has anyone ever thought about what we would do if we ran out of water?

Question

the reason im asking this question is because i live in georgia and we have a water ban in georgia but we are a main water sorce for alabama and we release water every day into the river for alabama but thay dont have a water ban and thay say at the rate were going we will be out of water in about 3 months

serious answers only please

Answer 1

I feel that some people has answered your question in the up-most ignorance! Do we live in England NO are we discussing England NO ok then the hell with how much water England has glad for you not to have that worry! As far as the one talking about How much of the Earth holds water that's true BUT only about three percent is good for drinking do your research before making smug comments on something you know nothing about! I live in Alabama and I to don't think the ban is fair. Georgia is our main water source and they have to do without while we water lawns and waste water on BS. Everyone needs to consider the future and be realistic if not for yourself for your kids who may need water in there future. So don't ignorant help save our water as much as you can we all require it to live. When its gone and your needing it you ll think twice about that stupid comment you posted on yahoo answers hu!!!

Answer 2

I don't know if this applies to Georgia, but here in California we get most of our rain during the winter. If the same is true for the Southeast then you shouldn't have to worry about running out of water. If fall and winter are the driest seasons, then you should start preparing by buying drinking water from the store right now instead of waiting until the last minute. (Remember to recycle the bottles when they're empty.)

What you do need to worry about is this happening again next year. If people didn't learn anything from this year's drought, and they don't try to conserve water in anyway, then Georgia, Alabama and possibly other states are going to be in some really deep **** next summer/fall.

Answer 3

All water shortages are temporary. When it rains or when the pipes are upgraded or the treatment plant is fixed or whatever, the ban will be lifted. If the population has grown to the point of simply exceeding the local water supply, it is another matter. In that case either people have to move to a wetter area or a massive new aqueduct to some wetter area has to be built. Or each person has to use less water so the same supply can serve more people.

Answer 4

I think about that all the time, which is why I do my best to conserve my water usage. Your situation sounds like what is going on here in California. Southern Cali gets most of its water from Northern Cali, and yet it's NorCal that has to conserve its usage. And do you know what we here in SoCal use most of that water for? Golf courses, country clubs, and private lawns. It is so disgusting to me to see all my neighbors out almost everyday (even right after it rains) watering their disgustingly green yards and english cottage gardens. This is a DRY land people! There is one guy across the street, once a week during the summer he would use his garden hose to clean out the gutters around his house! it makes me so angry, and we are in the middle of a drought.
I just don't understand most people.

Answer 5

Gee that's too bad, I'd stock up on bottled water and fluoride capsules. But for long term solutions we need to as a world and nation develop or use present solar technologies and/or collection vapour systems that changes sea water to fresh drinking water and turns vapour or dew to man-made rivers and indoor streams.

Answer 6

Yes, I would build a solar powered water collector / purifier. I would also build a cistern to collect rainwater. Get rid of the lawn, total waste of water.

Answer 7

Over 60% of the world is covered with water. Don't think it going anywhere!

Answer 8

People have been thinking about that for thousands of years already ,because many places do run out of water part of the year.

We should not only conserve water ,we should also collect it when it rains ,make your lawn and garden receptive to absorb water ,and not let it run off onto the street.

And cars can be washed with rain water ,it does not have to be drinking water.

Here is the whole story on the best way to conserve and harvest water and why

The summary for the garden is mulching and lowering the flower beds
having the paths high so that they form basins that absorb the water .
read on

PERMACULTURE ANSWER ON WATER HARVESTING AND CONSERVATION
WHY SHOULD WE HARVEST WATER
because there is so little that we can use

------------------------------...
25% of the planets surface is land
75%of the surface is water and it is rising

------------------------------...

97%of the Earths water is salt

fresh water is only 3% of all the Earths water
most of it is beyond out reach

now much ice is melting and running into the seas fresh water lost for ever.

STORAGE or Location of % of the fresh water
ice and glaziers 74%
groundwater 800 meters + 13.5 %
groundwater less than 800meters 11.o%
Lakes 0.3%
soils 0.006%
Atmospheric in circulation 0.0035%
rivers 0.03%


frozen land or permafrost is not included and represent an unavailable storage of 40%

so of the 3% about 11.6 ,is easily available to us ,in rivers, lakes and ground water surface aquifers,more and more of this is becoming contaminated

overpopulation of an extra 70 million people a year (increasing all the time )and expanding agriculture ,which uses 70% of available potable water supplies ,has brought the good(sweet) water supplies to critical levels ,some countries have been in trouble already quite a while .

Now climate change and desertification, because of irresponsible agriculture ,overgrazing and deforestation is damaging world fresh water production .

It is a good reason for concern and if we do not rectify matters by changing agricultural methods ,reforest ,stop deforestation,become more economic with water use ,stop producing more people ,stop wasting and contaminating water, we will be in serious trouble all round
and could end up looking like Mars

And these are some of the things we can do
tp conserve water use

EFFICIENT WATER USE

IN THE HOUSE
one can connect the sink straight to the toilet cistern and so use the water twice ,first to have a shave and then to flush the toilet
also if you bend the ball valve you can regulate the level of the cistern

Always have your Grey water and Black water separate,so that the sink and shower water goes directly into the garden saving on irrigation and at the same time ,making the sewage smaller and easier to deal with ,

This also goes and irrigates the garden but via a cistern of two compartments and a French drain ,on which you plant trees,

ON THE LAND
Economic systems of irrigation, like drip irrigation
and water harvesting design, using a lot of stone walls ,that condense water in the night
and planting leafy plants ,for the same purpose,

Building wind breaks ,to counter act the drying effects of the wind and farm towards Aggro forrestal ,using as many trees as possible to limit evaporation .
Using shade nets before we have tree cover

and use MULCH

By cutting down the weeds before they produce seeds and leave them where they fall.
They will cover the ground add even more organic matter on top,(you can use saw dust,leaves green or dry),

And when you plant make a little space and plant in the mulch.this is the easiest quickest and by far most beneficial way(for the quality of you soil)to prepare the land for planting.

To prevent weeds from coming all you have to do it turn out the lights,you can even use cardboard or black plastic(this is good for strawberries because they will rot if they touch humid ground,and the bugs can get to them).

Mulch is organic material green or dry that covers the ground,the thicker the better the composting process will turn it in to black topsoil

The humidity is preserved underneath and promotes the development of worms(there exists no better compost than their excrements)and a variety of micro biotic life which together within the mulch produce more topsoil.

The mulch also keeps the ground temperature even and guards against the impact of the rain ,which would other wise brings salt to the surface if on unprotected land.

Mulch also prevents the soil from drying out because of the sun and,wind erosion.

WATER HARVESTING

As far as catching rain is concerned ,we do this all the time ,and have done so already since Babylonian times,and is a part of the more advanced Agriculture,that existed with the Egyptians,,Moors, Arabs and probably many more

Central ,and South American indigenous people had this idea coupled to their pyramids ,catching the water of the slopes and leading it into tanks or onto the fields .

And many others ,today we call this WATER HARVESTING.

Only Modern Man is totally extravagant with the rain water given ,and complains of the wetness ,letting it run off into the rivers lost forever ,With out even attempting to hold on to it .

And then later complains of not having water ,when times are dryer


In Permaculture the rule is to harvest water to the point of Zero runoff.
This means that all of the rain that falls on an area is absorbed by the terrain and not a drop leaves it.

By building dams,ponds or Swales, with inter connecting ditches,

If there are enough of these ;the places ,where before ,the rain water ran over the ground into the rivers and on to the sea ,in a matter of hours or days.

It now runs into absorbent dams or Swales and saturates the ground and eventually reaches subterranean water deposits ,taking many months to do so.

Or it fills up ponds that can be used for Aquaculture.

And so a convex situation that repels water is transformed in a concave ,absorbent one and turning the area in to a sponge.

In Spain and Portugal ,which still display many examples of the conquering Moorish influence one can find many remnants of Water harvesting,such as Aqueducts and tanks underneath the patios ,which collect the rain water from the roofs ,to be used in dryer times.

In Arabia ,on a large scale ,land has been shaped to catch and lead,rain water into sandy areas or to agricultural lands.sand is almost as good as dams because it absorbs water and holds it.

Here in Mexico we collect the rainwater in our school for sustainable agriculture,but it is too near Acapulco to trust the rain water for drinking ,and this holds true for most places ,so we use it for irrigation.
the rain water from a gutter runs via a filter into a tank.
In Europe in my parents house ,when i was young ,we had a rain barrel,where the water from the gutter ended up .
this was usual in those days ,but i have seen few in modern times.

We can use this action also in other ways ,
for example the roof water via a ditch can run trough the chicken house ,cleaning it and end up fertilizing the vegetable plot(this is called the creation of energy flow.

this water used to be Ok in times gone by before Air pollution ,
Today i would recommend it only for washing and irrigation

for more information on Water Harvesting
read The Permaculture designers manual by Bill Mollison,which cost about 40 dollars.
and is the best all round book you can get,on Environmental design,.(tagiari publishing, [e-mail])

Answer 9

well i live in England and the way it rains here ..........we would all drown first :)