4 minute read
1. WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE
from F.Y.I MAGAZINE
Water ,Water Everywhere?
-Ar. Jwalant Dave
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The 1995 post apocalyptic sci-fi movie Waterworld begins with a scene that shows the protagonist, The Mariner (portrayed by Kevin Costner) standing on a catamaran like vessel floating in the midst of a vast ocean, as he takes a leak into a triangular shaped plastic cup. He picks the cup up and empties its contents into a crudely assembled contraption that resembles a hand-pump fused to a chemistry experiment and an IV drip. He then proceeds to pump it a few times, as the machine emits mechanical sputtering sounds, and opens an antiquated looking tap at the bottom of the machine to release a tiny stream of water that only half fills a metal cup fixed at its base. Finally he picks up the metal cup and takes a very satisfied drink of the freshly “recycled” water. Although his expression would have one wondering if it wasn’t his favourite single malt scotch that he just took a swig of.
Sounds quite gross, or maybe like something one would only ever epect Bear Grylls do, doesn’t it? But it may not be very far from our own reality in the very near future. expect Bear Grylls do, doesn’t it? But it may not be very far from our own reality in the very near future. In 2018, the South African city of Cape Town found itself dangerously close to getting the unique distinction of becoming the world’s first major city to have officially run out of fresh water. Water levels in the city’s Western Cape Water Supply System reduced to less than 20% of its total capacity, making the possibility of the Day Zero scenario to appear very very real.
The people of Cape Town as well as the authorities, came together in a concerted effort at reduce the amount of water they were using and more importantly, the amount they were wasting, and were eventually successful in averting the Day Zero crisis. And, it is important to note the use of the word averting here, since the crisis was only barely avoided. There remains a very real possibility of it reoccurring if the delicate balance achieved between water consumption and storage gets disturbed. The fragility of this balance,
between what we can store and what we consume, is of essence as only the aspect of usage lies within the realm of human endeavor, because despite our best attempts at storage in reservoirs and replenishment of ground water reserves, we still cannot control rainfall itself. The crisis of running out of fresh water is one of the greatest challenges that our civilization is faced with today. On the one hand, while our cities and communities are becoming more and more unsustainable in their demands on fresh water; required not only for drinking, but also for washing, cleaning, cooling and crucially as a solvent and carrier for conveying the sewage and other waste we generate; but they are also progressively becoming more and more “hard”, with larger and larger areas getting covered with impervious layers of paving; roads & parking, open drains & canals and swaths of previously open land being paved for other public utilities such as squares, plazas and promenades.
Thus preventing rainwater from percolating naturally into the ground to replenish the subterranean groundwater tables that are often interconnected to each other with networks of aquifers and underground streams. Instead the rainwater from these hard paved surfaces as well as that from various roofs and in general from the majority of our built environments, runs off as surface run-off, flowing over these paved areas, and finding its way to the drainage networks that are emptying into the oceans. Paradoxically, causing floods in its immediate aftermath and droughts as its eventual outcome. The availability of running, clean fresh water in our homes, schools, offices, hospitals, factories, power plants, and essentially every aspect of our modern lifestyle in the urban landscape has become so ubiquitous that we often tend to be completely oblivious of the long and complex journey it passes through to reach us. Beginning with being collected at a reservoir for storage, then passing through many processes for filtration to remove solids and particulate impurities, treatments to neutralize and sterilize chemical and biological contaminants, transient storage in holding tanks, to then being pumped through a network of pipes that are spread across the city, till it reaches our flushes, faucets and showers so as to make an almost sublime, fleeting contact with our bodies (the contact literally lasting just a precious few seconds) and then continuing onward to flow through another separate network of pipes, chambers, drains, sewers, more pumps, more treatment systems and storage tanks, still more pipes and eventually till it finds its way to its final culmination, the point of disposal into the oceans. With this perspective in mind, this journey of our urban water supply seems almost unjustifiable against the very limited period of time (just a precous few seconds!)during which we are actually using that water. In fact, it may in reality, seem criminally wasteful!
Running Water… it’s Running Out!
