|
|
As
a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best
information
The
number of people living in areas affected by severe water stress is expected
to increase to almost four billion people...
OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030
The
Stockholm International Water Institute has kindly provided some statistics
we should all be aware of:
- The 10 largest water users (in volume) are
India, China, the United States, Pakistan, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia,
Bangladesh, Mexico and the Russian Federation.
- With rapid population growth, water withdrawals
have tripled over the last 50 years. According to the United Nations Department of
Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), the world population
is predicted to grow from 6.9 billion in 2010 to 8.3 billion in 2030 and
to 9.1 billion in 2050. At the same time, urban populations are
projected to increase by 2.9 billion, to 6.3 billion by 2050. An
estimated 90% of the people expected to be added to the population, by
2050, will be in developing countries, many in regions already in water
stress where the current population does not have sustainable access to
safe drinking water and adequate sanitation
- Water withdrawals are predicted to increase by
50% by 2025 in developing countries, and by 18% in developed countries
- Water for irrigation and food production
constitutes one of the greatest pressures on freshwater resources.
Agriculture accounts for around 70% of global freshwater withdrawals,
even up to 90% in some fast-growing economies
- Feeding everyone in 2050 could require 50% more
water than is needed now
- The dietary shift from predominantly
starch-based food to meat and dairy, which require more water, is the
greatest to impact on water consumption over the past 30 years.
Producing one kg of rice requires approximately 3,500 liters of water
while one kg of beef requires 15,000 liters. Producing that one kg of
meat requires as much water as an average domestic household uses over
ten months (50l/person/day)
- Estimates indicate that there will not be
enough water available on current croplands to produce food for the
expected population in 2050 if we follow current trends and changes
towards diets common in Western nations (3,000 kcal produced per capita,
including 20 percent of calories produced coming from animal proteins)
The highest rates of groundwater depletion are in some of the world's
major agricultural centers:
- Northwest
India
- Northeastern China
- Northeast Pakistan
- California's central valley
- Midwestern United States
In
North America the major concern is over water levels in the Ogallala aquifer
under the U.S. Great Plains. The Ogallala is the world's largest known
aquifer having an approximate area of 450,600 square kilometers and stretches
from southern South Dakota through parts of Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado,
Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and northern Texas.
The
Ogallala Aquifer was formed roughly 10 million years ago when water flowed
onto the plains from retreating glaciers and streams of the Rocky Mountains.
The Ogallala is no longer being recharged by the Rockies and precipitation in
the region is only 30-60 cm per year.
In
three leading grain producing states - Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas - the
underground water table has dropped by more than 30 meters.
Consider also:
- In some areas the water table under the San
Joaquin Valley in California has dropped nearly 10 meters
- Over use of underground water supplies in
California’s Central Valley has resulted in the loss of over 40
percent of the storage capacity in all the human constructed reservoirs
in California
- The huge sandstone aquifer underlying the
Illinois-Wisconsin border, which supplies Chicago and Milwaukee with
water, is currently overtaxed and may be depleted in the near future
- The US uses so much of the water out of some of
their river systems that nothing reaches the river's destination - no
water reaches the mouth of the Colorado River, the Ococee
River in the Southeastern United States has a large stretch of the river
dry on certain days, Nebraska's Platte River is drying up and so is the
not so mighty anymore Mississippi
- The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is forecasting
next year as water-short for irrigators in the Republican River basin
Climate
change is causing the Earth to warm, precipitation is shifting from the
mid-latitudes to the low and high latitudes - wet areas are becoming wetter
and dry areas drier. Less rainfall in the mid-latitudes means less new water
to refill the aquifers that are being depleted the fastest.
Streams,
rivers and lakes are almost always closely connected with an aquifer. The
depletion of aquifers doesn’t allow these surface waters to be
recharged - lowering water levels in aquifers is being reflected in reduced amounts of water flowing at the surface.
Here’s
the bad news in a headline - The
US is Running Out of Freshwater Sources
The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says at least 36 states are
anticipating local, regional, or statewide water shortages by 2013, even
under non-drought conditions.
“The
worst drought in more than half a century baked more than two thirds of the
continental United States this summer (2012) and its harsh effects continue
to plague the parched cities and towns of the Great Plains.
Ask
the 94,000 people of San Angelo, Texas, who are running out of water. Fast.
The
city -- once known as "the oasis" of dry west Texas -- now says it
only has enough water supplies to last one more year. On Oct. 16, it will
enforce its highest level of emergency measures to save its water supply.
That
first-ever "Drought Level III" declaration will ban any watering of
lawns, golf courses and gardens, forbid fresh water use for swimming pools
and close commercial car washes.
The
city will also push up usage fees aiming to cut water use by at least 30
percent as it awaits a new water pipeline now under construction. The
pipeline will not be available for use until mid-2013 or later.” Carey Gillam REUTERS
The
city of San Angelo gets its water from the 58 billion gallon, when full, Twin Buttes Reservoir or the O.H. Ivie Reservoir. Twin Buttes is at 2.5 percent capacity
and the O.H. is expected to run out of water in 2013. An extreme case?
Perhaps, but water shortages are real and the effects are devastating –
if you haven’t got water you’ve got nothing.
Canada
has blessed with numerous freshwater lakes and rivers – we have seven
percent of the world’s renewable supply of freshwater.
There
have been numerous proposals about transferring large amounts of freshwater
from Canada to the United States. Following are breakdowns on three of the
most ambitious plans conceived to date.
The
Great Recycling and
Northern Development (GRAND) Canal of North America (GCNA) was designed by
Newfoundland engineer Thomas Kierans to alleviate
North America’s freshwater shortage problems. As Kierans
originally conceived it, the GRAND Canal plans called for the damming and
rerouting of northern river systems in Quebec in order to bring freshwater
down into the Great Lakes where the water could then be pumped into the
American Midwest and the U.S. Sun Belt.
Fresh
water run-off from natural precipitation would be collected in James Bay by
means of a series of outflow-only, sea level dikes-constructed across the
northern end of James Bay. These dikes would capture the fresh water before
it mixes with the salty water of Hudson Bay and create a new source of fresh
water equivalent to 2.5 times the flow over Niagara Falls.
The
North American Water and
Power Alliance (NAWPA) was designed
to bring water from Alaska and northern British Columbia to the U.S. By
building a series of large dams, the northward flow of the Yukon, Peace,
Liard, Tanana, Copper, Skeena, Bella Coola, Dean, Chilcotin,
and Fraser rivers would be reversed to move southward into the Rocky Mountain
Trench where the water would be trapped in a giant reservoir approximately
800 kilometers long.
A
canal would then be built to take the water southward into Washington state
where it would be channeled through existing canals and pipelines. The annual
volume of water to be diverted through the NAWAPA project is estimated to be
roughly equivalent to the average total yearly discharge of the entire St.
Lawrence River system in Canada. The amount of water available is estimated
to be enough that some would be available for use by Mexico via the Colorado
River.
The
Central North American Water Project (CeNAWAP) consists of a series of canals and pumping stations linking Great Bear
Lake and Great Slave Lake in the NWT to Lake Athabaska
and lake Winnipeg and then the Great Lakes.
A
variation on the CeNAWAP is the Kuiper Diversion
Scheme which links the major western rivers, the Mackenzie, the Peace, the
Athabasca, North Saskatchewan, Nelson and Churchill rivers, into a mega water
diversion scheme.
Conclusion
The
principal’s of these three water diversion
projects are the same, except on a much grander scale, as that of the 1930s
Tennessee Valley Authority or the 1950s St. Lawrence Seaway. Between them,
they could supply hundreds of billions of gallons of fresh water to the
parched areas of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. New areas of
cultivation would be opened up, thousands of jobs would be created and new
dams would supply unimaginable amounts of electricity.
Mark
Twain said "Whisky is
for drinking; water is for fighting over."
Of
course he also said, "I've
seen a heap of trouble in my life and most of it never came to pass."
Fortunately
water seems to stimulate cooperation rather than promote conflict between
nations.
The
issue of Canada diverting part of its fresh water resources to the US has
never been on, or has long since faded off most Canadians radar screens, but
the country with the world’s largest economy is also the world’s
largest producer of corn, soybeans, and wheat. The US accounts for one in every
three tons of the grains traded globally - the United States is literally the
world’s bread basket.
Climate
change (science says the Earth is going to continue warm and that the warming is not manmade) is going to put Canadian
water back on every North American’s radar screen. Is water on your
radar screen?
If
not, maybe it should be.
Richard
(Rick) Mills
rick@aheadoftheherd.com
www.aheadoftheherd.com
Richard
is the owner of Aheadoftheherd.com and invests in the junior
resource/bio-tech sectors. His articles have been published on over 400
websites, including:
WallStreetJournal, SafeHaven, MarketOracle, USAToday, NationalPost, Stockhouse, Lewrockwell, Pinnacledigest, UraniumMiner, Beforeitsnews, SeekingAlpha, MontrealGazette, CaseyResearch, 24hgold, VancouverSun,
CBSnews, SilverBearCafe, Infomine, HuffingtonPost, Mineweb, 321Gold, Kitco,
Gold-Eagle, The Gold/Energy Reports, Wealthwire, CalgaryHerald, ResourceInvestor,
Mining.com, Forbes, FNArena, Uraniumseek,
FinancialSense, Goldseek,
Dallasnews, SGTReport, Vantagewire, Resourceclips, Indiatimes, ninemsn and the Association of Mining
Analysts.
If
you're interested in learning more about the junior resource and bio-med
sectors, and quality individual company’s within these sectors, please
come and visit us at www.aheadoftheherd.com
***
Legal
Notice / Disclaimer
This
document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the
solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment.
Richard
Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he
believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified;
Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no
responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions
of opinion are those of Richard Mills only and are subject to change without notice. Richard Mills assumes no warranty,
liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness
of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable
for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained
herein or any omission.
Furthermore,
I, Richard Mills, assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or
damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of
the use and existence of the information provided within this Report.
|
|
