We can no longer waste water like Romans « Water Quality and Security. I am happy to present fellow blogger and author, David Zetland, of the Aguanomics blog and The End of Abundance: economic solutions to water scarcity. This week David agreed to lend his expertise to the community on the topics of water pricing, reducing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) and incentives to induce change. I hope you enjoy, and please check out his blog for more great insights. Here we go… Around the world, urban water suppliers use similar technology: the pipes, pumps and valves that move water from central treatment plants to household taps.
But that doesn’t mean that taps aren’t open somewhere else in the system that serves our houses. The industry uses the term “non revenue water” (NRW) to refer to water that’s lost, stolen or not paid for. Most water managers know their NRW statistics. Indifferent managers usually pay more attention to NRW when their supplies are limited or when water is expensive. There are many ways to reduce NRW. Like this: Like Loading... Peak Water: What Is it -- and Are We There Yet? | Water. January 27, 2011 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. Peak water is coming. In some places, peak water is here. We're never going to run out of water -- water is a renewable natural resource (mostly). Water Number: Three (3) definitions of "peak water. " Peak Renewable Water: This is the limit reached when humans take the entire renewable flow of a river or stream for our use.
Increasingly, we are reaching peak renewable limits on many of our rivers and streams. Peak Non-Renewable Water: While much of our water supply is renewable, there are "non-renewable" water sources as well, where our use of water depletes or degrades the source. Peak Ecological Water: The third definition, and perhaps the most important (and difficult) one, is peak "ecological" water -- the point where any additional human uses cause more harm (economic, ecological, or social) than benefit.
Aquifers: Deep waters, slowly drying up. A global shortage. Not all wet As we in water-rich countries take our daily showers, water the lawn or laze about in the pool, it's easy to forget that fresh water is a life-or-death issue in many parts of the world. Of a population of roughly 6.1 billion, more than 1 billion lack access to potable water. The World Health Organization says that at any time, up to half of humanity has one of the six main diseases -- diarrhea, schistosomiasis, or trachoma, or infestation with ascaris, guinea worm, or hookworm -- associated with poor drinking water and inadequate sanitation. About 5 million people die each year from poor drinking water, poor sanitation, or a dirty home environment -- often resulting from water shortage (see "Tackling the Big Three" in the bibliography).
Parched places One glance at the map tells you that water is shortest in equatorial countries, often where populations are rising. "They're disgraceful, unusable, industrial sewers," says de Villiers. Can't anyone get along? Global Water Shortage: Water Scarcity & The Importance of Water.