If we've always had the same amount of water on this earth, and it obviously gets recycled, how are we ever "wasting it"?? Just wondering, cus wouldnt it just get recycled again?
2007-10-24 09:09:28 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
it takes mad amounts of money to 'recycle' it but good point
2007-10-24 09:11:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
The big problem with water is making it usable and available. You can't drink sea water without some serious purification, and if you're 100 miles from the nearest fresh water source, piping it in is expensive. Even if you have your own well, you can run out of water under the right circumstances. Purifying water for consumption takes some effort, and that cost is passed on to you in one way or another. Where they tend to howl most about wasting water is where water is scarce, or purification facilities are limited. You probably wouldn't want to drink water straight from your local frog pond. You will also have a certain amount of energy expenditure with water transport and purification. I think the ugly one, though, is hot water. If you're wasting hot water, you actually are wasting both energy and money, unless you've got a solar hot water system. Then you're just wasting the small amount of money required to supply you with water. BTW, I'm not an environmentalist wacko. I'm talking suppy side economics here. We're talking money when we're talking about wasting water.
2007-10-24 16:20:18 · answer #2 · answered by ima_super_geek 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is always a certain amount of 'loss' in any closed system. Also, it takes TIME for the water to get recycled -- and it does not always return to the same place. So, if you have an aquifer under a highly populated area, for example, and a drought (like in southern Delaware), the aquifer is being depeleted faster than it can be replenished. So people that continue to wash cars and water lawns -- are truly 'wasting' our water.
2007-10-24 16:13:05 · answer #3 · answered by Yahzmin ♥♥ 4ever 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Water is not always "recycled", water that we drink is not recycled for drinking water, ocean water is rarley processed for drinking water, sewage is processed, seperated and the safe liquid form is placed back into the ocean. The earth has only a small percentage of fresh water.
2007-10-24 16:15:34 · answer #4 · answered by audra h 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
True, but it's not always in the same place. Take the current drought in the south, a lot of regions really really need their reservoirs of their public water systems filled up now. There is no guarantee it's ever going to rain again...
2007-10-24 16:13:01 · answer #5 · answered by It's the hair 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yeah, good point, but I think it takes a really, really long time to get recycled. Plus, water is not evenly distributed across the globe. In Las Vegas, they have to work harder to get it, for example.
2007-10-24 16:14:42 · answer #6 · answered by VirtualElvis 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, people just say stop wasting water because they have to pay for it monthly. The only way to efficiently "waste" water, would be to send it into space and let it float off.
2007-10-24 16:13:09 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Water comes in three forms, liquid(Rain), Gas(water vapor and solid (ice). When it rains, the water can be absorbed into the ground for hundreds of years. Ice and snow could be locked into glaciers and ice caps for centuries. Water vapor rises until it's cooled enough to form water droplets and rains.
M. Clark
2007-10-28 04:16:51 · answer #8 · answered by angry_swan 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We don't have that much usable water at our disposal. We can't drink ocean water and if you waste water and it runs off into the street, it ends up evaporating and cycling into the environment, not into the sanitation system that makes water reusable again.If you waste water period, you end up with less usable water.
2007-10-24 16:15:39 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
not all is recycled. If you send out more than you are taking in you will have a deficit.
2007-10-24 16:13:18 · answer #10 · answered by smars442002 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋