http://permaculturenews.org/20...
More about water from a permaculture perspective.
QUOTE:
A Fragile Resource?
Much of current thinking (see for example 1) emphasizes the fragility of our access to water and the dangers of using too much of it.
“Save water,” we are told; the implication being “This is a finite resource – be careful of using it up!”
This notion of scarcity and wastefulness is akin to the perception of fossil fuels and their use, but when examined closely it can be seen that as a resource water behaves somewhat differently.
We use fossil fuels by burning them up; changing them into something totally different which cannot be (with current technology) reconstituted back into what it was.
Their replenishment runs on a different time scale: what we can burn in a matter of minutes is being recreated right now, but will not be ready for use, in all probability, for a few million years or so.
The water cycle, however, is on a timescale comprehensible to human lives. It does not rain oil, but the cycle of water is constantly going round and round. It is also, in spite of all the harmful substances which we fill it with, almost infinitely re-cleanable – even sewage water can be purified to become drinking water (2) – so that we can keep using it again and again.
Whatever we drink goes out of our bodies, into the soil or sea and then back up into the air again; the same goes for any water which flows away.
Using Water Well
Knowing this does not necessarily mean we should be leaving taps running all the time, or use water for things which may not be appropriate e.g. drinking water to flush toilets. It is simply a recognition that in order to truly appreciate and thus effectively manage such an important resource we need to see it as what it is and treat it accordingly. This involves respecting it as well as respecting the fact that, regardless of any appearance of scarcity, it can be found pretty much anywhere on earth.
Water makes up much of this planet and is present in large amounts in all life forms on it (3); wherever it goes, it comes back around. The only times when this becomes a problem are when we cause large unbalances in the way in which water works. For example, some groundwater exists in places where there used to be much more humidity but now there is not (known as fossil water); so when such water is used it must be at a slow enough rate that it can be replenished, or it can cause the entire water table in the area to drop and so create less of a resource (4). This is something which needs to be considered in particular in places such as the Sahara Desert, where there is a growing demand for modern water extraction techniques which are perhaps not always conscientious of water usage (5). On the other hand, if as many scientists argue (6) the ice caps are melting, then rather than running out of this resource we are in fact in for an overabundance.
From this perspective the idea of not wasting water is relevant only in terms of efficient planning and distribution.
It is physically possible for everyone to have access to water; it is simply that often the organisation of this, for many reasons including financial-based ones, does not always take everyone into account. . . ..
