An Oceanographer And The Water Cycle

SPURS Chief Scientist Ray Schmitt has been thinking about the salt in the ocean for a long time. He did his PhD thesis on an unusual form of mixing called “salt fingers,” which we will discuss in a later post. This small scale mixing process led him to consider the origins of the ocean salinity contrasts that we see around the world.

It’s fairly obvious that salty waters arise from high evaporation regions and fresher waters originate from high rainfall areas or river flows into the ocean. But it turns out that accurate estimates of evaporation and rainfall over the ocean were hard to come by. For a long time, it was a relatively neglected research topic. Many meteorologists were only concerned about how much it rained on land and few seemed to care if it rained on the ocean. Pulling together the best data he could, Ray found that, in fact, the ocean completely dominated the global water cycle. The terrestrial part, so important to us on a daily basis, is a much smaller piece. The oceans hold 97 percent of the Earths free water, the atmosphere only 0.001 percent. The oceans provide 86 percent of global evaporation and receive 78 percent of all rainfall. The total of all river flows into the ocean sums to less than 10 percent of global ocean evaporation. Clearly, if one wants to find out what the water cycle is doing, one should be looking at the oceans. The traditional fixation on the terrestrial water cycle is understandable, but risks missing the big picture. It seems that the tail is wagging the dog in terms of research on the global water cycle!

A traditional view of the water cycle.

The oceanographers’ view of the water cycle.

Of course, one of the most important questions for climate change is what the water cycle will do with continued warming. Basic physics tells us that a warmer atmosphere will hold more water vapor, so an intensified water cycle is expected. Oceanographers should be able to assess any trend in the water cycle if we do a good job in monitoring ocean salinity. On land, man has altered every watershed with dams, groundwater irrigation, deforestation and human consumption. But the ocean’s mostly unaltered and its salinity field provides insight into the vast majority of the pristine natural water cycle. The ocean has its own rain gauge in the form of salinity, and our task in SPURS is to learn how to read it.

The combination of the global coverage from Aquarius for surface salinity, detailed process studies in the ocean like SPURS, and sophisticated high-resolution computer models working in concert open up the oceanic water cycle to careful scientific examination.

Aquarius salinity data from the first week of September 2012.

A SPURS Waveglider begins its journey to study upper ocean salinity.

We are begging to deploy the array of instruments on the ship and they are starting their year-long mission to examine the ocean salinity variations. Our challenge is to understand the detailed picture of salinity that will be painted by the various sensors and to make sense of this in the larger picture of the global water cycle.

earthobservatory.nasa.gov

Water Under a Troubled Bridge

The Yangtze River dolphin, or baiji, is functionally extinct. And the Yangtze River porpoise, or jiangzhu, seems set to meet the same fate. For all we know, the law of the survival of the fittest is at work here.

But is it? Doesn't evolution usually take thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of years to have its effects? The Yangtze River, according to many experts, is 45 million years old. The baiji evolved about 20 millions years later. It took another 5 million years for it to swim from the Pacific Ocean into the Yangtze and make its permanent home there. Yet it has only taken a few decades for it to become functionally extinct.

Many would argue that almost the same fate befell the dodos and yet the world hasn't been any poorer for it.

The main value of the Yangtze is its water (and fish), they would say. It still carries millions of cubic meters of water every year, slaking the thirst of the land and its people.

So what if it runs wild at times?

There would have been no cause for worry if China had enough fresh water to meet its demands.

But how could China possibly be running out of water? Look at its great rivers and giant lakes and the massive glaciers the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is home to. And don't forget the torrents of water it receives when the heavens open up, as we saw in Beijing on July 21. And remember China is sixth from the top on the global list of water resources.

Yet the fact remains that China, like many other countries, faces a water shortage that threatens to slow down its socio-economic development.

The problem is not new. But the country's changing demographics and fast paced economic development have made it more complex.

For instance, despite having the sixth largest reserve (resource) of water, China's per capita availability of freshwater is only one-fourth of the world average. Also, the demand for water in China has increased many fold in the past three decades, thanks to its high rate of economic development and urbanization.

The lion's share of the water used in China goes to agriculture. In fact, the agriculture sector accounts for two-thirds of the water used in the country. Perhaps modern technology can reduce farmers' reliance on water. But will that be enough?

If the demographics have changed, so has the climate. Droughts or drought-like conditions have becoming more frequent, proving a drag on the country's economy. Floods, too, have harmed the country's economic growth.

This lopsided focus on GDP and other economic indicators is precisely where the trouble lies. We place too much importance on economic graphs and economic growth rates. We seem to believe that we can make do with bottled water if tap water is in short supply.

China has achieved great things on many fronts. Its economy has boomed for more than three decades. It is still booming compared with the rest of the world. It has pulled hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. But it still cannot guarantee later generations will have enough water.

The United Nations climate negotiations will resume in Bangkok on Aug 30 and continue until Sept 5. Experts fear that the average temperature could increase by up to 6C by the end of this century, making the planet unlivable. The "informal" negotiations may not necessarily have a bearing on the formal UN Climate Change Conference scheduled for November in Doha, Qatar, but their focus again seems to be on abstract topics such as carbon trade and countries' commitment to tackling climate change rather than concrete things such as the availability of water.

Of course, rising temperatures will be discussed, but the talks leave no room for water, even though it could be almost "functionally" unavailable by the turn of this century if we do not stop wasting it now.

What has been the elixir of life for millenniums, it seems, has come to be taken for granted. And that is dangerous.

By Op Rana@europe.chinadaily.com

Earth's Water Cycle

Water is the fundamental ingredient for life on Earth. Looking at our Earth from space, with its vast and deep ocean, it appears as though there is an abundance of water for our use. However, only a small portion of Earth's water is accessible for our needs.

Flow: For Love of Water

How did a handful of corporations steal our water?

Water is the very essence of life, sustaining every being on the planet. 'Flow' confronts the disturbing reality that our crucial resource is dwindling and greed just may be the cause.

Everyone is entitled to water as they are air. Water is fundamental to life. Farmers need water to grow their crops and animals. An economy needs water to grow.

Regions Where Water Disputes Are Fuelling Tensions

SOUTH ASIA

India is home to three major river systems — the Ganges, Brahmaputra and the Indus — which support 700 million people. As an upstream nation, it controls water flows to Bangladesh to the east and Pakistan to the west. The Indus supplies some 80 percent of Pakistan’s irrigated land.

India and Pakistan are both building hydropower dams in disputed Kashmir along Kishanganga river. Pakistan fears India’s dams will disrupt water flows.

India, for its part, is concerned that China is building dams along the Tsangpo river, which runs into India as the Brahmaputra.

CENTRAL ASIA

Central Asia is one of the world’s driest places, where, thanks to 70 years of Soviet planning, growing thirsty crops such as cotton and grain remain the main source of income for most people.

Disputes over water use from the Syr Daria and Amu Daria rivers have increased since independence in 1991. Problems are compounded by rising nationalism and lack of progress on a regional approach to replace Soviet-era systems of water management.

Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan need more water for growing populations and farming, while economically weaker Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan want more control for hydropower and irrigation.

Afghanistan, linked to Central Asia by the Amu Daria, is claiming its own share of the water.

NILE BASIN

The countries of the Nile basin are Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Egypt and Sudan control more than 90 percent of the Nile’s waters due to colonial-era and other treaties but others in the basin want a bigger share.

Demand for irrigation has risen, with millions of hectares leased for large-scale farming. Dams have complicated access to water.

Water needs are expected to rise as the Nile basin population is projected to reach 654 million by 2030, up from 372 million in 2005, according to UN estimates.

TIGRIS-EUPHRATES RIVER SYSTEM

The Tigris-Euphrates basin is mainly shared by Turkey, Syria and Iraq, with many Tigris tributaries originating in Iran.

Iraq, struggling with water shortages due to aridity and years of drought, says hydroelectric dams and irrigation in Turkey, Iran and Syria have reduced the water flow in both rivers.

Increasing desertification, especially in Iraq, is compounding problems. A large amount of Euphrates’ waters evaporate due to extreme heat. Contamination from pesticides, discharge of untreated sewage and excess salinity due to low water levels are all common.

Iraq, Syria and Iran want more equitable access and control from Turkey, where almost 98 percent of Euphrates waters originate. Despite some cooperation on common management, a final agreement has yet to be reached.

JORDAN RIVER BASIN

The river basin is highly stressed due to aridity in Jordan, Israel and Palestinian Territories.

All three discharge untreated or poorly treated sewage. The Mountain Aquifer – a key fresh water source for West Bank Palestinians and major Israeli cities – is threatened by decades of over-exploitation and groundwater pollution.

Despite efforts to cooperate, agreements to share water resources are complicated by the long-stalled Middle East peace process. Israel dominates the Palestinian water economy.

MEKONG RIVER BASIN

Most Mekong countries, especially China, have been planning and building hydropower dams since the late 1980s.

Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam argue that China diverts or stores more than its fair share of water due to dam-building on the Upper Mekong.

There is growing concern about serious environmental damage to agriculture, fisheries and food security for some 60 million people due to plans by Laos and Cambodia to build more than 10 dams along the Lower Mekong.

Despite cooperation efforts by Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam through the Mekong River Commission, national interests are getting in the way of joint river management.

Water Politics

Beautiful Free Posters: Water Cycle and Pollinators

I keep writing about how much planning I’m doing behind the scenes.  One of the units we’ll be doing this year is on water. As I was searching through various resources I came across this really beautiful poster of the Water Cycle. We will hang this and the one below in our homeschool room.  I just wanted to share these links in case anyone else might find it useful for their homeschool room or classroom at school.

You can request your own free poster/s from the US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. It took just a few days for ours to arrive. I’ll let you see the poster below and will place the link below that.

Water Cycle Poster

               Click here to order your free copy of the Water Cycle Poster.

A year or so ago, Brenda over at Homeschool Bits told everyone about a World of Pollinators poster.  The 2012 pollinators poster is now out. It’s called Pollinator Pathways. It is also offered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Click here for your free Pollinator Pathways poster.

If you want more information about pollinators, you might be interested in this Pollinator Information Pack. It’s a pdf download which explains why pollinators are so important since they are crucial to the production of fruit, nuts, berries and more.

A very generous offer from Parents Magazine

Over 30 Years of Global Soil Moisture Observations for Climate Applications

This map shows global soil moisture for August 2010 as measured by ESA’s SMOS mission. Oranges and yellows represent dry soils, while blues are more moist. (Credit: ESA)

Water held in soil plays an important role in the climate system. The dataset released by ESA is the first remote-sensing soil moisture data record spanning the period 1978 to 2010 -- a predecessor of the data now being provided by ESA's SMOS mission.

The datasets are now available to the science community for feedback analyses and climate model validation.

The amount of water held in global soils makes up only about 0.001% of the total water found on Earth.

It is crucial for plant growth, but is also linked to our weather and climate. This is because soil moisture is a key variable controlling the exchange of water and energy between the land and the atmosphere: dry soil emits little or no moisture to the atmosphere.

The water cycle

A recently detected decline in the global evaporation trend could, for example, directly be explained by limited moisture supply.

The relationship between soil moisture and the climate system is not yet fully understood, and global long-term soil moisture observations have so far not been available. That means the evaluation of climate models with regard to the drying and wetting trends and associated feedbacks with temperature is still difficult in many regions worldwide.

In 2009, ESA launched a dedicated satellite mission, SMOS, that provides high quality and direct measurements of soil surface soil moisture. While the key applications for SMOS data are weather forecasting, hydrology and water management, the mission also provides data in near-real time for operational applications.

However, to address the current lack of historical long-term soil moisture data for climate applications, ESA has also been supporting the development of a global soil moisture data record derived by merging measurements acquired in the past by a series of previous and current European and US satellites.

These activities were initiated within the Water Cycle Multi-mission Observation Strategy project, led by ITC (The Netherlands), inside ESA's Support To Science Element programme. The activities are now being continued and refined in the context of the Climate Change Initiative.

ESA is announcing the release of the first soil moisture climate data record spanning the period 1978 to 2010.

The 32 years of data allow for a robust calculation of the climatology, which in turn can be used to calculate anomalies. For example, areas of drying are evident, such as in the central US in 2005, Brazil and East Africa in the summer of 2007, southern China in the winter of 2009-10 and in 2010 in Russia.

Flooding is also evident, such as in Afghanistan in 1992, East Africa in 1998-99, Morocco in 2008 and the 2010-11 Queensland floods in Australia.

The data record was generated by merging two soil moisture datasets. The first is based on active microwave datasets processed by the Vienna University of Technology and is based on observations from the C-band scatterometers on Europe's ERS-1, ERS-2 and MetOp-A satellites.

The other dataset was generated by the Vrije University of Amsterdam in collaboration with NASA, based on passive microwave observations from the Nimbus-7, DMSP, TRMM and Aqua missions.

The harmonisation of these datasets aimed to take advantage of both types of microwave techniques but proved difficult owing to sensor degradation, drifts in calibration and algorithmic changes in the processing systems.

Challenges also included guaranteeing consistency between the soil moisture data retrieved from the different active and passive microwave instruments.

Since this is the first release of such a product, an active cooperation of the remote sensing and climate modelling communities is required to validate the satellite data jointly to understand modelling results better.

Scientists worldwide can now download, use, validate the dataset and provide feedback to the scientific team for further improvements. Users can register to access the data at www.esa-soilmoisture-cci.org.

SMOS soil moisture index

As a next step, SMOS will ensure the continuity of the dataset. In addition, NASA's SMAP mission is planned for launch in November 2014.

ScienceDaily.com 

Click on the picture next to each topic to discover more about the water cycle! After you've looked at each section, practice what you've.

Water cycle power point

View more PowerPoint from samandshiike

Removal of Billions of Gallons of Water from the Earth’s Surface Arouses New Opposition to Fracking

Tom Bragg (left) of Sunpro Inc. works on filling his truck as Gary Wortman (right) takes off the filler hose from his truck after filling up with water at a Chesapeake Energy Corporation fresh water collection station in Carroll County, Ohio. (Mike CardewAkron Beacon Journal) 

Lea Harper of Senecaville is on the warpath.

The southeast Ohio resident is upset that the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, which collects surface water from Akron’s south side all the way to Marietta on the Ohio River, is selling water from one of its reservoirs to Gulfport Energy Corp. for natural gas drilling.

That water from Clendening Reservoir in Harrison County could be just the beginning of a huge drain on Ohio’s water resources, she said. Hundreds of billions of gallons are at stake, not only because of its immediate effect on lakes and rivers, but also perhaps a permanent effect on water supplies.

Chesapeake Energy Corp., for example, the most active driller in the state, is interested in the watershed’s Leesville Reservoir about 20 miles south of Canton.

Paul Feezel of Carroll Concerned Citizens, a grass-roots group in Carroll County where drilling is heaviest, estimates that the water needed to supply Ohio’s annual drilling needs could drain two thirds of Leesville Reservoir annually.

In all, the conservancy district has requests for water from a dozen drilling companies that are eager to tap six reservoirs in eastern Ohio: Clendening, Leesville and Tappan Lake in Harrison County; Atwood Lake in Carroll and Tuscarawas counties; Piedmont Lake in Belmont and Harrison counties and Seneca Lake in Noble and Guernsey counties.

But the conservancy is not the only source: Drillers are buying water from communities, private pond owners, water districts and private water companies, as well as pulling free water from Ohio streams.

“I’m just flabbergasted and appalled that Ohioans are willing to see their water future disappear,” said Harper, who heads the Southeast Ohio Alliance to Save Our Water, a grass-roots group.

Billions of gallons needed

Ohio has plenty of water and can furnish the water needed for drilling to help boost Ohio’s economy, state officials say. The water needed by drillers is just a drop in the bucket.

Ohio typically uses 8.7 billion gallons per day from surface and underground supplies, according to state data. Electric power plants are the biggest users alone using 6.5 billion gallons daily, according to 2010 data.

In comparison, it will take an entire year for natural gas drilling to consume about 5.2 billion gallons in Ohio.

Water, sand and chemicals are mixed and forced into wells under high pressure to fracture the earth, releasing natural gas. Water also is used to prepare cement that lines the wells, mix chemicals and control dust on roads.

Each natural gas well in Ohio needs 2 million to 6 million gallons of fresh water, the state says. The initial Ohio wells generally took 5 million to 6 million gallons.

That’s about as much as 50 four-person households would consume over the course of a year. On the other hand, in one day the city of Akron typically uses 34.66 million gallons from its reservoirs — enough to frack six wells.

If Ohio’s quest for natural gas plays out over the next 20 to 40 years, it is estimated that 120 billion to 200 billion gallons of water could be needed — more than Akron is likely to deliver to its customers in 95 years.

In water-poor western states like Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming, that has become a problem. Even in central Pennsylvania, which typically is not considered a dry area, drilling has been curtailed because drought has reduced water levels in the Susquehanna River and its tributaries.

Multiple concerns

Harper said she is troubled by the heavy use of a limited fresh-water resource, the threat of contamination, the threat to recreation on the lakes and whether it is right that a public agency be making a profit off water sales.

The district, she says, was created to prevent flooding and to conserve water, not to profit from water sales to drillers.

“It’s one of our greatest resources and we’re giving it away,” she said. “We’re supporting a risky and exploitative industry. We need to fight this. It’s not sustainable. This is a big issue that’s getting bigger. … It’s a problem that not enough people are paying attention to. We have to take a stand.”

No one is monitoring such withdrawals or tracking the cumulative impacts of providing billions of gallons of water to drillers, she said.

Her group and other grass-root groups across eastern Ohio joined Saturday as a show of force when they rallied before a meeting of the conservancy district’s court in New Philadelphia.

Early stages of demand

The 18-county conservancy district — it covers 20 percent of Ohio stretching from the Ohio River to parts of Summit, Medina and Wayne counties — has defended its actions and says it is doing nothing wrong in selling water to drillers and boosting economic development, said spokesman Darrin Lautenschleger.

Ohio has plenty of water to handle drillers’ requests now and in the future, said Ted Lozier of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Soil and Water Resources.

The amount being requested by drillers may sound like a large volume of water, he said.

“But, relatively speaking, it’s not much at all,” he said.

He added: “Ohio has definitely been blessed with rich water resources … and we don’t see this being a problem. We have more than enough supply to handle drilling.”

He acknowledged that if there were a sustained drought, there could be a need for alternate sources. Drillers cannot take water from Lake Erie or streams that feed into Lake Erie under Great Lakes rules.

Like Ohio officials, Chesapeake considers water availability in Ohio to be a non-issue, but the company works with federal, state and local agencies to assure there are no negative impacts from its water withdrawals, said company spokesman Pete Kenworthy.

Water is lost

Environmentalists are not convinced there is no problem, especially in light of the fact that Ohio could be looking at tens of thousands of wells in the coming years. And those wells will be fracked multiple times over the years.

When the fresh water goes down into the well, it comes out polluted with dissolved solids, toxic chemicals used in the fracking process, heavy metals and even low levels of radiation from the rock.

A few companies like Chesapeake Energy are starting to recycle that wastewater and reuse it in future drilling. A Canadian company wants to frack with propane, not water. Both ideas would require less fresh water.

But at the moment, most of the wastewater is injected below ground in Ohio’s 176 injection wells for permanent disposal.

That means that the water is lost from the fresh water cycle, said critic Sara Rollet Gosman, a water resources attorney with the National Wildlife Federation’s Great Lakes office in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Unlike water used by agriculture and industry, water used in fracking disappears from the hydrological cycle and cannot be used again, she said.

That’s where the numbers take on new meaning.

If the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is correct — that somewhere between 70 billion and 140 billion gallons of water were used in 2011 alone in fracking an estimated 35,000 wells across the country — much of that water may be forever removed from life cycle of the earth’s surface.

“It’s different than other traditional water withdrawals,” she said. “It is a 100 percent consumptive use. The water is basically pretty much lost and gone forever.”

One environmental group, Food & Water Watch, has called for a ban on fracking because of the growing threat to drinking-water supplies.

Fracking poses “serious, long-term risks to vital water resources,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch, a group based in Washington, D.C., in a statement in March.

Another group, American Rivers, has expressed major concerns on fracking and its impact on streams.

Finding sources

At present, drillers are finding multiple sources, from free water in Ohio streams to buying from community water systems.

Chesapeake Energy tries to get its water as close as possible to the well to minimize transport costs.

“We look to all potential water sources whether it be from landowners, businesses or municipalities,” said Chesapeake’s Kenworthy.

Companies are contracting with a number of Ohio municipalities, among them Louisville, Steubenville, Cambridge, Cadiz, Salem, Jefferson County and the Buckeye Water District in Columbiana County.

In February, Chesapeake signed a five-year contract with Steubenville to buy as much as 700,000 gallons a day from the University Boulevard reservoir that is filled with water pumped from the Ohio River.

The Oklahoma-based firm and the No. 1 player in Ohio’s Utica shale pays $5 per 1,000 gallons of raw river, treated wastewater or treated drinking water. That means that Steubenville earns up to $120,000 a month in Chesapeake water sales.

Such sales now make it impossible to track how much water drillers are using in Ohio because the water shows up in state data as municipal water usage, not for drilling, said eco-advocate Teresa Mills of Center for Health, Environment and Justice in Columbus.

“I don’t see how we will ever get the true picture of how much water is being destroyed by this industry,” she said.

Under Senate Bill 315, Ohio’s newly passed law on drilling, drillers will have to disclose their water source and how much water they use for the first time, the state says.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources now typically meets with drillers before drilling begins and discusses planned water usage, said spokeswoman Heidi Hetzel-Evans.

But plans are often sketchy and under current rules, drillers do not have to tell the state what the water source or volume is, she said.

Drillers also are getting well water from landowners with whom they have leases, although the 12 counties in eastern Ohio where the drilling into the Utica shale is under way are poor for ground water yields. Five gallons a minute, enough for a household, is the typical yield, according to state reports.

Lakes are more dependable

The drillers now want to tap into larger, dependable lakes and reservoirs in eastern Ohio.

Clendening Reservoir holds an estimated 8.6 billion gallons. The watershed district agreed to sell up to 11 million gallons or 0.12 percent of the reservoir’s capacity to Gulfport Energy. Gulfport agreed to pay $9 per 1,000 gallons.

The village of Cadiz gets its drinking water from the district via Tappan Lake in Harrison County. It pays 10 cents per 1,000 gallons. It has then been selling its water at a much higher price to Chesapeake Energy. The village wants to buy more water from Tappan to sell to drillers.

The watershed district has asked the U.S. Geological Survey to determine how much “excess” water it might have available to sell to drillers from three of its reservoirs: Clendening, Leesville and Atwood.

A preliminary federal study indicated that the district has available water in April but that level declines through the summer as recreational needs must be met in the reservoirs.

Harper, meanwhile, has no intention of giving up.

“Water is a valuable resource that we cannot afford to lose,” she said. “What’s happening just isn’t right. It may be legal but we don’t think it’s moral to exploit our natural resources. And I’m not going away.”

Written by Bob Downing@Ohio.com

One Drop Foundation

ONE DROP—an initiative of Guy Laliberté, Founder of Cirque du Soleil^®—is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that was founded on October 29, 2007, in Montreal, Canada.

In Canada, ONE DROP is a charitable organization that develops integrated, innovative projects with an international scope, in which water plays a central role as a creative force in generating positive, sustainable effects for local and foreign populations and in the fight against poverty. More specifically, ONE DROP Canada, in cooperation with partner Oxfam and others, develops access-to-water and sanitation projects in countries where access to this vital resource is lacking. In addition, ONE DROP is involved in raising awareness among individuals and communities on water-related issues to convince them to mobilize for universal access to water and urge them to adopt sound habits for managing this precious resource for future generations. In closing, ONE DROP Canada is also involved in fundraising—a crucial activity if it is to realize its dream of water for all, today and tomorrow. To this end, the partners of ONE DROP have joined forces with the organization for pursuing this objective.

ONE DROP Canada serves as the organization’s international headquarters. An international committee representing each of the affiliates has been formed, in accordance with the clauses in the affiliation agreement.

Learn about THE WATER CRISIS

There are two water cycles on our planet:

The first moves water from clouds to rain to oceans and back again. The second affects communities without access to water as this drags them deeper into poverty and poor health, which, in turn, makes it more difficult for them to access water.

While the first rests in the hands of nature, the second rests in ours.

Water is an inherent right, yet almost a billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and 2.5 billion live in areas without sanitation. Worldwide solidarity is the best defence against the monopolization of this invaluable resource.

Water is life, but we continue to pollute and overexploit it, thus threatening the world’s diverse ecosystems and, therefore, access to water today and in the future.

Water brings people together, not only geographically but in the sense that the water crisis provides an opportunity for the developed and developing worlds to work together like never before to pool their resources, knowledge, experience and dreams for a common purpose: to solve the problem and change the way society works.

People like you have come together to join ONE DROP, each one adding a drop towards the solution. Our movement dreams of a day when the people of the world unite to form a powerful river, sharing wealth of all kinds to protect our water and make certain everyone has access to it. ONE DROP believes global solidarity is the key to our dream of water for all, today and tomorrow.

Access

Almost a billion people do not have access to safe drinking water, and 2.5 billion live without sanitation.

A lack of access to water exacerbates poverty. It is an unforgiving cycle: poverty contributes to access problems, which in turn leads to deeper impoverishment. In many cases, the poorest households pay up to ten times more for their water than do more affluent homes. Consider this fact: in Mozambique, the average person uses less than 10 litres of water per day, while an American uses approximately 575 litres a day.

More unsettling are the challenges to the implementation of water crisis solutions, such as a region’s governance, infrastructure and economy. The dry truth is that, while certain areas of the world are in need of access to safe drinking water, many local governments will not—or cannot—allocate the appropriate resources to remedy the situation. As a result, some communities must get their water from sources shared with animals and contaminated with animal waste.

In many countries, ONE DROP backs local organizations and partners who work together to bring money, technology and knowledge to communities in need of access to safe water.

Health

Contaminated or poor-quality water is the second leading cause of infant mortality in the world, killing close to 2 million each year.

Eighty percent of developing-world diseases are related to lack of safe drinking water. Those who fall ill cannot go to school or work and are subsequently dragged deeper into poverty.

Beyond forcing families to sacrifice food money to buy medicine, fighting disease is an enormous drain on a country’s economy as resources that would otherwise be spent on long-term social and development programs are diverted to the more immediate needs of healthcare.

Study after study confirms that serious health issues (such as cancer and birth defects) and water pollution are inextricably linked. The water crisis and the health problems that are tied to them are challenges shared among developed and developing countries.

Women

Too often, women are not included in the decision-making process surrounding water issues, even though the struggle to get water typically falls on their shoulders.

The task of gathering water can take up to four hours a day. Moving as much as 100 kg of water over many kilometres means risking health and personal safety; in certain cases, there is no choice but to go through areas that leave them vulnerable to attack by people or wild animals.

Over 70% of those who collect water under such circumstances are women and girls. As such, the daily chore prevents tens of millions of girls from going to school, and those who do find the opportunity to attend school often leave due to inadequate sanitation facilities.

Women are also more susceptible to waterborne diseases because it is they who care for ill family members and wash clothing in rivers filled with contaminants and bilharzias (blood flukes).

Time lost on collecting water could be better spent on life-improving activities such as going to school or learning a trade. Safe local water pumps can give them more of that precious time. Furthermore, cutting down the duration of a woman’s daily water tasks to one hour puts an extra US $100 into her pocket every year.

Over-consumption

While our thirst for water steadily rises, the water supply does not. During the 20th century, the world’s population tripled, but its consumption of water increased sevenfold.

Where we use water:

1. Agriculture (70% of world water use) 

2. Industry (20%)
3. Domestic use (10%)

The planet is buckling under the stress of supplying us with water for the seemingly infinite number of ways we have found to use it. Today, almost 1.4 billion people live in river basin areas where consumption of water exceeds the region’s ability to replenish itself.

Over-consumption leads to a variety of consequences:

• Rivers run dry before they reach the sea
• Underground tables dry up
• The cost of finding water escalates

We live in an era of conflicting priorities when it comes to the use of water. Too often, the planet’s diverse ecosystems—and all the creatures in them, including humans—are not prioritized, protected or preserved. Instead of allocating, distributing and preserving water so everyone is provided for, we drop golf courses in the middle of the desert and we use 2,400 litres of water to make a single hamburger

Pollution

Water pollution is a scourge of both developed and developing countries. All nations need to take responsibility and help remedy the situation by working together and sharing resources.

The sources of the pollution of our planet’s water are varied and include aggressive agricultural practices, industry and municipal uses. In the United States, 40% of waterways—from rivers to brooks—are unsuitable for fishing, bathing or drinking. In developing countries, 90% of sewage is dumped—untreated—into bodies of water.

Water pollution threatens ecosystems and access to water for our generation and those to come. All over the world, water is becoming less suitable not only for human consumption but also for agricultural and industrial use. It can even cause death, disease and other health issues.

Making water potable is increasingly expensive; what’s more, the costs are often not shared equally, thus exacerbating world poverty levels.

Just one litre of lubricating oil can contaminate one million litres of water. But a single drop of effort can change poor water habits or provide access to safe drinking water.

A Solution

ONE DROP believes the solution to our planet’s water crisis is solidarity. Each one of us—every country and every person—must recognize and act on our responsibility towards water. But how are we to accomplish this?

Our potential for creativity is infinite—unlike the water we must work to preserve. Exploring audacious and inspiring solutions to complex water problems requires that countries share the best of what they have, whether that be knowledge, wealth, experience, materials, technology, dreams or people.

Water is everywhere and essential to all life. The prosperity—and perhaps even the very future—of the human race is at stake; such a level of responsibility requires that we work together. Solidarity is the solution waiting to happen.

 OneDrop.org

Plugging the Leaks

Clouds and water vapor accounts for only a tiny fraction of all water on Earth, but in spite of it, this moisture in the atmosphere is crucially important to replenishing drinking water reservoirs, crop yields, distribution of vegetation zones, and so on. This is the case because in the atmosphere, clouds and water vapor, transports a vast amount of water from oceans to land, where it falls out as precipitation. Scientists generally agree that rising temperatures in the coming decades will affect this cycling of water. And most climate models successfully simulate a global intensification of rainfall. However, physical models often disagree with observations and amongst themselves on the amount of the intensification, and global distribution of moisture that defines dry and wet regions.

In a paper published in Environmental Research Letters, my co-author and I investigated these model discrepancies (Liepert and Previdi, 2012) (see also here). We developed a “quality control test” for climate models that is solely based on physical principles. We retroactively sum up all possible source, sink and storage terms of atmospheric moisture in models and postulate that a perfectly balanced physical model is a model without artificial leaks or floods in the system (note that small terms like methane oxidation fluxes into the atmosphere, or changes in total cloud water were not included). This approach of “self-consistency” is in contrast to previous studies where scientists performed model “reality checks” of comparisons with uncertainty prone precipitation observations. Eighteen state-of-the-art climate models as described in the United Nations 4th Assessment Report (IPCC-AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were included.

We found that most models predict an increase in moisture coming towards land in the course of the 21st century due to larger warming of land versus ocean surfaces with moderately increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. Some models, however predict radically opposite results, But these few models have large biases, which strongly affects the multi-model mean. The multi-model mean is often used in climate science and climate impact studies as “best predictor” since it smooths over model inconsistencies. These biases appear to be associated with ‘leaks’ in the model whereby water does not appear to be conserved. Some model leaks are even bigger than the anticipated global precipitation changes in the 21st century. The multi-model average is therefore biased by these few and has an average “leak” of the size of the discharge of the Mississippi river!

With our self-consistency test we were able to identify the outliers and narrow the prediction uncertainty. Only using the consistent models, we expect that in this century, the atmosphere will increasingly transport moisture towards land by the size of the river Nile, and with a model uncertainty of up to 13 percent of increase.

It is difficult for models to keep track of the small amount of water contained in the atmosphere (a thousandth of a percent of the total water on Earth). On the other hand, it is crucially important to plug leaks in physical climate models because water in the atmosphere plays an important role in the energy balance of the Earth. A bit fewer clouds, due to the leaks, can let extra solar energy reach the earth surface and heat up the planet – lost water vapor would have the opposite effect. This spurious energy flux in leaky models constitutes a “ghost” forcing of climate. We calculate that the ghost forcing in the IPCC models ranges from -1 to +6 watts per square meter, a forcing comparable to the size of non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases – though since it is roughly constant in time it doesn’t impact the transient runs directly.

These results show that independent quality controls on climate model simulations are crucial for assessing the quality of future climate change predictions. Not all models are equally good and should be utilized in climate impact studies.

Climate impact models are used, along with crop yield, and hydrology models for instance, to inform far reaching decision-making. Climate research institutions are under pressure to build more accurate, more complex models that incorporate not only the physical climate, but also ecosystem processes and perhaps eventually, economic impacts. Testing and quality control should of course accompany these model developments, and it is to the credit of the modeling groups that they archive enough information in the public archives of CMIP3 and now CMIP5 that we can do these tests independently, assess the remaining problems and hopefully improve the predictions.

RealClimate.org 

Aqua Republica is a New Online Strategic Game

What is it?

Aqua Republica is a new online strategic game that taps into social networks and the phenomenon of serious games. It helps raise awareness and educate stakeholders of the importance and challenges of managing limited natural resources in the face of multiple and often competing demands in the drive towards sustainable development.

 

Who is it for?

Entry level water managers and policy makers, as well as universities, schools and anyone who is interested in, or should be interested in, sustainable development.

 

What can be gained from it?

• Build capacity and increase knowledge on water resources management
• Learn to balance developmental needs with water resources and the environment
• Learn to manage conflicts in the use of water with other stakeholders
• Learn to collaborate with other players to maximise transboundary developments

 

How can that be done?

By experiencing decisions-making in a realistic and interactive learning environment, with real time simulation of hydrological processes, developments and water resources management options.

 

Why is there a need?

There are critical connections between social and economic developments and environmental sustainability, with water being an essential building block. Unfortunately these linkages are not widely recognized. The aim of this game is to raise awareness and to provide education that utilizes on new technological trends.

 

What are these trends?

There has been a leap of technology developments in online social networking, giving “viral phenomenon” a new definition. It describes how thoughts, information and trends move into and through a human population with the use of online social networks, analogous to the spread of viruses. Aqua Republica is built with social networks in mind.

“Gamification” on the other hand, is the use of game design techniques and game mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences. It is also one of the most important trends in communication technology.

 

What other benefits are there?

• Aqua Republica provides a flexible and continuous online learning platform for organisations interested in natural resource management
• It also offers a fun way to encourage integrated water resources management proficiency by gauging and tracking players’ progress

 

What is the game concept?

Aqua Republica is a serious game where a realistic simplification of the real world is created for players to play and learn—by personal experience, about the conflicts and trade-offs that exist in a river basin.

 

What is it like to play it?

Alone or together with groups of players, you plan and develop a river basin with multiple stakeholders. Your area initially contains a river, a small urban area that includes some businesses and light industry, a few farms and a small power station. Your aim is to create prosperous living conditions for the population in a healthy and sustainably managed environment.

As time moves on, drivers such as population growth, climate change and actions of other players, force you to adapt to survive and thrive. For example, you may need to decide to clear a forest area to open up land to expand industry. However, developments are costly, take time to implement, impact the environment and other users, as well as your score.

How would you balance all the developmental needs while taking care of the environment and other players?

 

How can I learn from playing?

Serious games that are well designed yield “meaningful play”, a condition very much like learning. Aqua Republica focuses on meaningful play to engage players and to educate them about the complex relationships between developmental actions in a river basin and the natural environment as well as their consequences.

 

How realistic is it?

The game mechanics revolve around real science. Numerical computational models (MIKE BASIN from DHI) are used in real-time to generate a realistic game environment especially in terms of water resources and hydrology. This allows players to also gain an insight into working with nature while developing their communities.

AquarePublica.com