Not a wet eye in the house

Considering all the rain we have been experienceing in Gauteng of late,me talking about a water crisis is a bit ironic.

As we all know consumable water is scarce. A strange fact on a planet that is mostly covered by water- the most vital substance to all living beings-is that less than one percent is able to be consumed by animals. The rest is either too salty (as in the oceans), locked up in glaciers and ice or in the atmosphere. What complicates matter, is that this tiny percentage is not evenly distributed around the planet. Some areas on earth have plenty of water and others have virtually none. Nature has learned to adapt to this. Humans have not.

Wildlife has evolved over the centuries to adapt to many different changes in their environments. What wildlife has never learned to adapt to is the human impact on the planet. As the human population increases, so do the demands in places upon the planet. As our demands on the planet increase, it leads to the decrease of nature and it's habitats and eco-systems.

All life on planet earth needs water- in varying degrees of course. In essence it has become a bit of a competition, for this valuable resource. Animals require water to live in or for hydration.
Humans though, need it for many other reasons other than direct consumption. Our biggest needs for water are fior agriculture, running the economy (used in industry) and generating electricity.

We as a species have now woken up, a bit anyway, to the fact that we need to find alternative energy sources to the good old burning of fossil fuel and polluting the atmosphere power stations. The dark cloud of climate change has made people sit up a bit and take notice of the 'footprint' we are leaving on our Mother Earth.

What many of us fail to realise, is that producing energy also has a water cost- paid for from our precious water resources. Eskom for example uses some 320 billion litres of water per annum (about 2% of our freshwater resources) to produce the electricity we take for granted. Due to increasing electricity demand, the needs for water consumption to produce power, has increased by 41% over the past 12 years. As our population grows and more communities get 'hooked' up with electricity, this figure will rise steeply.

Most of our power stations in South Africa are Wet-Cooled, which results in 85 % of the water used for cooling, evaporating into the atmosphere. .
Apparently our energy generator plans to build Dry-Cooled power stations in the future (which work similar to a car cooling system) to reduce the water demand. South Africa is home to two of the world's largest Dry-Cooled power stations already. It is claimed the one at Matimba uses 200 million litres of water a day less than a Wet-Cooled plant. The catch though (there always is one) is that Dry-Cooled plants are more expensive to build and their power output is compromised. (That is why Eskom is asking for half our salary every month-to fund corruption and expensive power stations).

A useful comparison has been done to see the amount of water required in producing electricity by various energy sources. The following is the amount of water required to run a non -energy saving 60watt bulb for 12 hours a day for a year.

A wet cooled power station- 500 litres
A hydroelectric plant- 350 litres
A solar energy plant- 250 litres
A dry cooled power station-40 litres
A nuclear plant- 25 litres
Wind turnbines- 1 litre

My first response was 'wow'. When we see how water usage goes hand in hand with electricity usage, it becomes apparent the need to save both.

Although the intitial costs of nuclear power are high, the benifts in the long run, outweigh thisb in my view. There are no harmful emmisions (unless there is a Chernobyl event, but they are rare), the monetary cost of producing energy is low and the unexpected bonus, is that Nuclear Power Plants desalinate water. This could be of massive use when placed in coastal areas to supplement their water resources. The important thing about nuclear plants is that the water does not have to be wasted as it can be returned to it's source or used for consumption.

Wind turbines use virtually no water to run and their cost of setting up is reducing. The amount of water required for Solar energy was a bit surprising, especially as it would be ideal for a country like South Africa which is usually sunny.
Hydroelectric schemes lose their water from evaporation. This would happen from any dam though.

I will not bore you (hope I have not so far) with a long and detailed study in alternative energy sources. I think we, as individuals and as a species, need to come to terms with the facts that water is our planet's most valuable resource. We take it for granted because we open up the tap and it is there. Over a billion people are not that lucky.
Water conservation should be as important as the drive to lower carbon emissions. And, as reflected above, we need to think water when looking at electricty sources. An ever growing human population will have a negative impact on the planet and on the current resources, water, gas, fossil fuels and so on. This does not only harm us, but the plants and animals that live on the planet with us as well.

One thing is evident though, like global warming, we realise there is a problem. A gigantic one. Yet, as humans we love to plan, scream and shout- but we do not actually turn this into action, especially if it may have an immediate negative effect on us. We hate thinking long term. We always wait for somebody else to start, somebody else to compromise. ( Look at the latest climate change talks for a good example).

As we fight amongst ourselves over who will be the first to make a major, tangible step, we continue to pollute the atmposhere and waste precious water.....and, we will kick into action when there is nothing left to save, no legacy for future generations.