Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 Overview
- 2 Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Global Warming, and Water Resources
- 3 Population, Environmental Impacts, and Climate Change
- 4 Carbon Cycle and the Human Impact
- 5 Peak Oil, Energy, Water, and Climate
- 6 Oil Consumption and CO2 Emissions from Transportation
- 7 Oil, Economy, Power, and Conflicts
- 8 Energy Alternatives and Their Connection to Water and Climate
- 9 The Water Cycle and Global Warming
- 10 Fresh Water Availability, Sanitation Deficit, and Water Usage: Connection to Energy and Global Warming
- 11 Rivers, Lakes, Aquifers, and Dams: Relation to Energy and Climate
- 12 Water Contamination, Energy, and Climate
- 13 Geopolitics of Water and the International Situation
- 14 Water Alternatives
- 15 Global Climate Change: Observations, Modeling, and Predictions
- 16 Energy and Water Challenges and Solutions in a Changing Climate Framework: Commonality, Differences, and Connections
- References
- Index
14 - Water Alternatives
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword
- Introduction
- 1 Overview
- 2 Carbon Dioxide Emissions, Global Warming, and Water Resources
- 3 Population, Environmental Impacts, and Climate Change
- 4 Carbon Cycle and the Human Impact
- 5 Peak Oil, Energy, Water, and Climate
- 6 Oil Consumption and CO2 Emissions from Transportation
- 7 Oil, Economy, Power, and Conflicts
- 8 Energy Alternatives and Their Connection to Water and Climate
- 9 The Water Cycle and Global Warming
- 10 Fresh Water Availability, Sanitation Deficit, and Water Usage: Connection to Energy and Global Warming
- 11 Rivers, Lakes, Aquifers, and Dams: Relation to Energy and Climate
- 12 Water Contamination, Energy, and Climate
- 13 Geopolitics of Water and the International Situation
- 14 Water Alternatives
- 15 Global Climate Change: Observations, Modeling, and Predictions
- 16 Energy and Water Challenges and Solutions in a Changing Climate Framework: Commonality, Differences, and Connections
- References
- Index
Summary
Global water scarcity can no longer be handled in the traditional way by increasing supply, developing new sources, and expanding extraction from existing sources as this approach is not sustainable. New approaches must be adopted to balance supply and demand, including improved water management and conservation, rainwater capture, “virtual water” exchange, and desalination of groundwater and seawater. Many savings can occur through the use of improved irrigation strategies and technology. Despite the water independence that desalination offers, its energy needs and costs are still high, making it a remote possibility for most, and its impacts on the environment are quite concerning.
Introduction
As mentioned in Chapter 10, the world is rapidly moving toward a water crisis, with water scarcity affecting millions of people, particularly the poorest. Water consumption has skyrocketed in most developed and developing countries as a result of a rapidly increasing world economy, irrigation needs of crops to feed a growing population, and augmentation of cities and industries' water demands. Allocation of water to preserve the environment has recently become an added demand placed on oversubscribed water supplies.
A growing water crisis may not always be immediately apparent at the local level when it takes the form of aquifer overpumping and falling water tables. Even so, traditional responses to water scarcity – expansion of supply by building dams and drilling more wells – are now limited.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Oil, Water, and ClimateAn Introduction, pp. 270 - 287Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008