one of the reasons water is scarce even in the US is that it's wasted on a colossal, Pharaonic scale. hell, the Pharaohs probably wasted far less water than the US elite. industrial ag is tremendously wasteful of water due to the way it impoverishes and compacts the soil, increasing runoff (and the runoff from soil saturated with industrial poisons in turn poisons creeks and rivers and ponds, but let's punt on that one for now) and decreasing the amount of water that actually does anything useful for the plants. heavy industry is tremendously wasteful of water, bringing it in for cooling or for washing and then dumping it contaminated and unusable. no requirements for plants to emit truly clean water. then there is the conspicuous waste of water on golf courses, swimming pools, automated sprinkler systems that turn on even when it's raining (yes, I've seen this many times). then there is overpaving, which prevents water from soaking in (and changes the local climate around paved-over urban areas, reducing rainfall which only exacerbates the general problem). there are uncovered aqueducts losing half their monthly volume in summer months from evaporation.
and there are flush toilets -- my god, don't even get me started on flush toilets. and there are laws and codes preventing you from building a greywater reclamation system on your property. and there are people who have been raised to wash dishes or rinse a toothbrush or wash their hands by turning the tap full on and just leaving it running for minutes at a time. and there are leaking hoses and taps -- hundreds of millions of them. anyway, you get the picture -- the amount of water wasted and befouled by sheer stupidity and carelessness and arrogance is enormous. there's a lot of "fat to be trimmed" before the water supply in countries like the US is really in crisis; but there's a hella lot of resistance to trimming any of that fat, and therefore the crisis may happen anyway just because of the difficulty of paradigm change and weaning people off their childish irresponsibility wrt critical resources.
we are in officially-recognised drought conditions in my area of Central CA, the local authorities have asked repeatedly for voluntary rationing, and people are still washing their FUVs on their driveways, using potable water. Frank Herbert would crack a wry grin. The difference between theory and practise in practise ...
Freudian typos? Never occurred to me. Thanks. I intend to steal this. The Fates are kind.
We could greatly increase water assets through NegaWater (a variation of Lovins' Negawatts) -- efficiency and better usage patterns. And, water is a far faster replenishment (except some of the acquifers) than other key limiting resources. Blogging regularly at Get Energy Smart. NOW!!!
And when it runs out, the Libyans are planning nuclear desalination, with French support. Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
So leaving it in place might be a good idea. A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!
I further admit I am not sure exactly what aquifers we are talking about. To generalise the term (as I understand it) is used about two different sets of underground water, both that which is part of an ecology and that which is sealed of (like oil). Use of the former (above the level of regeneration) causes desertification (and according to maps not all of Libya is deserts) while the latter is a one time boost, preferably to be invested wisely. A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!
