Drought In Brazil Has Gotten So Bad That 142 Cities Are Now Rationing Water

reply to post by Rodinus


Yes I figure it kind of has to be. At any and every given time there is a finite quantity of fresh water on earth. Over the past 20 years how much has the bottled water industry grown? How much fresh water is bottled daily and sitting on shelves and warehouses? Many of those water sources were no undoubtedly being tapped by others prior. A good analogy would be like daming a river, imagine I live at the top of a river which flows down and the water is used by 10,000s of people down river from me, but I dam it and bottle all the water, and then sell it to people down river. This drought problem no doubt has other root causes, increase in population is likely one, what used to be a sufficient amount of water for an area of people is now not do to much more people being in an area. Also could just be some novel weather events, or messing with the overall eco system and how weather patterns form.

ImaFungi
reply to post by Rodinus

 

Yes I figure it kind of has to be. At any and every given time there is a finite quantity of fresh water on earth. Over the past 20 years how much has the bottled water industry grown? How much fresh water is bottled daily and sitting on shelves and warehouses? Many of those water sources were no undoubtedly being tapped by others prior. A good analogy would be like daming a river, imagine I live at the top of a river which flows down and the water is used by 10,000s of people down river from me, but I dam it and bottle all the water, and then sell it to people down river. This drought problem no doubt has other root causes, increase in population is likely one, what used to be a sufficient amount of water for an area of people is now not do to much more people being in an area. Also could just be some novel weather events, or messing with the overall eco system and how weather patterns form.

I totally agree with you... There is an infinate amount of water available on this planet, but the thing is, it needs to be managed correctly and not in accordance with growing consumer needs.

We "humans" have completely buggered up the Ecosystem because of our need to "cheaply and easily" access water and by all the brain washing that big water companies market in order to fill their Phat Kat shareholders wallets... (I live in France so will use French company names, that most people know about)... Such as Perrier, Evian, Cristalline, Volvic... and shucks knows how many more...

Over here in France we have a fairly decent water supply, meaning that we can drink water directly from the tap depending on the area where you live... If you live near the Alps then you have a much better quality water direct from the mountains (although still treated)... If you live in a large city then the water is pumped directly from the nearest large river and then treated with pretty harsh chemicals and methods...

For those living in the major Cities in France and for those who can afford to, they will purchase bottled water because of all the chlorine, fluoride and other marvellous chemical cancer giving compounds used to treat the river water (giving it a bad taste)... Dugghhhh...

My own water for all household usage comes from a 35 metre deep well at the bottom of my garden which i filter through Carbon... back in 2003 when we had the last bad drought the level of the water went down to 23 metres deep as opposed to 29 metres deep the year before.... with all the rain that we have had since the beginning of the year the level is now at 33 metres... (33 metres of water in deepness is a lot...)

The French Gvt every year send the sheeple warnings on MSM about there being a water shortage in vast areas (mainly the South, but even us up here in the centre were tageted too...) and that people should not wash their cars during Summer time...bla bla bla... I have only one thing to say to them... Bollocks...

Here is a map update from the 1st January 2014 of the underground natural springs in France and they are all chock a block overflowing :



Link here (sadly in French but you can Google translate to get a better idea) : www.brgm.fr...

I bet you anything you like that the French Gvt are going to turn around and say this Summer time that we (or certain areas) are under water restriction again... Just because they are hand in hand and probably in bed too with the big water companies who bottle.

Not only is the bottled water industry screwing the sheep over here in France, but also on every other continent on our planet...

Kindest respects

Rodinus

I would suggest looking in a different direction than the bottling industry and for two big reasons. First, the bottling industry is bottling drinking water. People still end up drinking it. People or pets, anyway, as I know many who use it exclusively for house pets to avoid the municipal treatment and whats left afterward. However people feel on it, it's still being drank and all comes out the same way in the end. A few exceptions exist where it's bottled in one region and shipped in massive quantity to far distant places, but the sheer weight of water for shipping cost vs. making anything off it in the end probably makes that a small %, I'd think.

Second... What isn't small and is probably the single largest and worst killer of our fresh water and ability to use it well isn't even a related to an intentional use of it. I'm slowly putting stuff together on this, but some of the stats I have so far and which are found easily enough on google from solid sources as well, indicate 2.5 trillion gallons per year are lost in water mains and junctions across the US. simply leaking it into the ground those pipes run through. There is quite a bit more added to include leaks inside homes, but this is just leaks within the infrastructure.

By way of comparison and for some context, I believe the year for the stats was 2011, but total usage for Los Angeles from combined sources/uses was 168 billion gallons. The difference in scale to what is literally sucked down from the surface and up from aquifers to just be wasted away into what makes sinkholes, among other wonderful things for us, is mind blowing.

How many LA's could 2.5 trillion gallons supply...and water we can't even recover because old, sloppy and damaged pipe networks leak it in small amounts in millions of individual spots. It's just taken from where it's concentrated and dispersed where it's absolutely worthless to everyone, including nature.

For what it's worth, Paris, New York and San Diego ranked among the best cities for % of overall water lost under 10%. Others...run closer to 25% or higher around the world. Bad stuff...and that may total more globally than most forms of deliberate usage.

I'll keep my Aquafina if they'll fix the pipes that fill the bottles with a filtered version of tap water anyway.

I remember about 25 years ago wide spread frosts across Brazil caused coffee futures to triple overnight. I vowed to watch the Brazilian weather forecast nightly after that. well I didn't. But may be a good time to invest in coffee futures.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I was merely positing that the bottled water could be part of the reason why there is less available water that is usually associated with the term drought needed for non drinking purposes. And anyway, what does this drought entail, a population of people not having enough drinking water?

reply to post by ImaFungi


Well, for the thread here...

Water is being rationed to nearly 6 million people living in a total of 142 cities across 11 states in Brazil, the world's leading exporter of soybeans, coffee, orange juice, sugar and beef. Water supply companies told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that the country's reservoirs, rivers and streams are the driest they have been in 20 years. A record heat wave could raise energy prices and damage crops.

(OP Link)

I'd say it's not just a matter of diversion of human potable water for irrigation and livestock, but something worse and perhaps far more cause/effect in Brazil's case. The endless square miles of forest and rain forest (what environmentalists were hot about through the 80's and half of the 90's at least) cleared so they COULD be world suppliers of beef and soybeans was literally part of the lungs to this planet. No kidding they're having regional climate change. They wiped out a measurable % of the high humidity acreage in that region and the region has dried up in serious ways.

Yup.. Sounds related. I hate blaming people for their own problems, but in this case, they did do the deed that likely resulted in the drought. At least part of it, I'd wager.

UK could make a killing here as we are underwater. Just needs a few tankers sent over job done .

Droughts certainly do not help but by far the biggest usage of water comes from industry and agriculture - for example intensive farming methods. What we really need to as a species is start getting clever in how we use water. By bringing usage down, aquifers have more chance to fill up instead of the current situation of constantly being depleted.

ImaFungi
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

I was merely positing that the bottled water could be part of the reason why there is less available water that is usually associated with the term drought needed for non drinking purposes. And anyway, what does this drought entail, a population of people not having enough drinking water?

Bottling water is not a problem, as somebody said, its surface water thats the problem. The thread is about Brazil, but what people miss is its not just there, its world wide, its just the news doesnt get the spotlight. Weather worldwide is kinda screwed, drought getting worse by the year, and when it rain, we have flooding, where it snow, you know it, you live there.

In my country, water already become one of political weapon since last few years. I believe water shortage is more crucial than energy crisis.

Thank god I can see bits of clouds now and rain signs now. But huge part of my garden almost gone already.

Wrabbit2000

I'd say it's not just a matter of diversion of human potable water for irrigation and livestock, but something worse and perhaps far more cause/effect in Brazil's case. The endless square miles of forest and rain forest (what environmentalists were hot about through the 80's and half of the 90's at least) cleared so they COULD be world suppliers of beef and soybeans was literally part of the lungs to this planet. No kidding they're having regional climate change. They wiped out a measurable % of the high humidity acreage in that region and the region has dried up in serious ways.

Yup.. Sounds related. I hate blaming people for their own problems, but in this case, they did do the deed that likely resulted in the drought. At least part of it, I'd wager.

Precisely. I said it before, but you hit the nail on the head and drove it home. If Brazil still had their rainforests then they would have more water. Around here the trees collect the humidity in the leaves/pine needles and it condenses and falls to the ground.

When people clear the "sponges" (trees) that collect the "fog river" and other humidity in the air for it to drop down below and collect into streams/creeks etc.

After the trees are clearcut, the humidity just continues along in the air unchanged. Glad you understand this =)