Water!

[Reasoner]

Yes, water. In the future, not too distant, it will seem water may become a shortage (in the U.S.A anyways) and gradually depleted, it is around 97% of water is salt, 2% is frozen and only 1% is actual spring water. So, when America's deposit of water is drained, how will they react? Will u.s.a buy it from us friendly neighbors Canada?(We have large deposits) Will they think long term like other countries and perhaps, recycle salt water or something? What will happen? Could it even go to such drastic measures of war over it?


How will the other countries react?

Either way, water will be a lot more valuable in the future...Discuss

[Richie_B]

This thread reminds me of the saying "Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink".

I think that a lot of money will have to be invested in converting salt water because I don't think going to war would solve the problem indefinitely. I know the process of converting it isn't particularly productive (as in the large quantities needed), but I think investing in it could possibly advance techniques further. Apart from that, maybe just building a huge amount of these facilities for converting could do the job.

[Reasoner]

This thread reminds me of the saying "Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink".

I think that a lot of money will have to be invested in converting salt water because I don't think going to war would solve the problem indefinitely. I know the process of converting it isn't particularly productive (as in the large quantities needed), but I think investing in it could possibly advance techniques further. Apart from that, maybe just building a huge amount of these facilities for converting could do the job.

That was the best choice too imo, though a costly investment, when do you think it should be done?

It could even pay itself off if you export it to high buyers who are slow on this resource

[Richie_B]

That was the best choice too imo, though a costly investment, when do you think it should be done?

It could even pay itself off if you export it to high buyers who are slow on this resource

I think it should be done as soon as possible. It would take years to build all these facilities where they're needed so starting the process now would possibly prevent major water shortages from happening in the first place. That being said, there are other areas that need the money allocated more urgently. (That's a general statement - not specifically U.S.A.)

Storing excess water in reservoirs might be more practical than exporting it but I suppose if it really is in excess then that avenue could be pursued. How would a country go about transporting it? A global pipe system maybe?

[Bree Fletcher]

I don't think going to war would solve the problem indefinitely.

Absolutely correct. But, does that mean people won't go to war over it anyway? Still might happen. Tussles have been started over less than an increasingly-deficient-yet-vital resource.

[Richie_B]

Absolutely correct. But, does that mean people won't go to war over it anyway? Still might happen. Tussles have been started over less than an increasingly-deficient-yet-vital resource.

They probably would go to war over it. They'll be prosperous in the short term if they win the war but then when there's none left, they will have no infrastructure to deal with the water shortages. They'll then look to other countries for help but their actions caused those countries too much damage to help. If that made sense.

[Arathorn136]

They probably would go to war over it. They'll be prosperous in the short term if they win the war but then when there's none left, they will have no infrastructure to deal with the water shortages. They'll then look to other countries for help but their actions caused those countries too much damage to help. If that made sense.

It did, actually.

Well, I agree that it is inevitable that eventually, yes, we will run out. That is of course unless we find that earth has a second moon and it's made out of pure H2O in it's solid form. :/
I think that we will need to start innovating ways to convert salt water to fresh water. Salt water (if we are able to efficiently able to convert it) could spell salvation for us in the future. I know we already have methods for conversion, but they are rather inefficient, especially when sometime in the future we will end up needing billions of gallons.
I think the answer to preventing this from happening is to fund reasearch to devise efficient and cheap ways to convert salt water to pure distilled water. In the mean time (since we won't find better methods overnight), I must agree with above posters, when they say that we should closely monitor our water usage (water meters) and start building a sort of "fallback" (like factories for the production of H2O) up in Siberia or Nunavut on the ocean somewhere.

[Rodri]

The problem isn't a shortage of water. It is just a shortage of available unpolluted fresh (non-saline) water that we face. Only a little bit of water is 'lost' into space from manned flights and the space station but that is statistically insignificant. Why is this so difficult to comprehend? We have the same amount of water now as we ever had. It is just not clean and fresh (non-saline) and readily available. We already know what we need to do. Stop polluting rivers and lakes, stop using sodium based fertilisers and start collecting and conserving more fresh water by making more efficient use of the reserves we have.

[Bree Fletcher]

The problem isn't a shortage of water. It is just a shortage of available unpolluted fresh (non-saline) water that we face. Only a little bit of water is 'lost' into space from manned flights and the space station but that is statistically insignificant. Why is this so difficult to comprehend? We have the same amount of water now as we ever had. It is just not clean and fresh (non-saline) and readily available. We already know what we need to do. Stop polluting rivers and lakes, stop using sodium based fertilisers and start collecting and conserving more fresh water by making more efficient use of the reserves we have.

That works if we assume the population of humans remains stable. But what about for a rapidly-increasing population, hmm?

[Rodri]

How much water do you capture and make use of?
How do use the 'waste water' that you generate?
How could you improve your own water management skills?

These questions can be asked on a personal, community and even national and international level. The Earth's surface is covered by 70-75% water and that doesn't include water in the air, water in the ground or water captured in snow and ice. There is plenty of water for everything if we just learn to treasure it as the basic element of life that it is.

[EDIT] I forgot to mention the water that is inside of all living things, be it a little or be it a lot. [EDIT]