A question about Water

[Tajir]

I have a question about water I've had on my mind for years, and the answer may be simple but I don't have it so I'll ask.

When we talk about oil running out and trying to ween off dependence on it, isn't water on the same boat? I mean, oil can be regenerated in a period of millions of years because of fossil fuels but how will water be regenerated?

Until a few years ago I had a notion that water endlessly fell from space but our water resources are finite.

Isn't there going to be a day that water runs out due to our usage? Or is water able to be regenerated?

My basic question is, can water be generated or is it a finite resource? A scenario I thought is, coming from a farming background, if I used a nearby river for irrigation would there be a day that the river just stopped running because I sucked it dry and it doesn't regenerate? Rivers have been sucked dry before.

So I'd like to know, and also why are we using up water without trying to figure out ways to regenerate it, it is by far the most important resource on earth. I'd like to know as much about water as possible in your own words, no long articles please.

Thanks.

[Gordon Freynman]

There may be a time when we run out of fossil fuels, but we will certainly never run out of water, not in any reasonable timescale at least. Water is almost always recycled, by nature and by people. Also water can be generated simply by burning hydrogen gas, if needed.

[Elfdude]

Water cycle recycles water. There is no danger of ever running out of water at least on planet earth. The real danger is not being able to distribute it fast or effectively enough. Oil is far less common.

[PointOfViewGun]

There is a natural cycle for water regeneration too. Think of how water sources are formed. Mostly due to rain and melting of ice. So rain and snow. One major source of these is the oceans and seas. As water evaporates from the sea it doesn't have much salt content. In time this vapor is carried to land and it falls as rain and feeding the water reserves which can be a lake, a river or an underground cave.

Water is argued as a much more important source than oil for sometime now and it's claimed by some that the WW3 will be over water. What can be done regenerate water sources may be to harvest sea water or ice and snow from the poles.

EDIT: I thought we were talking about drinkable water and not just water.

[Tajir]

For christ sake guys I already know about the water cycle and how it works.

What I am asking is about the water we consume and use for other things like fuel/electricity.

The water we consume or otherwise poison can't be regenerated am I correct.

Most of you answered the question as if the massive human consumption and industrial usage of water did not exist in the equation.

I appreciate the answers but its an insult to my intelligence to assume I would ask something so simple. I welcome more answers though, and thank you.

[Tiwaz]

For christ sake guys I already know about the water cycle and how it works.

What I am asking is about the water we consume and use for other things like fuel/electricity.

The water we consume or otherwise poison can't be regenerated am I correct.

Most of you answered the question as if the massive human consumption and industrial usage of water did not exist in the equation.

I appreciate the answers but its an insult to my intelligence to assume I would ask something so simple. I welcome more answers though, and thank you.

Human consumes water, human sweats... Sweat is water and returns to circulation.
Human takes a leak, piss is mostly water. Water ends up somewhere (let's say on the ground) and is filtered through it or evaporates. It becomes clean(ish).

You can't "poison" water, you can only poison water source. Poisons do not stick into water molecules, so evaporation or suitable filtration (for example through soil) removes many if not all of the impurities (evaporation more, filtration less).

As for water we use for "fuel"... I am guessing you do not mean hydroplants but electrolysis where water is broken into hydrogen and oxygen.

First of all, that is pitifully small amount of water, because energy required to break water is much greater than amount of energy you obtain when you burn the hydrogen.

And indeed, energy is obtained in this process by BURNING hydrogen. Which means that you make it react with oxygen. Which creates....

Water.

[B5C]

For christ sake guys I already know about the water cycle and how it works.

What I am asking is about the water we consume and use for other things like fuel/electricity.

The water we consume or otherwise poison can't be regenerated am I correct.

Most of you answered the question as if the massive human consumption and industrial usage of water did not exist in the equation.

I appreciate the answers but its an insult to my intelligence to assume I would ask something so simple. I welcome more answers though, and thank you.

It can be regenerated. Astronauts use recycled human piss as drinking water. We can clean industrial usage of water as well.

Sorry if we insulted your intelligence, but you asked a question that came with an good answer.

[B5C]

Also note we can just make our water if need more. Oxygen and Hydrogen are plentiful in the universe.

[Sphere]

Certain ground water aquifers in arid regions, notably the Ogalaga aquifer, have been built up over tens of thousands of years and are being drained at a far faster rate then they are replenished. This is the only fresh water source that is in danger of being depleted. Most ground water aquifers and river systems have excess capacity even in big cities like Chicago and New York. Indeed the far more pressing problem for urban centers is handling the massive runoff during rain events.

Also almost all the water people and industry consume is processed and pumped back into the water system (e.g. when you flush your toilet that water will eventually wind up in a river), so thats why people are pointing out the water cycle i.e. human water use is part of the cycle, not apart from it.

[Tajir]

So basically every bit of water consumed ends up returning to the cycle? That's interesting, I assumed that the water we drank or used for energy was gone forever. So if a healthy river, like the Nile, is used properly, there should never be a lack of water circulating in it?

[B5C]

So basically every bit of water consumed ends up returning to the cycle? That's interesting, I assumed that the water we drank or used for energy was gone forever. So if a healthy river, like the Nile, is used properly, there should never be a lack of water circulating in it?

Yep, the only way the Nile can die if weather patterns change where the source of water now dryer. Also the usage of water by people.

Look at the Colorado River. At some times of the year. It never drains into the Gulf of California due to Colorado use of the populations and farms of Nevada, California and Arizona.

[Juvenal]

Lack of fresh water suitable for drinking and irrigation is a definite problem that the world faces as population increases and living standards improve.

As mentioned above, some aquifers take thousands of years to fill, while we can drain them in just a few decades (this is a widespread problem in Australia). Another problem is taking too much water from rivers for irrigation, leaving insufficient for people downstream. The Aral Sea is a good example of rivers being over-extracted.

As for the Nile, it is a finite resource shared between several countries, and this can lead to disputes. Here is an excerpt from the Wiki Nile article:

The Nile's water has affected the politics of East Africa and the Horn of Africa for many decades. Countries including Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya have complained about Egyptian domination of its water resources. The Nile Basin Initiative promotes peaceful cooperation among these states.[27][28]

A small but significant part of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is down to Israeli retaining control of the fresh water resources in the West Bank (often pumped straight over the border into Israel-proper).

So in conclusion, there is no shortage of water, but there is a shortage of fresh water, and it is likely to become worse in the future. We can make fresh water (by desalination of sea water), but it is very expensive and energy-intensive. For practical purposes, only the oil-rich gulf states can afford to do it on a large scale.

[Tajir]

Thanks for all the answers. Another question is, like the case of the Gulf states, lets say the desalinated water is used to create massive rivers and forests, will that in turn make it rain more frequently in the gulf?

The most important thing for me is basically being able to recover a water-rich ecosystem and create conditions where it rains in places it never did before.

[Tiwaz]

Thanks for all the answers. Another question is, like the case of the Gulf states, lets say the desalinated water is used to create massive rivers and forests, will that in turn make it rain more frequently in the gulf?

The most important thing for me is basically being able to recover a water-rich ecosystem and create conditions where it rains in places it never did before.

You can't really just like that change conditions to make it rain.
It's affected by multitude of elements, only few of which we can control.

Main issue with rain is that it requires warm, moist air to be cooled as cold air can contain less water than warm. Most common this can be for example near mountain ranges where air is forced upwards and cools.

On hot, flat areas this is far less likely to take place.

Another thing is that for it to rain you need also to have suitable winds. Artificial rivers from desalinated water would lose humidity to air, but winds would carry that onward. Thus, Saudis wasting their money could mean that Iran gets more rain but Saudis do not.

[Sphere]

So if a healthy river, like the Nile, is used properly, there should never be a lack of water circulating in it?

Doesn't matter how the water is used, its going to continue to rain and the Nile will continue to carry that rain back out into the ocean. Even if you could magically use up the entire flow of the Nile, you wouldn't interrupt the rain which is the source for every drop of water in Nile.

[♔Goodguy1066♔]

Isn't there going to be a day that water runs out due to our usage?

There is probably way too much water in this world to ever run out, but many will experience widespread water-shortages unlike anything seen in the last 10,000 years. Take a country like my own, for one (Israel); we're in the middle of a worryingly long and harsh drought, the population is steadily rising, people are using more and more water in their homes, and to top it all of we're exporting water to Jordan! Similair situations exist all over the world; Spain, Australia, India, the entire Middle East and even the Balkans are feeling the brunt of not having enough water for their population. If things keep on going like this, our water wouldn't 'run out', but would become insufficent to provide the country with water - the Earth isn't capable of sustaining 7 billion water-guzzling humans and their industries! The Nile will probably never 'run out' of water, but the African citizens might, due to the rapidly rising amount of people who depend on the river, the development of said people and their countries (and thus more water-dependent industries) and other such factors.

[Plant]

Isn't the problem is that the vast majority of the population on Earth draws water from the groundwater storage, which takes thousands of years to replenish?
The rate at which ground water replenishes is far slower than the rate in which it is being used at. Sea water is not fit for human consumption, and desalinisation is very expensive.
Showing the water cycle is all well and fine, but you haven't shown the rates of replenishment and consumption. Someday, which is fast approaching our ground water storage will disappear, and rain water will not replenish our reserviors quickly enough. Well, not where I live, but just about everywhere else is.
Water itself will not run out, but easily consumable water is. For instance, for me water is free, but I suspect that in other parts of the world it is not, and the price of water will continue to rise. People will die for thirst or fight over the precious resource that is water.

To those who say there is no problem, the Economist ran a very good article about this a few months ago.

[Tiwaz]

Isn't the problem is that the vast majority of the population on Earth draws water from the groundwater storage, which takes thousands of years to replenish?
The rate at which ground water replenishes is far slower than the rate in which it is being used at. Sea water is not fit for human consumption, and desalinisation is very expensive.
Showing the water cycle is all well and fine, but you haven't shown the rates of replenishment and consumption. Someday, which is fast approaching our ground water storage will disappear, and rain water will not replenish our reserviors quickly enough. Well, not where I live, but just about everywhere else is.
Water itself will not run out, but easily consumable water is. For instance, for me water is free, but I suspect that in other parts of the world it is not, and the price of water will continue to rise. People will die for thirst or fight over the precious resource that is water.

To those who say there is no problem, the Economist ran a very good article about this a few months ago.

Actually, to be brutally honest....

It is not a problem for us. Vast majority you speak of means mostly people nations around Africa/Middle East. Most of what constitutes for western world have plenty of water, though even in west in some areas aquifiers are drying.

But overall, running out of fresh water is issue which hurts mostly people who already have nothing. They will fight one another yes, and as result will reach equilibrium. Or they try to take water from those who have it, which means wholesale slaughter.

Can we prevent this? Unlikely. Water transportation in sufficient quantities would be expensive. It is not just drinking water but water used for plants etc.
Add to this increasing population and we have situation which cannot be helped but end up with populaition reduction in regions with poor access to water.

[♔Goodguy1066♔]

Actually, to be brutally honest....

It is not a problem for us. Vast majority you speak of means mostly people nations around Africa/Middle East. Most of what constitutes for western world have plenty of water...

What about Australia?

[Tiwaz]

What about Australia?

Rare exception. Also, Australia is wealthy so they can use to some level desalinization to compensate.
They will take economic hit though.