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Some quick googling says that the average person in the U.S. uses about 100 gallons per day directly, and about 1,000 gallons per day total (including all usage
by gcanyon 2y ago
Some quick googling says that the average person in the U.S. uses about 100 gallons per day directly, and about 1,000 gallons per day total (including all usage). That means the U.S. could replace all water usage for less than $1 billion per day.
In particular, that means the U.S. could solve the Colorado river allocation issue for about $10 billion per year.
- 082349872349872 2y agowhich would likely be more than all the Colorado river water is going for now? see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40881819 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40881819 EDIT: redoing that calculation for 15'000'000 acre-feet/yr (7,5 upper + 7,5 lower) yields only 3,75 billion USD/yr. EDIT2: also neglected: that only one of the seven states in the compact has easy access to salinated water.
- gcanyon 2y agoThat may be, but the fact remains that the Colorado is over-allocated by some ridiculous amount, and the states and Mexico are arguing over it. Some non-zero amount is spent making e.g. Las Vegas and Phoenix more water-efficient to help alleviate the issue.
- jmclnx 2y agoEven if $20 billion per year, it is worth it. It could generate a lot of revenue for people and industry. Probably more than the cost of maintenance of these plants. But the Federal Gov, when controlled by a specific party, does not want to pay for anything will help society.
- TheCoelacanth 2y agoDoes this account for all water usage or only domestic water use? Most of the biggest water users are agricultural or industrial.
- gcanyon 2y agoDomestic seems to be about 100 gallons per day, per capita 1,000.
- woleium 2y agoThere is an environmental cost to this though, that extra salt is probably just dumped back in the ocean.
- gcanyon 2y agoObviously that's not a problem in general: the salt comes from the ocean, and the salt as well as the fresh water extracted go back to the ocean just by different paths. But the salt (in the form of brine, as I understand it) is generally localized, and thus can be an environmental issue that needs to be addressed.
- readthenotes1 2y agoThere's no way a human directly uses 100 gallons a day without changing the definition of "directly"...
- xnx 2y agoI'd interpret "directly" as water that was consumed, touched, or seen. Doesn't seem unreasonable to me between bathing, toilet use, washing, food prep, and drinking.
- rented_mule 2y agoWhen I think of "directly", it's not just drinking, but all water usage under your direct control. That includes cooking, cleaning, bathing, flushing, watering your plants, etc. Basically everything that flows through your home. It would not include things like the water used to grow the food you buy, to water the grass in your local golf course, etc. I'm on the board of a small California water company with ~750 customers. Our average household usage is ~100 gallons per day, a little more in the summer and a little less in the winter. Most households here are 1-2 people, mostly people over 60, and very few children. This is a forested area in the mountains (4,500 foot elevation) with no agriculture. I'm only aware of one lawn and no swimming pools. We get a lot or precipitation, so most plants and trees around here do not get watered. All that to say that we're likely lighter usage than a lot of areas, especially in California. So 100 gallons per person per day being used directly is probably a reasonable order of magnitude guess.
- readthenotes1 2y agoWow. That obviously is shocking to me ...