Global Crisis of WATER Food and Energy

Water shortages are predicted across large parts of Africa, Europe and Asia

Growing world population will cause a "perfect storm" of food, energy and water shortages by 2030, the UK government chief scientist has warned.

By 2030 the demand for resources will create a crisis with dire consequences, Prof John Beddington said.

Demand for food and energy will jump 50% by 2030 and for fresh water by 30%, as the population tops 8.3 billion, he told a conference in London.

Climate change will exacerbate matters in unpredictable ways, he added.

'Complacent'

"It's a perfect storm," Prof Beddington told the Sustainable Development UK 09 conference.

"There's not going to be a complete collapse, but things will start getting really worrying if we don't tackle these problems."

Prof Beddington said the looming crisis would match the current one in the banking sector.

"My main concern is what will happen internationally, there will be food and water shortages," he said.

"We're relatively fortunate in the UK; there may not be shortages here, but we can expect prices of food and energy to rise."

The United Nations Environment Programme predicts widespread water shortages across Africa, Europe and Asia by 2025.

The amount of fresh water available per head of the population is expected to decline sharply in that time.

The issue of food and energy security rose high on the political agenda last year during a spike in oil and commodity prices.

McGourty, Christine, "Global crisis to strike by 2030," BBC News, March 19, 2009. Accessed November 8, 2010.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/7951838.stm

General connections between water, food and energy

Food and agriculture are the main consumers of water around the world,
using 70% of water collected from rivers and groundwater.

Of this amount, only half is truly absorbed for plant growth; most is lost
through evaporation.

In terms of the food industry, water is applied not only for
irrigation purposes but also for livestock.

As the world population increases, the amount of water required for
the necessary food production will increase proportionally.

Currently, cereals are the major type of food consumed around the world; however,
it is livestock such as cattle that ingest the most water per head.

A large percentage of the water used in irrigation is collected
through rainfall, so, as a result, the amount of water used is different for every region.

Agricultural practices differs greatly around the globe according to
climate and precipitation, not to mention established infrastructure.

Aside from it's use in the food industry, water has been a driving
force behind energy production.

In earlier times, the movement of running water was harnessed to provide the impetus behind the rotation of wheels such as in mills or steamboats. Its importance has continued well into the electrical age, as hydropower continues to provide
energy for the modern lifestyle.

The most typical practice of hydroelectricity involves the damming of lakes in a reservoir and
releasing the water through generators or turbines.

Alternate practices involving the ocean take advantage of the following:
the differing levels of tides, the oscillating motion of the waves,
and the difference in temperature of cold deep ocean water and warm
surface water.

Finally, there is the development of projects involving
salt water and algae growth, the purposes of which are to harness
solar power and provide fuel, respectively.


by eveline lam. 20387752
done on november 8.


BIBLIO

Lenntech. "Use of water in food and agriculture." Accessed November 1, 2010. http://www.lenntech.com/water-food-agriculture.htm.

GDRC.org. "Water as an Energy Source: Wave, Tide and Hydroelectric Energy." Accessed November 1, 2010. http://www.gdrc.org/uem/energy/water-energy.html.

Peak Water Crisis and Aquifer Depletion

The term "peak water" is analogous to the term "peak oil."  It refers to a point at which the withdrawal rate and demand of water is the highest level, after which it drops due to shortness in supply.
Today, humans already use 50% of freshwater flows directly or indirectly, and 1/3 of the world's population live in areas experiencing moderate to high water stress.
The UN predicts that by 2020, water use will increase by 40% and 17% more water will be required to produce food for the growing population.
According to a study by the UNEP in 2007, by 2025, 1.8 billion people in the world will be living in regions with absolute water scarcity and 2/3 of people will be living in conditions where the water supply is stressed.

When drawing comparisons between the oil crisis and water crisis, we can note that both oil and freshwater supplies are finite.  However, oil is non-renewable and consumptive (after it is used, it changes into heat and other byproducts), while water is a renewable resource on a  global level and not consumptive.
As well, oil as a source of energy can be substituted by other resources, but water cannot be substituted for the purposes it serves.
.
-http://www.worldwater.org/data20082009/Table1.pdf <-- See this document for  values of how much water is available per square kilometer in every country worldwide.

Aquifer depletion in relation to Peak Water
Aquifers are localized points of water underground that renew very slowly--- far slower than required to replace stocks used.

Citation
Gleick, Peter H., and Meena Palaniappan. The World's Water. Island's Press, 2009. Accessed November 8th, 2010. http://www.worldwater.org/data20082009/ch01.pdf

Mona Dai Nov 8th, 2010

Ten Things You Should Know on Water and Energy

1. Cars with soy based bio fuels use 6000 times more water than conventional fuel
2. One barrel of oil from the Alberta tar sands consumes 185 cubic feet of water, 4400 lbs of soil, 700-1200 cubic feet of natural gas, and produces 170 lbs of greenhouse gases
3. An average American home draws 370 000 gallons of water and consumes another 15 000 if fueled from a coal plant
4. Carbon capture technology (removing carbon from the atmosphere) requires energy. Even with methods consuming low amounts of water, it would still increase demands 40-50% by 2030 (80% if coal fueled)
   
5. In 2005, the Energy Bill exempted natural gas drillers from following EPA guidelines including disclosing the use of chemicals under the Safe Drinking Water Act
6. Solar Thermal Plants draw 98% less water, however, consume 85-270% more
7. Wind power consumes less than 2 gallons of water per Megawatt-hour of production, saving the American Wind Energy Association 20 billion gallons of water in 2009
8. The output of the Hoover Dam in 1999 was 5.5 billion kilowatt hours, in 2009 this dropped to 3.7
9. Nuclear steam turbines that use a closed loop stream system (this essentially is recycling water consumed by cooling it and putting it back in the system) save up to 58,900 gallons of water usage.
10. By 2050, energy usage will increase 40% according to the US Energy Information Agency

Townsend, Mark. "Infographic: 10 Things You Should Know About Water and Energy." September 22,2010.http://www.circleofblue.org/waternews/2010/world/infographic-10-things-you-should-know-about-water-energy/ (accessed November 7, 2010).

Post by Monty de Luna on November 8, 2010

HYDROPOWER

• Electrical energy derived from falling or running water
• Water pressure is used to turn blades of turbine connected to a generator, which converts the mechanical energy into electricity
• 2004: Canada was to top hydropower producer in the world (12% of world production)
• British Columbia, Manitoba, and Quebec generate more than 75% of their power through hydroelectricity

CAPTURING AND USING HYDROPOWER

• Two types: 1. Impound water behind a dam, 2. Divert water into a channel parallel to the river (run-of-water hydropower plants)
• Hydroelectric plants can be made on existing dams
• Run-of-water plants have a lower affect environments and communities of water
• Hydropower is extremely flexible; water is led to a vertical tube that delivers it to turbines. Hydropower plants then respond quickly to variable demands by releasing or diverting more water. Water can be reserved at low order for peak demands by dams.
• Small hydropower systems have lower environmental and social affects, and are preferred over larger ones
• Larger plants offer the ability to reserve water for electricity generation as required

The Pembina Institute, "Energy Source: Hydropower." http://www.pembina.org/re/sources/hydro-power (accessed November 7, 2010).

Water not only makes food, but food comes from the water

Water and Energy Rely on Each Other

Water is essential to many activities in the home including washing, cleaning, cooking, drinking and recreation. Industrial processes rely on water for cooling, chemical solvents, cleaning, just to name a few. Forty percent of the worlds’ food is produced from irrigated lands [1]. However, much of this would not be possible without energy; which is a critical input to pump, move, and treat the water required by municipalities, industries and agriculture. Ironically, however, much of this energy would not be available without water to turn turbines, wash inputs, or cool equipment. Thus in many cases use of one resource is inextricably linked to use of the other – hence, the energy-water nexus.

Decades of overuse of energy and water resources, and continued wasteful habits, have led to cumulative environmental degradation that cannot be easily reversed; polluted surface waters, depleted aquifers, loss of biological diversity, and climate change being just a few of the problems to which we have contributed. Through all of this, we have forgotten to take into account that our resources are not limitless.

In many areas, groundwater levels in aquifers that contain fossil water, and do not recharge quickly, have fallen dramatically due to excess withdrawals. Fossil fuel and coal reserves are being relentless mined and in many cases activities must now turn to reserves that previously were deemed either too low in quality or uneconomic to extract. These resources are not renewable. And yet we still over-consume.
Driven by laws of supply and demand, resources continue to be over-extracted and prices continue to rise (figure 1 below). Considering that fossil fuels and coal make up 54% of the secondary energy supply1 the United States [2, 3], a rise in the cost of these will impact the cost of products and services which rely on energy from fossil fuels, including the cost of water. In fact, since 2002 real end-use prices have been increasing mainly due to increases in crude oil prices [3]. Canada is fortunate that the majority of its electricity is produced via hydroelectric generation, however about 20% does come from fossil fuels [4] and thus susceptible to the same price impact.

Climate change throws a wrench into the mix. It is anticipated that as climate changes, water resources will be altered; potentially reducing their quality, quantity, and accessibility [5]. This in turn will require increased energy inputs to purify water of lower quality or pump water from greater depths or distances. Increased energy use will potentially lead to greater greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, Canada’s hydroelectricity sector could be affected forcing Canada to turn to other energy sources with higher emissions. All of this would ultimately reinforce climate change and create a vicious circle. Thus the imperative to ratchet-down the energy-water nexus and make it more efficient is even more pressing.

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:K-73E6qlkF0J:www.policyresearch.gc.ca/doclib/Thirlwell_energy_water_nexus.pdf+water+and+energy&hl=en&gl=ca&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgnAyotszTgkVfHM1q7dSlxKSvHDtEgzVCNLG-By0oGbnEIv0XW3AvZv3WO3qWbYKyun_xt_I5-jfOpSz5RgxOMeP0D-FbhvDgtTvYIBTKZqpScuCcuh7wArb1oeH3L58sTH5pS&sig=AHIEtbT-OY9R9CfuVRUPlJYf33fJ1WFv-A