Vegetarians Vs. Water Crisis

Not all foods are alike when it comes to water, some take more to produce than others. This was the point that John Anthony Allan, a Professor at the University of London, was trying to make when he gave a lecture in Dubai, on November 8, 2010, addressing the water crisis of the Middle-East. In order to educate on foods impact on water he presented the following points
-Raising requires significant water resources
-can help the “gulf countries’ serious woes”
-vegetarian american consumes half the amount of water that a meat eating american consumes
-beef requires 15,500L of water per kilogram
-chicken requires 3900L of water per kilogram
water necessary to produce food is more than all other uses
-agriculture takes 80 to 90% of the worlds water resources
-Nile and Yellow rivers, who service enormous populations
-People eating less water intensive foods would leave more room for an expanding population

In support of this idea, the animal right organization PETA, has launched a campaign displaying shower curtains which read, “Clean Your Conscience: Go Vegan! 1 lb. of Meat Equals 6 Months of Showers.” Although it’s really not known how accurate this statement is the overall point is there:
-animal agriculture accounts for over half of the fresh water consumption
-This comes from the water which animals drink as well as the accumulation of water used in the crops they eat
-The U.N. has advised global-shift towards plant based diets
-Americans eat on average a half, pound of meat a day
-For 1 pound of beef, you use between 435-2500 Gallons of water
-demand for meat on a global scale is expected to have doubled by 2050. This increase is unsustainable
An omnivore diet uses 4200 gallons a day
A vegetarian diet uses 1200 gallons a day
-A vegan diet uses 300 gallons a day




http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/11/vegetarians-solve-water-crisi/

http://animals.change.org/blog/view/worried_about_the_global_water_crisis_stop_eating_meat

Sterilize Water With the Sun

Tanzanian villagers are sterilizing their water with the sun.

1. seal water in plastic bottle
2. put bottle on black-painted roof
3. wait 8 hours
4. UV rays and heat destroy the bacteria

BBC News, "Using the sun to sterilise water." March 22, 2006.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4786216.stm (accessed November 9 ,2010).

Monty de Luna
November 9, 2010

Citations

Hey everyone!  From now on, add your citations here!.

Public Works and Government Services Canada, "An Architect's Guide for Sustainable Design of Office Buildings." July 10, 2010.http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/biens-property/archtct/page-6-eng.html (accessed November 9, 2010). 



Environment News Service , "World Water Crisis Underlies World Food Crisis." August 18, 2008.http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-18-01.html (accessed November 9, 2010). 


"Typical Range of Water Withdrawals and Consumption for Thermoelectric Plants,"  World Resources Institute, accessed November 9th, 2010, http://www.wri.org/chart/typical-range-water-withdrawals-and-consumption-thermoelectric-power-plants


UNEP/GRID-Arendal, Water Scarcity Index, UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library, http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/water-scarcity-index (Accessed 10 November 2010)

 “Water Scarcity Facing 1/3 of US Counties”, peakwater.org, accessed November 9th, 2010  http://peakwater.org/?p=2239

Architect's Guide to Conserving Water

This article from Public Works and Services Canada has some information on how architects can conserve water in their buildings. For instance, water reuse, water conservation, hot water conservation.


Some general information on water in Canada:
"Canada has 20% of the world's freshwater. On average, Canadians use 390 litres a day each - the second highest water use per capita of all developed countries."
"the cost of water is currently relatively inexpensive, the cost of maintaining the existing infrastructure and providing additional supply to meet increasing demand will manifest itself in increased price of water supply to all users. "


These ideas seem to generally be helpful to us. I've copied over the ones that seem most relevant to us and our creation of an architect's Urban Survival Kit

The key strategies for building water conservation are:

• Using less potable water to accomplish sanitary tasks through the use of more efficient appliances;
• Communicating water use to occupants;
• Using water of lower quality such as reclaimed waste water effluent, grey water, or run-off from ground surfaces for toilet flushing or irrigation.

• Flush valve toilets and automatic flush urinals are the single largest users of water in many buildings. In offices, toilets may account for 50% of total use. This can be easily reduced by 60% by specifying water conserving flush toilets which are now widely manufactured or adjusting flush valves for minimum acceptable volume.
• Full flow lavatory faucets typically deliver 0.25 to 0.3 L/s. Low-flow faucets utilize aeration to function as well or better with far less water. Lower flows achieve a range from 0.03 to 0.16 L/s.-
• Where lavatory fixtures are located remote from the hot water source more water is often wasted to bring hot water over the distance than is actually used for washing.
• Considering the use of electronic proximity devices for controlling lavatory fixtures;
• Shower fixtures should be rated for a maximum flow rate of 0.16 Litres/second;
• Considering the collection, retention and use of rainwater for appropriate applications rather than diverting it to the nearest storm drain.

Building design can assist in informing users of their actual water savings as well as their responsibility by:

• Providing appropriate signage in rest-room to indicate the high priority placed on water conservation;
• Providing water metering in buildings to determine how much water is being consumed.

Building design can assist in informing users of their actual water savings as well as their responsibility by:

• Providing appropriate signage in rest-room to indicate the high priority placed on water conservation;
• Providing water metering in buildings to determine how much water is being consumed.

Grey-water, in combination with rainwater, can be stored, filtered and integrated into the water supply to toilets, with or without the possibility of waste heat recovery. (See Section 3: Site and Landscape)

Building type, size and the number of its occupants plays a large role in determining the quantity of potable water used, waste-water generated and the feasibility of waste water reuse. The amount of grey-water generated in a building is typically directly proportional to the economic feasibility of its reuse when it is treated on site.

Public Works and Government Services Canada, "An Architect's Guide for Sustainable Design of Office Buildings." July 10, 2010.http://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/biens-property/archtct/page-6-eng.html (accessed November 9, 2010).

Posted by Monty de Luna November 9, 2010

Last 6 Blogs shortened

Summary of Our Last 6 Blogs

By 2030, food and energy demand will increase by 50%, fresh water by 30%

Food and agriculture use 70% of water collected from rivers and groundwater, half of this lost to evaporation, half absorbed for plant growth.

Water is major in the energy production energy, from the hydroelectric dams to making use of the change of level in tides.

On Average thermoelectric power withdraw 39% of total withdrawn freshwater in 2000

Water use for thermoelectricity increases over the years.

Irrigation fed water provide 45% of world’s food supplies, irrigation is currently drawing water at rate that is not sustainable.

Of 70% studied cities, half of urban agricultural land irrigated with waste water, creating health risks in the grown food esp in vegetables, cereals, rice

Only 1 percent of water is available for human use, 97.5 percent is salty, most fresh water is frozen, yet studies show careful control of our future actions can prevent a water crisis.

Some more.. background info on water

Water

Water is not being made, or nor is it being used up, but rather we are using more water for many more purposes than before. This creates a problem for people who depend on water for their life, rather than using them for applications and industry, people that need to drink and survive have relatively less water, a crisis that must be answered.

Awareness of water problems is also a crisis. The amount of the world’s population that are oblivious to many of the crises in the world create a blind eye to all the existing problems, not only allowing problems to grow more severe, but also allow corporations to take full advantage without any bothers.

With current trends and methods of water use in agriculture, we cannot support food for the next fifty years.

The average person’s daily diet needs 3000 liters of water converted from liquid to vapour (1 litre per calorie), and about2-5 litres per day for drinking. However, in the future, we will require more water for food, fiber, industrial crops, livestock and fish. The way people consume and how they use water to produce food can all be changed to counteract some water crises.

A canal 10m deep, 100m wide, 7.1mil kilometers long (enough to encircle globe 180 times) is the amount of water needed each year to produce food for 6.5 bil people (today’s population)

Total global freshwater withdrawals per year = 3800 cubic kms, 2700 cubic kms of that (70%) is used for irrigation (agriculture) to produce our food. Althoguh now all the water is “lost”, it goes back to the environment in lower quality than its original state.

0.017% of water available in lakes, inland seas, streams - 2.15% in ice caps and glaciers –fresh

Water

Water is not being made, or nor is it being used up, but rather we are using more water for many more purposes than before. This creates a problem for people who depend on water for their life, rather than using them for applications and industry, people that need to drink and survive have relatively less water, a crisis that must be answered.

Awareness of water problems is also a crisis. The amount of the world’s population that are oblivious to many of the crises in the world create a blind eye to all the existing problems, not only allowing problems to grow more severe, but also allow corporations to take full advantage without any bothers.

With current trends and methods of water use in agriculture, we cannot support food for the next fifty years.

The average person’s daily diet needs 3000 liters of water converted from liquid to vapour (1 litre per calorie), and about2-5 litres per day for drinking. However, in the future, we will require more water for food, fiber, industrial crops, livestock and fish. The way people consume and how they use water to produce food can all be changed to counteract some water crises.

A canal 10m deep, 100m wide, 7.1mil kilometers long (enough to encircle globe 180 times) is the amount of water needed each year to produce food for 6.5 bil people (today’s population)

Total global freshwater withdrawals per year = 3800 cubic kms, 2700 cubic kms of that (70%) is used for irrigation (agriculture) to produce our food. Althoguh now all the water is “lost”, it goes back to the environment in lower quality than its original state.

0.017% of water available in lakes, inland seas, streams - 2.15% in ice caps and glaciers -fresh

Charles Ye

bibliography coming this way