4 ms·

Swimming pools and gardens of the rich are driving water shortages, study says

5 points by miguelazo 4y ago

starbase 4y ago
There is win-win outcome for water shortages: abundant, clean, inexpensive energy The technology to purify water from the ocean is quite basic, it just takes a lot of energy so water produced this way is expensive. When we have abundant clean energy, we'll have more cheap fresh water than we know what to do with.
0zemp1c 4y ago
pools are even worse than lawns, I have a huge yard (1+ acre) and a medium sized pool...on a hot summer day, the pool will lose 1/4 inch of water to evaporation..80 gallons 80 gallons a day every day for months, and you can't just let the pool empty out halfway until rain comes - the intakes for the pump will run dry and your water will turn green as it no longer is getting filtered so a pool really does need to be either full or pumped dry my lawn doesn't use 80 gallons a day in watering, and it provides an ecosystem for the septic system this is important to remember - anyone on septic needs to keep vegetation going to process waste, or you will end up with sewage on the surface and zika mosquitos residential pools are on borrowed time
- litoE 4y ago
  I have a pool with a pool cover. It hardly loses any water to evaporation, and the cover heats the water so I don't use my gas burning heater either. The only problem with the cover is that I need to keep a small pump on top to drain the rain water in the rainy season.
tw8345 4y ago
No they aren't this is such a lie. Residential water use is only a tiny fraction of agricultural and industrial water waste.
kstenerud 4y ago
Unfortunately, the NPR report is misrepresenting the issue. The study in question is about the allocation of the water that actually makes it to the urban centers of a city for rich and poor, not urban impact on the total water supply in the region (which is primarily consumed by agricultural and industrial processes). The study highlights how inequality in urban water distribution exacerbates a water crisis (and it gets really bad - I saw the effects in Cape Town, site of the study itself). The author of the article (Emily Olson) is on a three month assignment, with her only other experience a 3 month internship for a rural newspaper.

5 points by miguelazo 4y ago

There is win-win outcome for water shortages: abundant, clean, inexpensive energy The technology to purify water from the ocean is quite basic, it just takes a lot of energy so water produced this way is expensive. When we have abundant clean energy, we'll have more cheap fresh water than we know what to do with.

0zemp1c 4y ago

pools are even worse than lawns, I have a huge yard (1+ acre) and a medium sized pool...on a hot summer day, the pool will lose 1/4 inch of water to evaporation..80 gallons 80 gallons a day every day for months, and you can't just let the pool empty out halfway until rain comes - the intakes for the pump will run dry and your water will turn green as it no longer is getting filtered so a pool really does need to be either full or pumped dry my lawn doesn't use 80 gallons a day in watering, and it provides an ecosystem for the septic system this is important to remember - anyone on septic needs to keep vegetation going to process waste, or you will end up with sewage on the surface and zika mosquitos residential pools are on borrowed time

litoE 4y ago
I have a pool with a pool cover. It hardly loses any water to evaporation, and the cover heats the water so I don't use my gas burning heater either. The only problem with the cover is that I need to keep a small pump on top to drain the rain water in the rainy season.

tw8345 4y ago

No they aren't this is such a lie. Residential water use is only a tiny fraction of agricultural and industrial water waste.

kstenerud 4y ago

Unfortunately, the NPR report is misrepresenting the issue. The study in question is about the allocation of the water that actually makes it to the urban centers of a city for rich and poor, not urban impact on the total water supply in the region (which is primarily consumed by agricultural and industrial processes). The study highlights how inequality in urban water distribution exacerbates a water crisis (and it gets really bad - I saw the effects in Cape Town, site of the study itself). The author of the article (Emily Olson) is on a three month assignment, with her only other experience a 3 month internship for a rural newspaper.