reading, i was amazed with low percentage of fresh water available, i knew that its only 2.4%, but what i didnt know was that 1.9% is frozen in the glaciers.
About the high use of water by the western countries, we all know that is very high, and if you saw the documentary "Home" ( http://www.youtube.com/user/homeproject ) they made a very interesting example about the water usage in Las Vegas.
I know that its not about the hydrological cycle but here is a interesting animation about the water supply in Madrid:
http://www.vimeo.com/17891444
Great links.
It's fairly mind-blowing when you think about the size of the human population (7 billion yet?) and the amount of water a human needs to stay alive daily, let alone live a western lifestyle.
I started searching for statistics about freshwater interception. My questions was "how much of earths freshwater is intercepted by humans?".. but then I realized I was asking the wrong question. I though about surface water first. I imagine that 100% of surface water comes in contact with human activity at some point before it reaches groundwater, ocean, and sky. I would imagine that the only available, but virgin, sources of water left (not ice) is groundwater deposits. One of the big things popping up int he news lately seems to be groundwater depletion and/or salinization (when freshwater is emptied out of the reservoir and saltwater seeps in).
I found some good freely available resources on this. Here's some more links:
World Resources Institute: http://archive.wri.org/attic/water/waterlinks.html
Pacific Institute: http://www.worldwater.org/data.html
It's overwhelming when you step back and look at the big picture...
Hi
A Canadian Group that does amazing grassroots work with various issues including water -access to,preventing pollution of ,bottled water-is the Council of Canadians.The link to their waterblog is http://www.canadians.org/waterblog/.
They do amazing work and have managed to win a huge victory in preventing Fish Lake from becoming a dump for mine tailings.
Elaine