Precious but Elusive Water can't be manufactured

Water is One of the Most Important Natural Resources On Earth

Nov 4, 2009 Rhonda Chalmers

Many countries suffer from lack of water because of ever changing weather patterns throughout the world

Over the past ten to twenty years countries around the world have been experiencing extreme weather pattern changes, causing major water shortages in usual catchment areas.

China, Australia and to a lesser degree, New Zealand have all recently suffered drought conditions. Because weather patterns have changed so much over the last decade that the usual catchment areas have been by-passed by rainfall.

Consequences of Changing Weather Patterns

Australia’s weather patterns have changed so much so that it has been called the hottest place on earth, and is expected to get hotter. The extreme dry conditions are causing huge fires in New South Wales, Queensland and Perth, and sand storms in eastern Australia (NSW and Queensland) can have catastrophic consequences. Existing dams in Queensland are not getting rainfall in the same areas as they did in the past, so new dams and pipelines are being built in new catchment areas. This is causing major upheaval for residents in towns where the dams are planned as their township will be buried under water with residents having to relocate.

The Murray River, in Australia, has all but dried up and lack of water is threatening farming and agriculture along its shores. There has been widespread criticism recently regarding the farming industry using the water for irrigation even though it was widely known the river was not being replenished, whilst in the mean time nothing was being done to save it.

China has 6% of the world’s water resources, their average ground water levels decline by approximately 1meter per year. It was reported recently that because of lack of rain China resorted to injecting chemicals into clouds above Beijing to precipitate the clouds hoping for rain; instead they received snow and suffered temperatures of around -15 degrees. Rain was expected later in the week.

Until recently New Zealand had not needed to worry about water shortages. However, South Canterbury, in the South Island has very hot dry summers and lies at the foot of the Southern Alps. There are many underground aquifers from the runoff of the alps but the aquifers are running low because of over-use and lack of rain recently, much the same as the Murray River, although not as critical yet as New Zealand does have plenty of water reserves.

Alternative Climatic Solutions Needed

It has been assumed that as long as aquifers are being monitored and farmers and agriculturalists are allocated their yearly rations, there should not be water shortages, but authorities in charge have failed to understand that with changes in weather patterns, reservoirs of the world won’t necessarily be refilled in the near future. The consequences of all take, no give, could be catastrophic for planet earth.

Dams and aquifers are filled by rainfall, with low rainfall comes low permeability and porosity in underground rock systems, giving low fluid transfer, thus, the likelihood of finding a good aquifer (confined or unconfined) or dam catchment area becomes less and less likely, especially around urban areas. Aquifers and dams can store and transmit significant amounts of water, but can also be easily exploited if not monitored. they can also suffer from lack of rainfall. Finding large aquifers in countries such as China and Australia, given their great expanse, has never been more important. However, as parts of the earth dry up with lack of rainfall, the likelihood of finding them diminishes.

Although building new pipelines, desalination plants and injecting clouds does seem a little extreme, it may be something some countries have to get used to until a more attractive idea comes forward. Perhaps some forethought and action is needed before it is too late. It has been suggested that wars will be fought over ownership of water; hopefully this won’t come to pass.

Sources:

Duncan, Phillip. "Cloud seeding: Can humans really make it rain?", New Zealand Herald, June 11 2008.

Vidal, John. "Aussie dust storms may help save planet." New Zealand Herald, September 28 2009.

The copyright of the article Precious but Elusive Water can't be manufactured in Geology/Ecology is owned by Rhonda Chalmers. Permission to republish Precious but Elusive Water can't be manufactured in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Southern Alps, NZ