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hippocampus · Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Posts: 126 Location: Bikini Bottom

I am posting this link so that teachers may share it with their students. It can be used to stimulate discussion on the conscientious use of water. If the country you are in is anything like the one I am in, most people there use water as if it were, well, water... as if it just fell out of the sky for free!
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120515.html

I think this photo dramatically illustrates how scarce, and how precious, water really is. To paraphrase Henry David Thoreau in Walden: lakes (and oceans) may seem practically bottomless to us, but to a surveyor (like Thoreau was) they are no deeper than saucers when considered in relation to the general height of dry land surrounding them.

Please look it up, I may be misinformed, but it is my understanding that all of the water on Earth was created at one time (in one geological era) and "they're not making it anymore". It can be artificially produced but it is rather infeasible in light of how much people use.

tttompatz · Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 10:35 am Post subject:

Clean, fresh water as a commodity is certainly in short supply globally and it is a good topic to think/talk about. Creating fresh potable water is neither cheap nor easy on a large scale.

Water as a substance is created and destroyed through various chemical processes (natural and human caused) on a regular basis and with 75% of the planet covered in it there won't be any shortage of it any time in the next aeon or two.

.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

tttompatz,
The fact remains that although 75% of the world is covered in water, 99% of that is not freshwater (what we drink, feed to livestock, use for irrigation, etc.).

Water we can use is indeed running low.

Who leaves the faucet running when they brush their teeth or wash dishes? They are wasting water.

Lots of good lesson material on this topic is available on the Internet, and National Geographic had a good article on it recently (for those students with high reading ability). Colleague of mine teaches this topic annually to a group of uni students.

tttompatz · Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 1:47 pm Post subject:

Sashadroogie · Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 6:25 pm Post subject:

So long as there's enough left for the vodka distilleries...

Hic!

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

tttompatz,
No, I didn't miss the first sentence. I just felt you may have contradicted yourself! I mean, what's the point in saying (as we agree) that freshwater supplies are diminishing and are low in the first place, and then in another breath saying we have a lot of water around ("no shortage") when it is too difficult/expensive to convert the majority of water that is on hand?

tttompatz · Posted: Tue May 15, 2012 10:25 pm Post subject:

artemisia · Joined: 04 Nov 2008 Posts: 875 Location: the world

Great resource, hippocampus. Thank you!

hippocampus · Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Posts: 126 Location: Bikini Bottom

I did imply that water is a non-renewable resource, and in my opinion that is correct in that no more can be feasibly created/manufactured. So tttompatz, I stand by my assertion, but your post compelled me to google it and apparently water can be seen as renewable or as non-renewable. I think we all understand the arguments well enough, but if you're still interested look at:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Should_water_be_classified_as_a_renewable_or_nonrenewable_resource
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_resources
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_water_a_non-renewable_resource

Like so many things, it's Einstein's Theory of Relativity, which states to my understanding that everything is relative. It all depends on how you look at it Shocked

And gentlemen (ladies): there's really no need to bicker. I only mean this topic to be a good and useful subject for ESL class discussion.

Sashadroogie · Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 5:31 am Post subject:

Vodka distilled from saltwater is actually pretty good. So I don't really understand what all the bickering is about either, gentlemen.

johnslat · Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 12:02 pm Post subject:

Dear artemisia,

"Great resource, hippocampus. Thank you!"

But - is it a renewable or a non-renewable resource? Very Happy

Regards,
John

Sashadroogie · Posted: Wed May 16, 2012 8:29 pm Post subject:

Dear Johnslat
I'd venture that it is at the very least a toastable resource. Here's to you and yours! Hic!

Sasha

artemisia · Joined: 04 Nov 2008 Posts: 875 Location: the world

tttompatz · Posted: Thu May 17, 2012 2:51 am Post subject:

The visual, although misleading, is accurate in terms of mass of water vs the mass of the earth.

The earth is a ball 8000 miles in diameter and the water cover is 75% of the surface area to an average depth (guess here cause I don't have time to google it) of about 2 miles and a maximum depth of about 8 miles.

Considering the crust is, on average, 40 miles thick and there probably is no water in any form below the crust the amount of water in relation to non water mass within the earth would be small.

All of that said, water is indeed a renewable resource. It gets cleaned by nature through evaporation and rainfall (except in places where, due to pollution with sulfur dioxides (coal burning power plants as an example) you get acid rain rather than fresh rain).

Water is also being manufactured and destroyed though natural, chemical processes (vulcanism) and electrolysis (breakdown of water into hydrogen and oxygen).

.

hippocampus · Joined: 27 Feb 2012 Posts: 126 Location: Bikini Bottom

Thanks Artemisia. I have edited the link in the OP as well.
Again, that's all I want, is to get students thinking about the value of water: the more the better, which is why I am sharing this information here.
tttompatz: I hear you, but I still maintain the opinion that water is non-renewable in that we have a limited supply. Sure it's reusable, but why not try to maintain as much clean water as we can?
I don't know why you would say: