Humans should follow nature and recycle water

Humans should follow nature and recycle water

Som Karamchetty

The amount of water on the earth is constant.

(In fact, this constancy is true of all materials.)

No material comes from heaven and nothing goes out to the hell. Yes! We, on earth, do get energy from the Sun and energy goes out (radiated) to the deep space at night times.

Most of the water on earty is stored in the seas. Sun’s energy (solar radiation) evaporates the salt water from the seas and clouds are formed in the sky. The clouds move to the lands, precipitate as rain or snow, and we get fresh water. Such water enters the rivers and starts its journey towards the seas. The cycle repeats. This is the major recycling and it has a certain period.

As the water is on its way to the sea, we can tap it and use it. In so doing, we contaminate the water and make it unusable (not potable and unsafe). The water, thus polluted, may ultimately reach the seas. Almost every drop of water however it may have been used, is ultimately returned. For example, the water consumed by the human body is returned mostly daily and ultimately, the few hundred pounds that are in the body are also returned when the body ends its life. So is the case with trees.

Likewise, some water is used up by animals, vegetation, and in the production of chemical compounds. But, even such water is returned when their existence period ends.

Water stored in aquifers is returned for earth’s agricultural operations. Water stored in glaciers as ice is returned to the earth  as water when the sun shines

As the global population increases and the sources of contamination and pollution of fresh water from its origin to its destination increase, the amount of water available for consumption is considered to be insufficient.

But, as explained above, water is actually not consumed but it is the rate of fresh water input and polluted water output is greater than the rate at which the evaporation of sea water by solar radiation.

Obviously, in order to have more fresh water available for various uses on the earth, there are four main options available.

a) One of the options is to try to increase the rate of evaporation of sea water to convert it into fresh water, store it, and supply it where it is needed and when it is needed. This is possible to focus solar radiation on the oceans for a longer period or to have more spaces filled with sea waters and expose to solar radiation.

b) The second option is the desalination of seawater.

c) The third option is to recycle the polluted water by cleaning it at each step.

d) The fourth option is to use water in a cascaded fashion, i.e. use degraded water wherever it is safe to use.

d) The fifth option to use sea water where it is useful as is.  

Of course, people may decrease the use of water (conservation).

Conclusion:

Learning from the nature that it is recycling water, people may do the same to address water shortage on earth.

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