I volunteered at the conference, partly to network, partly to see some of the sessions without paying the $100 fee, and partly because I like volunteering. I am not sure how it happened, but ended up picking up the keynote speaker, Meena Palaiappan, (who, by the way, is a very nice person) from the airport and dropping her off after the sessions.
She is from the Pacific Institute, a "nonpartisan research institute that works to advance environmental protection, economic development, and social equity." Her presentation focused on peak water.
Peak water? you say. I've heard of peak oil, but peak water? Come on, the earth is a closed system, we have "x" gallons of water and we won't run out because the only thing water does is change form and location, it never disappears.
True. We have 1.4 billion cubic kilometers of water, 35 million cubic kilometers of that is fresh water, 70% of which is locked in ice* (a good reason to keep up with the global warming thing, let's unlock all that ice!). So easily accessible water is a limited commodity.
But we are humans, we have a pretty good track record of finding technological solutions to problems (At the height of WWII the majority of gas used by Germany was synthetic, which is another post for another day), so we ought to be able to use some of the other 97% that is salt water.
Enter economics.
The reason we use oil from all over the world is because we can sell it at a high enough cost to justify the expense of transportation, not just in our cars either. Petroleum is used in manufacturing things like plastics and fertilizers, so it is cost effective.
Water, on the other hand, is not cost effective to transport relative to its price. On average, Utahans use about 200 gallons a day** (daily single family household use, that includes outside use). Imagine paying 2.50 for a gallon of water when we use 200 gallons a day.
So if we won't ever run out of water, and it is theoretically possible to get more water when we run out in one location, what exactly is peak water?
Peak water refers to the point at which a) ground water is being used at a rate above recharge potentials b) water must be transported and ceases to be economically viab
le and c) peak ecological water. Peak ecological water is a much more immediate concern, basically, "[the] point of water use that causes serious or irreversible ecological damage—and eventually reduces the human and social welfare provided by water."So while we won't ever really run out of water, we can use it and pollute it to the point that its benefits to humanity are consumed.
If you sit on a burrito the burrito still exists, but not in an edible state.*** Thus it is with water. We can use it to the point of unusability.
This post is exceedingly long already, so I'll tie it up with my favorite slide from the presentation
"The water 'crisis' is not the result of a lack of water, resources, money, or brains. It is the result of failing to use water, resources, money, and brains effectively."*
[I'm not sure how to cite a powerpoint on a blog, or if you even need to. But just in case:
* Meena Palaiappan Presentation to Utah APA, 11/6/2008
**Western Resource Advocates
***That is all me]
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