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What about the water cycle? "Using" water doesn't mean "using it up" – if you water a field from a well, some portion of that water goes back into the ground f
by ianbicking 12y ago
What about the water cycle? "Using" water doesn't mean "using it up" – if you water a field from a well, some portion of that water goes back into the ground from whence it came, largely unmolested. For that matter, when I flush my toilet the water isn't destroyed, it just goes to be cleaned up and released back into the wild. I'm still not sure if the cleaning process is a challenge because of the quantity of the liquid or the quantity of the contaminant (with low-flow toilets not changing the contamination of the water at all).
What are the real bottlenecks in our water system?
- inspectahdeck 12y agoThe problem is that almonds and watermelons are exported from California, exiting it's water cycle.
- ianbicking 12y agoThe actual water embodied in the exported almond is trivial. A bunch of water is lost in evaporation, but I don't know how that evaporation compares between these various food items, I got the impression that a ton of water is dumped on the almond trees at some critical moments, so I'd presume most goes back into the ground? Some water may be unsuitable for reuse even if it doesn't evaporate.
- gertef 12y agoThere is not a water-gallon's worth of hydrogren inside each almond.
- jdnier 12y agoMuch larger in scale, alfalfa is also exported, often to Asia. "The water used to irrigate just alfalfa and hay — 7 trillion gallons per year — exceeds the irrigation needs of all the vegetables, berries, and fruit orchards combined." (Center for Science in the Public Interest; http://www.cspinet.org/EatingGreen/pdf/arguments4.pdf http://www.cspinet.org/EatingGreen/pdf/arguments4.pdf)