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Peak Water Pt. 2

Re: Peak Water

Unread postby Keith_McClary » Tue 30 Jun 2015, 15:15:42

The U.S. Geological Survey identifies the Central Valley aquifer in California, the High Plains aquifer in the Great Plains states, and the Mississippi Embayment aquifer in the lower Midwest as being managed unsustainably, which means that water is being extracted from the aquifer faster than it is replenishing.
"Deep groundwater is like natural gas. If you use it, it takes a while to recharge," Cai said. "Unsustainable usage means the water table is lowered, which makes it more difficult and more expensive to pump water since we have to keep going deeper. It also affects ecosystems associated with the water table, such as streams and wetlands."
The researchers tracked water consumption from the aquifers to see where the water was going, both in terms of geography and usage. For example, when water was used to irrigate a crop, the researchers tracked where those crops were shipped.
"When we think of water, we think of direct water, the water that comes out of our faucets. But we actually use a lot of embodied water in our everyday lives – the water footprint to produce a product," Konar said. "We looked at the water implicitly being transferred between states and countries in the products."

http://phys.org/news/2015-06-groundwate ... -food.html
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BANGKOK--Next Mega-City to Run Out of Water?

Unread postby dohboi » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 08:50:12

Hit by drought and seawater, Bangkok’s taps may run dry in a month

BANGKOK, July 7, 2015:
Bangkok’s tap water supply may run out in a month, as the country waits for long overdue rains to replenish sources depleted by drought and threatened by seawater creep, the chief of the capital’s water authority said.

Thailand is suffering its worst drought in more than a decade. In an effort to maintain water levels in the dams that supply water for agriculture in the provinces as well as taps in the capital Bangkok, the government has asked farmers to refrain from planting rice since last October.

Despite these measures, water levels are critically low in the three key reservoirs that flow into the Chao Phraya River, one of the two main sources of Bangkok’s tap water.

The quantity of water collected in the three dams totaled 5 billion cubic metres last November, compared to the normal 8 billion cubic metres, said Thanasak Watanathana, governor of the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority. As of Monday, there was about 660 million cubic metres left, according to the Royal Irrigation Department.

“Right now, there is only enough water in the dams to distribute for about 30 more days – if it doesn’t rain,” Thanasak told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an interview.

More at the Rakyat Post: http://www.therakyatpost.com/world/2015 ... n-a-month/

(There are going to be too many of these for vox to stay on top of! Which city will be next?)
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Re: BANGKOK--Next Mega-City to Run Out of Water?

Unread postby Tanada » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 09:31:31

Edited thread title for misspelling BANGKOK.

You know this is becoming a running theme, cities that normally have had abundant water reserves are going dry. These are not little villages where everyone can just pick up and move either, we are talking about millions being displaced, not thousands.
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Re: BANGKOK--Next Mega-City to Run Out of Water?

Unread postby dohboi » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 09:35:56

Thanks for the correction--I thought I had double checked it, but must have slipped up. :oops:

Yes, this is getting to be quite a theme. This is a city surrounded by water. The kids of the official who manages the water situation in that city used to live next to us (exchange students). It sounded like quite a difficult job, but mostly to handle the superfluity of water. Now this. My my.
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Re: BANGKOK--Next Mega-City to Run Out of Water?

Unread postby GHung » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 10:41:52

Not much being said about São Paulo recently. They're expecting light rain today, but July and August are typically their driest months.
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Re: BANGKOK--Next Mega-City to Run Out of Water?

Unread postby dohboi » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 15:24:17

Is vox ok?

Speaking of cities under stress, the Vancouver area is suffering both from 'level 4 drought' and from air quality worse than Beijing (from Canadian and Alaskan fires) right now. http://www.pqbnews.com/news/311700041.html
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Re: BANGKOK--Next Mega-City to Run Out of Water?

Unread postby Paulo1 » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 17:50:55

Air is pretty crappy here on BC south coast, although not as bad as up north when the fires sock in. I have actually been in 1/4 mile visibility in heavy smoke when I flew up in Yukon. One whole summer I could only see straight down...with almost no forward visibilty at all. On the south coast we are used to bright blue skies, (except up the Fraser Valley where you get the Vancouver pollution all summer). Anyway, it is very hot (for us) and the fire rating is "extreme". I live in the bush and worry about some bozo with a smoke setting the woods on fire. Just had a swim after working all morning and my river is brackish like late August. Supposed to rain a bit on the weekend. Today it is 30C which is 86 Farenheit. I live right near the coast on a river so it is cooler. Inland, it is probably 34C. As for water, we are okay with an excellent drilled well. My son is on a creek water system and the pressure is pretty bad due to people watering too much. I think he will be putting in his own well to avoid the hassles. Every conversation begins with talk about fires, wells, and will it rain?
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Re: BANGKOK--Next Mega-City to Run Out of Water?

Unread postby vox_mundi » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 19:47:05

GHung and dohboi wrote:Not much being said about São Paulo recently. They're expecting light rain today, but July and August are typically their driest months.

Is vox ok?

Yes, I'm OK, but I'm taking care of a major medical issue in the family. I'll be MIA for the next few weeks - months? If I see something and have time to translate, I'll try to post.

Somethings happening in Sao Paulo:

The Tiete River is alternating between pitch black water and miles of foam - probably not good to drink.

Gov. Alckmin said the Contingency Plan that was supposed to be ready in Feb. - then Jun. - might be ready by the end of July.

But he said it's useless paper and a waste of money and will never be used because there is plenty of water till the next wet season - whenever that might be. Scientists are much more worried.

To say that the Governor has f'ckin cow shit for brains would be too generous.

It looks like it will be an exciting summer in a Chinese curse sort of way, I'll try and keep up and post when I can.
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Re: BANGKOK--Next Mega-City to Run Out of Water?

Unread postby jedrider » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 21:34:54

Visited Thailand a few years ago, before that devastating flood that inundated their old historic capitol -- which I didn't have a chance to see. It's a beautiful country with beautiful and nice people as well. What extremes: Flooding and then Drought. A good instance of climate disruption, it appears.
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Re: BANGKOK--Next Mega-City to Run Out of Water?

Unread postby dohboi » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 23:56:49

Paulo, thanks for the ground truthing. The detail about conversation starters is particularly telling. Those issues will be at the top of nearly everyone's consciousness soon enough, even if they don't all connect them with the ultimate cause...

vox, good to hear that you're ok, man. Sorry to hear about the family issues, though.

"alternating between pitch black water and miles of foam - probably not good to drink."

As always, the king of understatement! :-D

Jed, my parents, who had already lived and traveled extensively in Asia, visited Thailand in the early '60's and found it to be their favorite Asian country. Since then, my bro and various friends have lived or visited and felt the same, even if it was sometimes in troubling circumstances.
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Re: BANGKOK--Next Mega-City to Run Out of Water?

Unread postby SeaGypsy » Wed 08 Jul 2015, 09:12:41

There is no historical record of monsoonal failure in Thailand. The dry seasons throughout the tropics are becoming more prolonged, the breaking of monsoon often triggering cycles of deluge & extremely close to WBT, instead of rain setting in steadily for months at a time, similar amounts of rain fall in a handful of events.

When Bangkok starts running out of water around easter, yep, it's going to be millions quite possibly dying.
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Re: BANGKOK--Next Mega-City to Run Out of Water?

Unread postby SeaGypsy » Wed 08 Jul 2015, 20:04:32

I have been through about 25 monsoons, they do vary by up to about 2 months in start date, in the south November/ Jan & in the north May/ July. The later they start the worse they are going to be. If a mass death by WBT is to occur it will happen most likely at this time of year, somewhere like Bangkok.

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Re: Peak Water

Unread postby Graeme » Thu 09 Jul 2015, 16:57:24

Where does water go when it doesn’t flow? Three quarters doesn't make it to the ocean

More than a quarter of the rain and snow that falls on continents reaches the oceans as runoff. Now a new study helps show where the rest goes: two-thirds of the remaining water is released by plants, more than a quarter lands on leaves and evaporates and what's left evaporates from soil and from lakes, rivers and streams.

"The question is, when rain falls on the landscape, where does it go?" says University of Utah geochemist Gabe Bowen, senior author of the study published today in the journal Science. "The water on the continents sustains all plant life, all agriculture, humans, aquatic ecosystems. But the breakdown -- how much is used for those things -- has always been unclear."

"Some previous estimates suggested that more water was used by plants than we find here," he adds. "It means either that plants are less productive globally than we thought, or plants are more efficient at using water than we assumed."

University of Utah hydrologist Stephen Good, the study's first author, says, "We've broken down the different possible pathways that water takes as it moves from rainfall [and snowfall] through soils, plants and rivers. Here we've found the proportions of water that returns to the atmosphere though plants, soils and open water."

The study used hydrogen isotope ratios of water in rain, rivers and the atmosphere from samples and satellite measurements to conclude that of all precipitation over land -- excluding river runoff to the oceans -- these amounts are released by other means:

• 64 percent (55,000 cubic kilometers or 13,200 cubic miles) is released or essentially exhaled by plants, a process called transpiration. This is lower than estimated by recent research, which concluded plant transpiration accounted for more than 80 percent of water that falls on land and does not flow to the seas, Bowen says. • 6 percent (5,000 cubic kilometers or 1,200 cubic miles) evaporates from soils. • 3 percent (2,000 cubic kilometers or 480 cubic miles) evaporates from lakes, streams and rivers. • Previous research indicated the other 27 percent (23,000 cubic kilometers or 5,520 cubic miles) falls on leaves and evaporates, a process called interception.


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Re: Peak Water

Unread postby Keith_McClary » Fri 10 Jul 2015, 00:06:48

Graeme wrote:"The question is, when rain falls on the landscape, where does it go?" says University of Utah geochemist Gabe Bowen
The rain in Spain ...

They don't seem to take into account how much goes to replenish aquifers which have been pumped down. Is this to small to mention?
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Aquifer Depletion

Unread postby Cid_Yama » Thu 24 Dec 2015, 09:40:21

A Drying World: groundwater supplies are being sucked dry by exploding human populations worldwide. Takeaways:
•most human societies depend on aquifers for food and water
•the largest, fastest drying aquifer is in the politically unstable Middle East
•even the slowest drying aquifers have only decades of water left, under current use

Likely ramifications:
•starvation and war will confront billions within this century
•starving people in battered societies will be vulnerable to epidemics
•global civilization is likely to break down under massive die-offs

link

MSM is getting in the spirit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CxA8PeDhIc
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Re: Aquifer Depletion

Unread postby Newfie » Thu 24 Dec 2015, 10:30:14

I saw a headline along those lines the other day, USA TODAY?

Kind of surprised me. I guess there was no bloodletting of note that day.

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Re: Aquifer Depletion

Unread postby GregT » Thu 24 Dec 2015, 11:23:26

Thanks Cid.

A very sobering video. Unfortunately, ground water is not our only problem. Up here in the North, most of our water comes from glaciers. The glaciers are melting at a phenomenal rate. In two decades time (or less), even without peak oil, the world faces insurmountable problems. Our population numbers are going to be reduced dramatically, and there isn't anything that we can do now to stop this from happening.
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Re: Aquifer Depletion

Unread postby eugene » Thu 24 Dec 2015, 11:42:08

A west Texas rancher and I talked about this 50 yrs go. I saw, long ago, that we are procreating ourselves to extinction just like rabbits, lemmings or any other animal that out runs it resources. I have followed climate change since 1982 which, of course, these farmers appear to be oblivious too but will destroy Kansas even if water doesn't. And the energy to run their equipment. Name of the game, we are facing the end and it's not some sin caused thing like the religious fanatics believe. It's fanaticism like greed that's the cause. Any time natural boundaries, like water consumption, are out run, disaster waits.
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Re: Aquifer Depletion

Unread postby Tanada » Thu 24 Dec 2015, 12:26:42

If you look at the vast sweep of history a couple of civilizations that depended on irrigation for crop growth have been successful long term, but the vast majority have fallen when something interrupted the system. Egypt for example has excellent crop irrigation in the Nile valley for thousands of years because the river has always been there. However the Hopi civilization of the southwest USA fell when the irrigation system ran out of water.

When the USA went big ag max yield and started irrigating everything in the Great Plains instead of relying on natural rainfall they created a situation where fossil water has been used to create bumper crops and grow the world population. When the fossil water runs out that game will end and we will be facing serious issues with food supply for a now quadrupled world population.
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