-
Asked by fanta02 to Alex, Claire, Kate, Marcus, Neil on 23 Jun 2014.
-
Alex Lyness answered on 23 Jun 2014:
Hey fanta02,
I think we’d get very thirsty!
For a proper answer you should check out this link: http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/run-out-of-water.htm
It’s quite likely if water was to ever run out (we won’t in our life time) that wars would be fought over it, much like wars were fought over Oil or Gold in the past.
The best thing engineers can do is discover new methods of efficiently collecting fresh water or desalinating (taking out the salt from) sea water.
Hope that helps 🙂
-
-
Marcus Johns answered on 23 Jun 2014:
The world’s water supply won’t ever run out, but the amount of fresh water that we can drink is becoming less in some areas of the world because of the way that we use the water and changes that are happening to the climate.
Firstly, in westernised countries – mainly Europe and America – we use more water than the areas that we live in are able to give us. In some places, like Los Angeles, they pipe in water from other places where there is more water so that people can use as much as they want, but the areas that they pipe the water from then lose out. This is why we’re encouraged to turn the taps off when brushing our teeth and to take a (short!) shower instead of a bath. We also use far too much water growing crops and farming animals and don’t think of what might happen. We also create brackish water – which contains more salt than fresh water but not as much as sea water – that we can’t then use.
Secondly, climate change is resulting in us getting the same amount of rainfall in a year, but over much shorter periods of time with longer periods of no rain. This results in the earth not being able to take up all the water, leading to flooding, like in Somerset earlier this year. (Try taking half a cup of soil and half a cup of water, pour the water into the soil really slowly and the water will be taken up by the soil. Then try it but pour the water in really quickly, the water will sit on top of the soil like a flood.) The flood water can’t be used like the water that gets taken up by the earth, meaning that we have less water to use.
I agree with Alex in that wars will happen over water supplies and that there are two options available to stop this – find new ways of getting fresh water or new ways of turning salt water to fresh water (current methods need a lot of energy and are very expensive). There is a third option, which is to change the way that we use the water that we have available, but it will take a long time to change everyone’s minds.
-
Claire Brockett answered on 24 Jun 2014:
It’s unlikely water will run out, but as Alex and Marcus have highlighted access to clean, drinkable water may in the future become more of a widespread problem – obviously it’s already an issue in some places around the world.
Engineers working on water collection, cleaning and desalination methods will have a strong role to play in improving access to clean water and helping resolve these problems.
Comments