# Where will the water come from?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [December 10, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611 "2008-12-10T21:09:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/1 "2008-12-10T21:09:33Z")
How will we continue to get fresh water to agricultural land that is land-locked in the future? Agriculture accounts for something like 69% of fresh water use. Many agricultural regions in the US and elsewhere are landlocked. The Oglalla aquifer is being pumped out much faster than it is being replenished. All the low-flush toilets in the world won’t make a difference here (at least I don’t see how they can). What can be done about this situation in the US? In other regions?
Thanks for your help,
Rob
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/2 "2008-12-10T21:31:07Z")
I 'unno… internet?
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### Author:  [@Dob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dob)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/3 "2008-12-10T21:39:50Z")
Maybe using something like this [http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/12/04/clean.water/index.html?iref=newssearch](http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/12/04/clean.water/index.html?iref=newssearch)
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/4 "2008-12-10T21:40:00Z")
… I don’t think you can get water from the internet…
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### Author:  [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/5 "2008-12-10T21:41:06Z")
If fresh water becomes valuable enough, we can always implement the plans for herding icebergs from Antarctica.
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### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/6 "2008-12-10T21:42:55Z")
Well, for the most part water i not really that hard to come by. It’s just limited. People will switch over to something more efficient as the time comes. Beef instead of grain\*. New forms of agriculture are using less water and using it better.
\*Vegetarians like to claim that meat is much less “efficient” than grains. This is true and false. It takes more land to raise beef, but you usually find that the land can’t be used for grain or vegatable crops anyhow. Herding is alsoless damaging to the environment than farming.
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### Author:  [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/7 "2008-12-10T21:48:04Z")
> [@Dob](#):
>
> Maybe using something like this [http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/12/04/clean.water/index.html?iref=newssearch](http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/12/04/clean.water/index.html?iref=newssearch)
That might be OK for drinking water, but what about water for agricultural use? Drinking water is a, pardon the pun, drop in the bucket.
Thanks,
Rob
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### Author:  [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/8 "2008-12-10T21:50:28Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#):
>
> If fresh water becomes valuable enough, we can always implement the plans for herding icebergs from Antarctica.
How do you get the water uphill? Also, if fresh water becomes that valuable, food is going to increase in value commensurately.
Thanks,
Rob
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### Author:  [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/9 "2008-12-10T21:52:52Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#):
>
> Well, for the most part water i not really that hard to come by. It’s just limited. People will switch over to something more efficient as the time comes. Beef instead of grain\*. New forms of agriculture are using less water and using it better.
>
> \*Vegetarians like to claim that meat is much less “efficient” than grains. This is true and false. It takes more land to raise beef, but you usually find that the land can’t be used for grain or vegatable crops anyhow. Herding is alsoless damaging to the environment than farming.
I don’t know if we have enough range land to feed the country and quite a lot of agriculture is devoted to feed. I suppose we can live on processed algae and coal tar by-products, but I don’t know how affordable that will be, nor do I know the water requirements.
Thanks,
Rob
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2008, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/10 "2008-12-10T21:58:20Z")
[Is water becoming ‘the new oil’?](http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/05/29/is-water-becoming-%E2%80%98the-new-oil%E2%80%99/) An article from a May, 29 2008 issue of the Christian Science Monitor.
[USA Today article from 2003](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2003-01-26-water-usat_x.htm)!
Then there is [The Water Shortage Myth](http://www.livescience.com/environment/080623-bad-water-shortage.html), from Livescience this past June.
The manager of the the largest single source of water in the USA is the federal government, [specifically the US Forest Service](http://www.fs.fed.us/water/). However, unless environmental issues are addressed now (clear-cutting, strip mining, hydraulic fracturing methods, etc.) it remains to be seen just how much fresh water is actually available for human consumption from public lands.
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### Author:  [@UnwrittenNocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UnwrittenNocturne)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/11 "2008-12-11T00:43:01Z")
Growing crops appropriate the natural water cycle of a given area would be good start.
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/12 "2008-12-11T01:22:40Z")
Can’t we just develop desalination technology to the point where it’s more feasible for our use? Federal funding, gigantic desalination plants, water pipelines to move it, etc?
The ocean would seem to be an endless supply of water, plus, if global warming holds true and sea levels continue to rise we would have even more water.
I vaguely recall that desalination is costly, difficult to do or both. What are the technological hurdles there?
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2008, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/13 "2008-12-11T01:42:26Z")
The notion of “sustainable development” is a contradiction. There is no such thing.
We cannot individually and indefinitely continue to use less and less resources. There is only one answer and that is to stop population growth. Everything else is a patch and trying to ignore and delay the inevitable. We need to get to zero population growth PDQ.
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### Author:  [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2008, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/14 "2008-12-11T02:56:39Z")
I wonder if eventually houses will have two plumbing systems. One would be the traditional drinking water - also used for bathing and cleaning - and a gray water system for toilets and lawns/garden. There’s no reason I need gallons the world’s cleanest water to drop a deuce or urinate.
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### Author:  [@gravitycrash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gravitycrash)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2008, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/15 "2008-12-11T03:40:31Z")
I was recently in Nebraska for two weeks on business. I was struck by the endless corn fields in eastern Nebraska, as you move west it transitions into cattle and irrigated crops. I don’t remember the town name but as I continued driving west it was almost all ranches and feed lots.
I 'm sure that they know a hell of a lot more about growing crops and raising cattle then the majority of SDMB posters.
In short, I think when corn and other crops are no longer viable in a certain area they tend to adapt.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/16 "2008-12-11T03:41:23Z")
Actually I’m wondering more if there’s anything that can be done with the salt?
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### Author:  [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2008, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/17 "2008-12-11T06:38:01Z")
> [@sailor](#):
>
> The notion of “sustainable development” is a contradiction. There is no such thing.
>
> We cannot individually and indefinitely continue to use less and less resources. There is only one answer and that is to stop population growth. Everything else is a patch and trying to ignore and delay the inevitable. We need to get to zero population growth PDQ.
You’re right, of course. But no one is paying attention.
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2008, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/18 "2008-12-11T07:03:55Z")
> [@sailor](#):
>
> The notion of “sustainable development” is a contradiction. There is no such thing.
>
> We cannot individually and indefinitely continue to use less and less resources. There is only one answer and that is to stop population growth. Everything else is a patch and trying to ignore and delay the inevitable. We need to get to zero population growth PDQ.
But that is expected to happen in a relatively near future…
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### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2008, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/19 "2008-12-11T07:37:20Z")
And a MAJOR use of the water we are wasting is growing corn, to make into ethanol-which INCREASES our imports of oil!
Thank you,USDOE!:smack:
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### Author:  [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)
#### Post date: [December 11, 2008, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-will-the-water-come-from/476611/20 "2008-12-11T07:49:44Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> … I don’t think you can get water from the internet…
[http://www.water](http://www.water). com/
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