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The Path To Peak Water - The Infographic
Submitted by Visual Capitalist
The Path To Peak Water
Water is the lifeblood of humanity; it turns out it is in short supply. Like any other commodity high in demand, you should keep an eye on it for investment purposes as we get closer and closer to “peak water.”
The overwhelming majority of global fresh water is locked up as ice or permanent snow cover, making it inaccessible and severely limiting our readily available supply. The average American uses 65 to 78 gallons of water per day, while the average person in the Republic of Gambia, Africa, uses just 1.17 gallons, barely above the minimum amount needed to survive.
Not only do we consume a lot of water per day, we also use huge amounts of “virtual water.” Virtual water is defined as water we consume indirectly from goods we use, food we eat, etc. Look down at your shirt, did you know that it took 650 gallons of water to make it? If you love beef, we have some bad news for you. It takes 2,036 gallons of water to produce just one pound of beef!
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Ya, these numbers don't add up. There's only so much liquid water that fits in a cow, an orange, etc., and what water isn't kept in the organism is returned to the environment. Be it sweat, run-off, humidity needed for plant growth but mostly not absorbed at all, it remains available.
The only thing endangering clean water over-all is pollution. No matter how many humans suck water dry for consumption in their bodies they will sweat it out, piss it out & retain none of it long-term into death so the Earth gets it all back.
It's pollution & chemical processes that split water into hydrogen & oxygen then USE those atoms for something else so they can't rejoin to be water that would really reduce available water. Then again, given our knowledge of chemistry we could probably make more water with equal (lack of) difficulty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Water_and_Power_Alliance
long time in planning. military will make this happen if necessary at some point. it's one hell of a temporary solution. energy wasteful hell yes, but water a plenty.