The Mystery of Water Same water you just used is 4 billion years old Cosmic Water Molecular Water We don’t need to fully understand it, we must acknowledge.

The Big Thirst

The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water

Author: Charles Fishman

Presentation by: Ryan Carter

The Mystery of Water• Same water you just

used is 4 billion years old

• Cosmic Water

• Molecular Water

We don’t need to fully understand it, we must acknowledge the problem we now face…

Golden Age Fading

• We will not be able to take water for granted much longer

•  Water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century

• Many regions are becoming scarce of water

• India and scarcity impacting economics and education

Take Notes from Australia

• Climate change and increasing population

• Becoming less reliant on rainfall

• Perth, Australia

• Waste water treatment to re-inject into aquifers (natural filtration)

• Saying that the US should pay attention to the crisis because something similar might become prevalent

Devastating Reality

• Aquifers are being over-pumped, causing widespread declines in groundwater levels

• The Colorado River in the western United States and the Yellow River in China will soon no longer reach the sea

• Half of the world’s wetlands have been lost to development

• The world’s water is increasingly becoming degraded in quality, threatening the health of people and ecosystems and increasing the cost of treatment

• Around 780 million people around the globe still lack access to clean water

Hope is on the Way

• IBM, GE, and Royal Caribbean are creating new innovative designs with water productivity

• Seventy percent of all the water we use globally is for agriculture, and we first have to become a lot more efficient with new methods

• The United National General Assembly has recognized "the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights."

Surprising Statistics• On average, an American uses 450

gallons of water daily…just on cooking meals!

• Even electricity requires water – 250 gallons per day

• Water controls everything: from launching a space shuttle to keeping you alive

• 1 in 9 people world wide do not have access to safe and clean drinking water

• In developing countries, as much as 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions

• Of all the water on the earth, humans can use only about three tenths of the water. Such usable water is found in groundwater aquifers, rivers, and freshwater lakes

Main Message

“Many civilizations have been crippled or destroyed by an inability to understand water or manage it. We have a huge advantage over the generations of people who have come before us, because we can understand water and we can use it smartly.”

• Simply recognize there is a problem with scarcity…

But why is it so difficult to achieve?

• History has shown that humans have the ingenuity to solve water issues. There is enough water, but how we manage it and how willing we are to change our habits will determine the quality of life

Questions?