Water and Energy: Two Resources with a bleak future

[RoxStar]

Many Americans are not aware of it, but water is quickly becoming just as scarce as oil. Because its so easy to extract and pump, its almost cheap enough that people don't have to worry about paying the water bill. Little do they know, but it's only a matter of time before wells begin to dry up and alternate sources have become too polluted with pesticides and other toxins to be drinkable. When this happens, there will be a huge rise in price of a resource critical to life and few sources to provide for the growing demand.

 

Did you just watch the Quantum of Solace trailer for the first time or something?

[Darth_Yuthura]

Did you just watch the Quantum of Solace trailer for the first time or something?

 

Huh?

 

I put up this post because I used to assume that freshwater was a renewable resource everywhere it rained. It would have seemed that with all the rain we receive each year, how could we possibly be concerned with a resource as abundant and cheap as water. Little did I know that the water I got from my tap came from a source that wasn't recharged by water infiltration nearly as quickly as it was being extracted from the ground. Once I became aware of exactly how long it would take for the aquifer to be replenished, my perception of water had changed greatly.

 

Americans often take water for granted, but it is still the most important resource we need to live. Although it is a resource that is so plentiful that it covers 70% of the globe, less than 1% of it is unusable without desalinization.

 

And freshwater is also regarded by most to be renewable because of how much rain a region receives, but that does not mean the water we get from the tap came from a source that is renewable. Rivers may be considered renewable, but the problem comes from human influence contaminating the water through agriculture.

 

This does not really mean we, ourselves, can change the situation, but as a community, we might be able to extend our limited sources of freshwater for future use before they are contaminated or depleted.