Page 83 - Respond 2014 | RTCC Publications
P. 83

rtcc respond


water saving




measures





start at home







Is water scarcity a matter of treatment and Water Scarcity throughout the World
storage, or change in consumer behaviours? Water scarcity occurs when the demand
for water from all sectors is higher than the
GreenDry, the “Water Saving Product”, is a water-substitute solution that cleans available resource. To date on Earth, just 2.5%
dirt, while it polishes surfaces such as iron sheets, pneumatics, plastic, glass
and general nonporous-surfaces. is fresh water and from these, just 31.8% is
available at groundwater or lakes and rivers.
Water is becoming an increasing valuable commodity. Increased demand and
pollution are making access to clean water a priority for government, but erratic Currently, one third of the world’s population
weather events linked to climate change make this an even tougher task. lives in countries where there isn’t enough
water or its quality has been compromised.
Water saving Behaviours Yet, this quantity is expected to grow up to two
Water usage can be differed from people who operate it (private or thirds of the world’s population by 2025.
governmental suppliers) or society (residential and industrial). For both, Best
Consumption Practices can be related as Reengineering or Behavioural There are two types of water scarcity:
practices. • Physical Water Scarcity, when there’s not
For residential users, these are some Reengineering improvements: enough to meet our needs
• Economic Water Scarcity, when institutional
• Eco-Plumbing
• Low-fush toilets / showerheads or fnancial capital limit access
• Pressure reduction
• Grey water use (home recycling) The 3 Gorges Dam - China
Behavioural examples would be: to turn off faucets while washing, brushing or China’s longest river, the Yangtze, is to feed the
cleaning, do the laundry just at full capacity, early morning garden watering, or largest power station dam in the world with a
simply as Dry Cleaning your car to save up to 600 litres (150 gallons). peak stream fow of up to 48,000 m3 per second.
GreenDry So how much is this? It’s over fve times what
www.greendry.com.mx US estimates, 9,044 m3, of renewable internal
freshwater resources per capita, in a whole year,
2013: A year of foods according to the World Bank.
Eastern Australia. Argentina. Central Europe. Southwest China. Southeast Dams are often considered “sustainable
US. Canada. North India. hydropower” or even “green hydropower”,
however, dams have their environmental impact
A dozen countries have had foods within this year’s lapse, an overall loss
of $24bn USD; the very same amount for which Michael Dell bids for a too. Changing ecosystems, river dynamics,
buyout over the Dell frm, or the equivalent to the revenues of Microsoft sediment cycles – by increasing soil salinization,
in 2013’s Q2. and with carbon and oxygen cycles being
altered, an impact on groundwater and surface
is inevitable due to changes with physical and
Mexico’s wastewater treatment plan geochemical aspects.
What is to be the largest wastewater treatment in the world will be treating How much do dams transform ecosystems?
2,000 litres per second, requiring an initial investment of over $62 million According to WCD (2006), from the 108 most
USD. This will ‘only’ treat 60% of Mexico City’s inhabitants’ wastewater, what important rivers of the world, 46% of their water
is the same for 10.5 million people. fows into a reservoir before it continues its way to
This could become a 35% of inhabitants’ wastewater for the total 30 million a natural lake or sea.
population forecast in the Greater Mexico City in 2050.
For 2050, the United Nations has an estimated 4.60% population growth rate
for Mexico (156,102 M), compared to Germany’s -1.22% (72,566 M), United
States 3.73% (400,853 M) or Europe’s -0.26% (709,067 M).




www.rtcc.org 81
   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88