Water: Where will it come from in 2050?

[cyclonebuster]

Don't worry once they build my tunnels they will have all the water they want!!

[Essay]

I learned of the name Brian Fagan on the Daily Show last night, who's written a book called "The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations." It appears to be a very historical view of how past droughts have caused many civilizations in human history to war with one another and ultimately fail. It sounds as if it's a great read, and not littered with the usual inherent politicization that most GW books are. Check it out. :hihi:

 

 

The clip which alerted me to the book:

 

Brian Fagan | The Daily Show | Comedy Central

 

 

I have his Archaeologists: Explorers of the Human Past, but

I want Great Warming. I love time travel. :)

 

 

I haven't read thru this whole thread, so apologies if this repeats....

 

Desalination is one area that technology may be able to pull one out of the hat. It doesn't seem as if it should be that hard of a problem... simple inorganic or bio-membrane technology.

 

...and this is a year old, but the first I heard was seeing Dean Kamen on The Colbert Report, last night. [sorry, no links] ...but,

 

World Water Crises | Outside Online

The 300-pound, electric-powered, dishwasher-size prototype purifies both freshwater and saltwater, basically by vaporizing, compressing, and condensing the liquid. At Deka Research & Development....

 

WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future: The Ripple Effect and the Water Crisis

 

...also, new technology on the horizon....

Highly permeable polymeric membranes based on the incorporation of the functional water channel protein Aquaporin Z

 

Manish Kumar, Mariusz Grzelakowski, Julie Zilles, Mark Clark, and Wolfgang Meier

PNAS...approved October 30, 2007 (received for review September 15, 2007)

 

The permeability and solute transport characteristics of amphiphilic triblock-polymer vesicles containing the bacterial water-channel protein Aquaporin Z (AqpZ) were investigated. The vesicles were made of a block copolymer with symmetric poly-(2-methyloxazoline)-poly-(dimethylsiloxane)-poly-(2-methyloxazoline) (PMOXA15-PDMS110-PMOXA15) repeat units. Light-scattering measurements on pure polymer vesicles subject to an outwardly directed salt gradient in a stopped-flow apparatus indicated that the polymer vesicles were highly impermeable. However, a large enhancement in water productivity (permeability per unit driving force) of up to 800 times that of pure polymer was observed when AqpZ was incorporated. The activation energy (Ea) of water transport for the protein-polymer vesicles (3.4 kcal/mol) corresponded to that reported for water-channel-mediated water transport in lipid membranes. The solute reflection coefficients of glucose, glycerol, salt, and urea were also calculated, and indicated that these solutes are completely rejected. The productivity of AqpZ-incorporated polymer membranes was at least an order of magnitude larger than values for existing salt-rejecting polymeric membranes. The approach followed here may lead to more productive and sustainable water treatment membranes, whereas the variable levels of permeability obtained with different concentrations of AqpZ may provide....

:) ...hopefully

[InfiniteNow]

Desalination is one area that technology may be able to pull one out of the hat. It doesn't seem as if it should be that hard of a problem... simple inorganic or bio-membrane technology.

Indeed, it's more than a rabbit... It's survival itself.

 

 

...and this is a year old, but the first I heard was seeing Dean Kamen on The Colbert Report, last night. [sorry, no links] ...but,

 

World Water Crises | Outside Online

The 300-pound, electric-powered, dishwasher-size prototype purifies both freshwater and saltwater, basically by vaporizing, compressing, and condensing the liquid. At Deka Research & Development....

 

WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future: The Ripple Effect and the Water Crisis

 

...also, new technology on the horizon....

 

 

Here ya go: ;)

 

Interview - Dean Kamen | The Colbert Report | Comedy Central

[cyclonebuster]

Don't worry the KE in the Gulfstream and cool water below it will give us all the fresh water we will ever want.

[Tolouse]

polar ice caps can also provide fresh water, couldn't they?

[cyclonebuster]

polar ice caps can also provide fresh water, couldn't they?

 

Yes but not if they melt away.

[Michaelangelica]

the slingshot sounds great

What's new with your clean-water and portable-energy projects?

Kamen: They're in very different stages of development right now. (The Slingshot) takes any water, whether it's from the ocean or from toxic chemicals. No matter what's wrong with the water, we'll clean it up and make it potable, pure water.

 

The energy source is very environmentally friendly. Many of its big advantages include not needing extra maintenance or a power grid. It'll burn any fuel. We ran for 24 weeks two units in two separate villages in Bangladesh, and the only fuel that went into them was cow dung sitting in a pit next to them, going through a natural decomposition process. Yet they ran perfectly and gave these villages electricity.

 

We have more prototypes and data on electricity generation projects than on water, but for lots of reasons, the urgency around getting some water machines out has been more of our focus. We're further along and hope to be able to introduce water sooner than generation.

 

What an interesting man-what a good reply:-

Many scientists say we may only have 10 to 20 years to slow down climate change. Do you believe that?

Kamen: I'm not competent to give an answer to that. The good news is, instead of having great debate, why don't we all just say, let's be more efficient, let's use less fuel and do less damage to the environment. Let's make it a goal that we will continue to minimize all these negative effects, and we all win with it.

Segway inventor scoots to bigger matters - CNET News.com

You know, I googled the 'slingshot' just on Australian sites and, in the second driest continent in the world, not one hit.

Has anyone seen a more recent article about this?

The best I could do was 2006

 

cyclonebuster

Could you please give a little more detail about your last posts? Is there fresh water under the Gulf stream?

What are the tunnels' you speak of

Tar

[cyclonebuster]

the slingshot sounds great

 

 

What an interesting man-what a good reply:-

 

Segway inventor scoots to bigger matters - CNET News.com

You know, I googled the 'slingshot' just on Australian sites and, in the second driest continent in the world, not one hit.

Has anyone seen a more recent article about this?

The best I could do was 2006

 

cyclonebuster

Could you please give a little more detail about your last posts? Is there fresh water under the Gulf stream?

What are the tunnels' you speak of

Tar

 

 

My "Tunnels" can regulate the climate by regulating SSTs in the Gulfstream if needed therefore they make it rain when drought is happening or by stopping rain when floods are occuring all while generating electrical power for the whole USA which by itself will curb the warming problem. What we are doing now with the climate is unregulated and we have a situation where global warming seems to be running away from us uncontrolled.Computer modeling will verify this idea of mine.

[InfiniteNow]

Interview - Dean Kamen | The Colbert Report | Comedy Central

I'm still amazed by this techology.

 

Interview - Dean Kamen | The Colbert Report | Comedy Central

 

 

Vapor compression distillation? That's so freakin' amazingly cool! :)

[Michaelangelica]

California Water Law Curtailing New Development

. . .

. . . in Riverside County, a superior court judge recently enjoined a 1,500-home development project, citing, among others things, a failure to provide substantial evidence of adequate water supply.

 

In San Luis Obispo County, north of Los Angeles, the City of Pismo Beach was recently denied the right to annex unincorporated land to build a large multipurpose project because, “the city didn’t have enough water to adequately serve the development,” said Paul Hood, the executive officer of the commission that approves the annexations and incorporations of cities.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/07/us/07drought.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

 

What is happening to the new water harvesting desalination ideas discussed in this thread? Still in Sydney we are building a billion $ de-sal plant based on old membrane technology. Is water desalination like any other new idea (eg Terra preta) and takes 25 years to get established in public consciousness. Have we got that sort of time any more? Perhaps we need some body or organisation to speed up the time between concept/invention and realisation?

[Moontanman]

I read a study that claimed that even for the U.S, it would be perfectly economically feasible to desalinate all the water that was needed, providing nuclear power was used.....:) :)

 

I agree, nuclear power is the key to our future in so many ways its difficult to understand why more people cannot see it. We need a plentiful and dependable source of power, nuclear power is that source. Nothing else can supply power in the amounts we really need.

[Michaelangelica]

 

If you look at the above chart, you will see one untapped source of water is the air.

H2O in the air is a greenhouse gas and its concentration is said to be risng .

So look at this

 

Device aims to harvest water from air

Device aims to harvest water from air - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Making water out of thin air

 

Friday, 2 March 2007 Anna Salleh

ABC

sky

 

Could a wind turbine that sucks water out of the air supply enough water for the whole world? (Image: iStockphoto)

Related Stories

 

* Backyard windmill may cut electricity bill, Science Online, 05 May 2006

 

A wind-driven device could provide an unlimited water supply by harvesting water from the air, says its Australian inventor. But critics are asking if it's too good to be true. Dr Max Whisson, a retired medical specialist turned inventor, says he has designed a highly efficient wind turbine that can run a refrigeration system to cool air and condense moisture from it. "The wind carries in the water and [provides] the power required to separate that water from the wind," says Whisson, who is based in Perth. He says there is a huge amount of water in the atmosphere that is replaced every few hours.

. . .

If the system does work, it is unlikely to backfire on the environment, says Dr Michael Coughlan, of Australia's Bureau of Meteorology. He says the amount of water that humans would use is trivial compared with the amount available in the atmosphere. "If you can tap into it, then go for it, because you would do little to upset the hydrological cycle," says Coughlan.

 

Tags: environment, computers-and-technology, engineering

Making water out of thin air (ABC News in Science)

Surely off-peak or base power energy from Mainline Power Stations could also be used? You would think such a device would work even better at night with falling air temperatures?

Other articles on this

The Age Blogs: Renovation Nation

Water from wind | The Australian

Whisson Windmill –Water From Air

The Whisson windmill essentially is a wind turbine, connected to a refrigeration compressor. A compressed refrigerant cools the blades of the wind turbine, after which it is returned to a compressor.

 

Design is possible with just one turbine or a bank of turbines.

 

Wind drives the cooled blades of the turbine and water is then condensed from the ambient air. This water is then collected. And... "Bob’s your uncle”. "

More information

 

Do you want to know more about what drives Dr Max Whisson and get some broader background information? Then go check out his WaterUNlimited website here. Here you can find a transcript of Australian ABC's "The New Inventors" TV program featuring Dr Whisson's work. And you can view that program right here. Very interesting!

 

ATTENTION! For more information, on water from air machines that are available right now go here.

One operates on Whisson's condensation principle. The other runs on salt! Yes indeed...

 

Meanwhile, here is another innovative and simple bit of technology to grow your plants on an absolute minimum of water requirements.

 

And another way to use the power of water evaporation to keep cool while you're checking them 'out there' in the hot sun.

Whisson Windmill –Water From Air

 

 

 

 

Also arecent de-desalinateor from The Inventors an ABC Tv show

New Inventors: Solar Water Purifier

[Michaelangelica]

For some reason, I find this sickening

That report, Watching Water: a Guide to Evaluating Corporate Risks in a Thirsty World produced by JPMorgan Global Equity Research with WRI, explores water scarcity as an emerging investment issue and suggests ways for investors to better account for water-related risks.

 

These risks are obvious in industries such as agriculture, but they are looming large in other sectors such as power generation, manufacturing, or food and beverages.

 

The possible impacts from greater water scarcity include the disruption of supply chains or production processes, higher water costs , more stringent (and expensive) government regulation, and the delay or suppression of further growth

.

Increasing Water Scarcity Increases Business Vulnerability, and Investor Questions | World Resources Institute

[Michaelangelica]

A special report in Scientific American

In-Depth Report: Confronting a World Freshwater Crisis

As the global population grows--and freshwater supplies dwindle--ensuring that everyone has sufficient supplies of life-giving H2O has become an enormous challenge. Here's how to start.

 

Note: This is a one time sample email of our new "In-Depth Report Alert." You have received this email because you have opted-in to receive emails from Scientific American. To continue receiving this weekly email alert please click here.

 

Facing the Freshwater Crisis: Scientific American

photo FEATURE

Facing the Freshwater Crisis

As demand for freshwater soars, planetary supplies are becoming unpredictable.

 

 

photo SLIDE SHOW

Watering a Thirsty World

See how overstretched freshwater supplies will increasingly influence the way we live.

 

 

photo QUIZ

20 Questions: Freshwater

Test your knowledge about freshwater and its use

 

 

photo PODCAST

60-Second Science: Running Out of Water

A podcast interview with SciAm editor Steve Ashley about useful steps we can take now to keep the water running.

 

 

photo FEATURE

Top 10 Water Wasters: From Washing Dishes to Watering the Desert

The many ways we squander water, from unintentional leaks to outright negligence

 

 

photo SLIDE SHOW

A Six-Point Plan to Avert a Global Freshwater Crisis

Policymakers need to figure out how to supply water without degrading the natural ecosystems that provide it.

 

 

photo FEATURE

Freshwater Conservation: Drip by Drip

Doing small things consistently over time-if enough people participate-can make a dent, even in a global problem.

 

 

photo ASK THE EXPERTS

Why don't we get our drinking water from the ocean by taking the salt out of seawater?

Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, distills an answer

 

 

photo FEATURE

Get Involved in Freshwater Conservation

To find out more about your local water situation, check in with your local water authority

 

 

photo MAP

Freshwater Crisis Map: Current Situation

Lots of water, but not always where it is needed

 

 

photo MAP

Freshwater Crisis Map: Looming Shortages

Models examining the effects of climate change and of population and economic growth on water availability by 2025 indicate that climate change alone will bring scarcity to many places.

 

Sign Up for other Scientific American Newsletters | Manage Your Profile | Forward to a Friend

[Michaelangelica]

Seen on an ABC 'opinion" page

You said it

 

Fri Aug 1, 2008 10:48am AEST

Wouldn't it be amazing to spend the same money on finding conserving and preserving water on Earth as they have to discover a drop on Mars. - Pantelis Roussakis

[Moontanman]

Wouldn't it be amazing if people would realize just how tiny an amount of money the Mars explorers really cost compared to all the money wasted on telling every one how much better we could be spending our money :confused:

[Michaelangelica]

New Chlorine-tolerant Desalination Membrane Hopes To Boost Access To Clean Water

 

ScienceDaily (July 23, 2008) — A chemical engineering professor at The University of Texas at Austin is part of a team that has developed a chlorine-tolerant membrane that should simplify the water desalination process, increasing access to fresh water and possibly reducing greenhouse gases.

New Chlorine-tolerant Desalination Membrane Hopes To Boost Access To Clean Water

 

Engineers Develop Revolutionary Nanotech Water Desalination Membrane

 

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2006) — Researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have announced they have developed a new reverse osmosis (RO) membrane that promises to reduce the cost of seawater desalination and wastewater reclamation.

. . .

The new membrane, developed by civil and environmental engineering assistant professor Eric Hoek and his research team, uses a uniquely cross-linked matrix of polymers and engineered nanoparticles designed to draw in water ions but repel nearly all contaminants. These new membranes are structured at the nanoscale (the width of human hair is approximately 100,000 nanometers) to create molecular tunnels through which water flows more easily than contaminants.

Engineers Develop Revolutionary Nanotech Water Desalination Membrane

 

Bacteria And Nanofilters: Future Of Clean Water Technology

 

ScienceDaily (Feb. 27, 2008) — Bacteria often get bad press, with those found in water often linked to illness and disease. But researchers at The University of Nottingham are using these tiny organisms alongside the very latest membrane filtration techniques to improve and refine water cleaning technology.

Bacteria And Nanofilters: Future Of Clean Water Technology