Neon Leon: Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) ---Doris...

Neon Leon: Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) ---Doris...: On New Year’s Eve, I thought of my mother who loved to sing that old 1950’s ditty about “the future’s not ours to see.”   Now, some 60 year...

Neon Leon: Corporate Wet Dreams

Neon Leon: Corporate Wet Dreams: I have a long list of things I hate. I won’t list them all because I hate long lists. Warm beer, crappy Chinese imports, head banging music...

Neon Leon: When I look into the future, it's so bright it hur...

Neon Leon: When I look into the future, it's so bright it hur...: Pain. Sweat. Boredom. That’s what I remember most about working in the Northwest a lifetime ago. In the 60’s I pulled lumber, veneer and ra...

Neon Leon: On Seeking Scrupulous Sources About Suspicious Sup...

Neon Leon: On Seeking Scrupulous Sources About Suspicious Sup...: "The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not.&...

Neon Leon: A Very Thirsty Planet

Neon Leon: A Very Thirsty Planet: "No water, no life.  No blue, no green."-- Sylvia Earle Of course, Dr. Earle (a prodigious author about all things wet) is not...

On Flowing Like a River

"In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time." --Leonardo da Vinci

Water is also a very personal experience, prompting a response by our capacity to see, hear, taste, touch and smell. Water becomes not only an integral part of our past, but also a means to focus on the present.  For me, this dual focus is akin to how the whiff of a spring flower can elicit the memory of an old lover's perfume. The sudden pain from an old piece of shrapnel can evoke the memory of a battle fought long ago as well as an awareness of how lucky you are to be alive right now.

My favorite memory of water still centers around the numbingly cold and delicious artesian water which sprang from a tall hill, arriving at our big farm house, assisted only by gravity. Some folks have always treasured memories of the sense of peace they found while fishing on a big lake or listening to a softly babbling brook. My boyhood buddies still laugh every time the story is told about running stark naked straight through a bunch of Girl Scouts lazing by the river, and then escaped by an en masse cannon-ball dive into our favorite swimming hole.  

Of course, these experiences depend on ready access to water. However, as my April 30th blog ("A Very Thirsty Planet") notes, for about 750 million people, there memories are defined by an acute lack of water; too often, they live desperate lives in the face of drought. 

I have also reported on our collective stupidity in the use of bottled water as well as the massive, unsustainable use of water to provide our insatiable demand for "fancy" food (it takes a gallon of water to grow one almond). But there is some good news also. Consider the growing attention the entire world has began paying about the subject of water shortages. March 22, 2017 was the 24 year anniversary of "World Day for Water".  The day was devoted as a kick off click here to focus on new plans for water resources within all of the 193 members of the United Nations. This year over two dozen celebrities (including Ziggy Marley, Sting, Pitbull, Pink, Bruno Mars, and Shania Twain) showed up to entertain with the support of Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and Google. It was described as "the largest US clean drinking water social media campaign in history."  Hundreds of experts of all things water will once again reveal new plans to address water shortages while numerous international NGOs will seek millions of dollars in funding. Water is a subject no longer ignored. The USA has been forced to recognize the impact of  four years of drought in the West and Great Plains regions. The rain has returned and conditions have eased for now, but legislation of broad legal and ethical standards have been passed in several states as a renewed effort to conserve and create new sources of water. Further good news: There is a growing, world wide consensus that the time has come for mankind to tackle climate change because our home is beginning to cook a bit more every day.

Here are a few of the new technologies available to confront our thirst:  Consider the Water is Life Foundation.  This is a largely volunteer group who have supported the creation of  a "Drinkable Book" that has pages you can tear out and use to turn raw sewage into drinking water. They also created what is known as "The Straw" which is a widely used, filtered straw warn around the necks of children (they are more vulnerable to sickness).  Stick it in virtually any source of water and suck it in; any impurities are instantly removed.  It lasts for a year at the rate of 12 cups of water a day. 
These "water warriors" have also perfected two simple filtration methods to clean dirty water; both cost about $40 and are available on ebay and Amazon.  One type, the Ceramic Filter, uses two buckets and a three stage filtration system: (1) submicron filtration (using a ceramic cup with activated carbon) (2) sterilization (water passes through colloidal silver) and (3) granular activated carbon (absorbs chlorine, foul taste and odors, and organic chemicals).  It is good for an amazing 5,000 gallons of water and lasts about 5 years. A second type, the Nano Bucket Filter, is a one bucket system which employs a hollow fiber membrane to trap pathogens. With proper flushing, it can last 10 years.

My next blog will discuss more elaborate water systems (hydrology, aquaculture, solar and desalination) but for now, let us take a moment and  Check this link to see how much water you use daily.  I am a scruffy old bachelor and it took me 5 minutes to discover that I use a lot--97 gallons a day. How about you?  Do you want to cut your water usage dramatically and save money?  Here are 25 cheap and simple ways to do it.   My final report on water will be available March 28th.   I will close with a lovely quote by Loren Eiseley (Noted anthropologst, science writer, ecologist and poet):  "If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water."  

    

A Very Thirsty Planet

"No water, no life.  No blue, no green."--Sylvia Earle

Of course, Dr. Earle (a prodigious author about all things wet) is not making a novel revelation here; we all need water to survive. But for centuries, mankind has largely taken water for granted, assuming nature would always provide an inexhaustible supply.  We were wrong; massive water shortages are growing every single day. This blog will outline how much water we have, how it's used, and how much we waste.  I will post new blogs focusing on current and future strategies to confront the single most defining question of our time: Can we provide enough food and water for a current world population of 7.4 billion, which, according to the UN, will increase to some 11 billion by 2050?

Some current statistics:   According to the UN's 2014-2015 World Water Development Report (1) Estimates vary, but at least 768 million people still have no access to fresh water. (2) 20 % of the world's aquifers are facing over-exploitation. (3) By 2050, 3 billion people will move out of poverty, and besides water, will also want more of everything (houses, cars, a full belly, etc.). The Journal of Environmental Health has a simple way to describe how much H20 exists: "If you take all the water in the world and put it in a five-gallon bucket, the amount of fresh water would be about two tablespoons. Even then, only about 1% of our fresh water is easily accessible, with much of it trapped in glaciers and ice fields."  And this shortage of water is exacerbated by a new threat--world wide climate change, which is already negatively affecting the amount and quality of all water sources.

The Earth Island Journal reported last June  about the disappearance of lakes world wide, including:  Bolivia's Lake Poopo (56 miles long and 20 miles wide), Turkey's (135 square miles) Lake Aksehir and Iran's Lake Urmia (2,000 square miles).  Further,  the report noted that a fifth of the ponds in Northern Alaska (there are millions) have disappeared completely while Mongolia has lost 25 % of its lakes since the 1980's. The loss of Russia's Lake Aral was famously chronicled in print and film starting in the 1960's, when Russia began a vast but monumentally stupid effort to divert two rivers which fed the lake, so they could grow cotton in the desert. What was once the 4th largest inland sea in the world (26,000 square miles) is now a poisonous desert.

Historically, water was primarily used for slaking our thirst and growing food.  Water usage mushroomed as a critical component of three revolutions. The First Industrial Revolution in the late 18th century began with the creation of steam energy. A Second Industrial Revolution would occur in the late 19th century and involve the development of steel industry and giant corporations. Now, a Third Industrial Revolution is evolving after the advent of personal computers, creating game changing technologies like  3D printing, robots and countless web-based applications. 

Since the demand for water continues to rise, we must learn how to husband this resource wisely.  How are we doing? I will start with an analysis of California agriculture, the largest source of food production in America, focusing on just how much irrigated water it takes to grow the following specific crops (US Dept. of Agriculture numbers):
One head of broccoli-- 5.4 gallons  one walnut--4.9 gallons a head of lettuce--3.5 gallons  a tomato--3.3 gallons  one almond--1.1 gallons  one pistachio--0.75 gallon  a strawberry--0.4 gallon  one grape--0.3 gallon.

The Smithsonian   has provided an interactive graph which shows how much water is needed to fill your dinner plate. For example, 8 ounces of beef (621 gallons), 6 ounces of pasta (99.6 gallons) and 8 ounces of asparagus (162.6 gallons) for a stunning total of 850.2 gallons. (The food calculations are derived from all US sources, not just California.)  Perhaps it is way past time humans begin to contemplate reducing our intake of animal proteins because continuous meat production will cause an unsustainable use of precious water.
  
California's water use is unique because, unlike other states, 80% of their water is dedicated to agriculture, the rest is for the 20 million, largely urban, residents.  This ratio has created a long history of fights over water rights, but the recent five year drought put such a severe strain on their water, the state was forced to enact emergency legislation to 
conserve water, which includes bans on watering lawns after 48 hours of rain, washing cars without a shut-off nozzle on the hose and cities watering grass on road mediums with potable water. They also have a program of rebates for people who remove grass and install desert landscaping. I certainly applaud these efforts, but I also believe it is time to revisit places like Oregon's famously fertile Willamette Valley, and the Mississippi Delta.  The old Cotton Belt is fading because there is a world wide glut of the white stuff. Why not transition some of that acreage into the rapidly growing domestic market for fruit and vegetables? 

I also feel it is long past due that America dramatically reduce providing egregiously expensive farm subsidies ($20 billion per year, according to the USDA) most of which goes to big, rich farmers, producing staple commodities like corn and soy beans by using vast amounts of water and chemicals. (Sadly, according to the Government Accountability Office, between 2007 and 2012 Uncle Sam paid some $3 million in subsidies to 2,300 farms where no crop of any sort was grown. Another $10.6 million was paid to farmers who had been dead for over a year.)  By reducing fat-cat subsidies, there would be, in my opinion, a growth in small farms.  They would not provide all the food we need, at least initially, but it would be a damned good start.