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Ecology of water

KevinKohler

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So, something I've been thinking about for a while now, as the decades long draught persists in parts of the mid west, and as I hear more fighting over the allocation of river water in agricultural states like CA...

Is the life cycle of water. I'd welcome @ecofarm on this, as I wager he's forgotten more about this than most of us will learn.

Now, we can blame the droughts and lack of water on climate change, certainly. More heat = more evaporation, and changing air currents can result in rainfall in places that don't normally get it, and no rainfall where the water evaporated from. That is happening.

But what about all the water we ship out? When I lived in FL, there was a major movement to put together a class action law suit against Nestle, for it's monopolization and exportation of the water from Zephyre Hills, a major source of fresh water for central FL. I remember hearing about a similar effort in...Michigan, I think? Now, if bottled water can displace enough water from a specific environment to affect it negatively...can't farming? Consider the tons of livestock feed (millions of gallons of water) shipped to China, annually. Consider the water trapped in grapes in Napa Valley. Consider all the produce we grow and ship out of state, and have been for decades. Agricultural states are quite literally exporting their water, and have been, for years. How does that water get back? When we deplete and entire river...I think it's time to consider this as a possible cause for draughts.

Thoughts?
 
Excellent point. I suppose that could be called 'embedded water.'


Virtual water (below) doesn't sound right.


Quoting:

The virtual water concept, also known as embodied water, was coined by John Anthony Allan (Tony Allan) in 1993. He received the Stockholm Water Prize for the concept in 2008.[3][4]

The virtual water trade is the idea that when goods and services are exchanged, so is virtual water. When a country imports one tonne of wheat instead of producing it domestically, it is saving about 1,300 cubic meters of real indigenous water. If this country is water-scarce, the water that is 'saved' can be used towards other ends. If the exporting country is water-scarce, however, it has exported 1,300 cubic meters of virtual water since the real water used to grow the wheat will no longer be available for other purposes. This has obvious strategic implications for countries that are water-constrained such as those found in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) area.[5][6][7]

Water-scarce countries like Israel discourage the export of oranges (relatively water intensive crops) precisely to prevent large quantities of water from being exported to different parts of the world.


 
Nestle, for it's monopolization and exportation of the water

They're infamous for buying water rights for cheap, using a lot of water, and selling it back to the locale at a high price (in plastic bottles).
 
First we should consider trophic levels. This is when an animal eats plants, for example. As we move up in trophic levels (plants being one and animals being the next), we experience a 10% efficiency. That is, for every 10 lbs of plant protein an animal consumes, 1 lb of animal protein is produced. Now, the animal protein is higher in vitamins and minerals, granted, but it's still 10 lbs of protein turned into 1 lb of protein. Note: we're examining protein here, not total mass of either entity.

With water, it gets worse. Let's say it takes 1 lb of water to make 1 lb of plant protein. That's not accurate but for discussion purpose. Well, not only do we expend water in growing the food for the animal protein, the animal itself requires a lot of water. By producing our protein via animals, our water consumption becomes entirely unsustainable.

We should note that agricultural water waste is a problem in general. This is true even in growing plants. Organic Certification, for example, does not generally limit water consumption. That metric is considered "beyond organic". And so even our environmental initiatives in regard to agriculture have fallen short of addressing water sustainability.

The biggest thing a person can do in supporting water sustainability is to reduce meat consumption.

Agriculturally, there are many methods we can employ to reduce water waste.

In addition to addressing agriculture, we need to address processed waste water. That, pure potable water, is pumped into the ocean instead of re-used because it came from pee. Millions of gallons of potable water dumped into the bay and adversely affecting ecology there.
 
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First we should consider trophic levels. This is when an animal eats plants, for example. As we move up in trophic levels (plants being one and animals being the next), we experience a 10% efficiency. That is, for every 10 lbs of plant protein an animal consumes, 1 lb of animal protein is produced. Now, the animal protein is higher in vitamins and minerals, granted, but it's still 10 lbs of protein turned into 1 lb of protein. Note: we're examining protein here, not total mass of either entity.

With water, it gets worse. Let's say it takes 1 lb of water to make 1 lb of plant protein. That's not accurate but for discussion purpose. Well, not only do we expend water in growing the food for the animal protein, the animal itself requires a lot of water. By producing our protein via animals, our water consumption becomes entirely unsustainable.

We should note that agricultural water waste is a problem in general. This is true even in growing plants. Organic Certification, for example, does not generally limit water consumption. That metric is considered "beyond organic". And so even our environmental initiatives in regard to agriculture have fallen short of addressing water sustainability.

The biggest thing a person can do in supporting water sustainability is to reduce meat consumption.

Agriculturally, there are many methods we can employ to reduce water waste.

In addition to addressing agriculture, we need to address processed waste water. That, pure potable water, is pumped into the ocean instead of re-used because it came from pee. Millions of gallons of potable water dumped into the bay and adversely affecting ecology there.
I thought sewage goes to water treatment plants? I'd be shocked to see waste water getting pumped into a river or the ocean. At least, in the country.
 
I thought sewage goes to water treatment plants? I'd be shocked to see waste water getting pumped into a river or the ocean. At least, in the country.

Here in S. Florida, waste water goes to a treatment plant where several processes result in pure potable water which is then pumped into Biscayne Bay where it adversely affects ecology through habitat alteration.

Does anywhere re-use sewage waste water?
 
Here in S. Florida, waste water goes to a treatment plant where several processes result in pure potable water which is then pumped into Biscayne Bay where it adversely affects ecology through habitat alteration.

Does anywhere re-use sewage waste water?
Thats...not smart. Why go through all the effort to treat waste water to the point of being potable...only to pump it into the ocean...

In CT, it gets used for irrigation and cooling for manufacturing.
 
Thats...not smart. Why go through all the effort to treat waste water to the point of being potable...only to pump it into the ocean...

In CT, it gets used for irrigation and cooling for manufacturing.

There's talk of a system to pump it to Miami Beach (a barrier island) to delay salt water intrusion (sub surface intrusion resulting from porous, limestone, bedrock).
 
I should note the water wasted by South Florida Water Management, historically, is much greater. Canals were built, five of them iirc, to carry water flowing from Lake Okeechobee south through the Everglades east to the ocean. The idea was to control flooding. It resulted in transforming the Everglades. In recent decades, we've changed that canal system to allow a natural flow of water south through Florida. Prior to reconstruction, those canals took countless millions of gallons of fresh water to the ocean.
 
Does anywhere re-use sewage waste water?

In California in many areas they have set up secondary water systems where it is used in irrigating golf courses, parks, and the vegetation on the sides of freeways. And some communities are starting to use it for their fire hydrants.

They are easy to spot, as such pipes and outlets are normally painted purple.

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