What do fracking, copper mining, and concrete manufacture have in common? An insatiable appetite for water.
Which is why I traveled to all the “hot spots” around the globe. Because I was working with the firms in these sectors to help ‘close the loop’. Maybe we never got to 100% water reuse, but we came close.
The goal was never to stop needing water supplies. No, the goals were combinations of choosing to site the operation where it could best meet the market needs, best exploit the deposits in the earth, remove some of the regulatory burdens, etc. Because once the fresh water needs are cut dramatically, then it becomes easier to choose the location and lower the operating costs. (Note that total (100%) water recycle will often raise the operating costs.)
This quest for better water controls is about to heat up again. Because the “easy pickings” are gone; the search for minerals will now be in more out-of-the-way, arid spots; concrete needs to be where we are building (and where we are building is already running out of water), etc.
This is not small potatoes, either. Last year, the world’s mining firms were spending $12 billion on water and water management for its 4 billion gallon a day habit. That cost was only around $ 4 billion four or five years ago. So, desalination plants (recovering water from the sea) are being built, because ground and surface waters are in very short supply or are off-limits to industry.
But, all industry uses plenty of water (about 18 billion gallons), agriculture scarfs up some 128 billion gallons, and our household usage is close to 30 billion gallons. It’s why companies have gotten creative. They lease property not for the mineral rights- but for its water rights. They make deal with Indian tribes for the same reasons.
So, with each passing year, I expect more and more companies will devote more attention to closing the loop, to become more recycling conscious. That should mean more work for us 🙂 …
Interesting stuff. Desalination seems like the best option? But I guess if you’re far inland then not so helpful…
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Most desalination plants use lots of energy. And, you have to be near the water, Alessa. But, it is a viable option.
It is scary that we live on such a big planet and yet we could run out of drinking water as we try to expand and build more stuff that people without water will not be able to use because we won’t live long enough to use them. Concert houses with not one to live there. Fuel to warm those houses but everyone is dead because of the lack of drinking water…was it the movie “Dune: that first shared this idea with us??? And now it is happening.
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Oh, it was way before Dune, Chef William. And, the problem has now escalated that many places in this world are feeling it.
What few people have watched is China’s attempts to commandeer the water supplies of its neighboring states. And, the battles in the Middle East and Africa over water.
While here in the states, Florida, Virginia, and California are among the first parched states that are beginning to harvest the sea to satisfy the needs of their citizenry.
This post reminds me of how much I take having water for granted. I don’t live in one of the parches areas. Yet.
That’s a big plus about living in the Northeast, Suerae. But, a lot of the cement firms in your area are having some supply problems.
Water is sometimes called the blue gold, and it is easy to understand why. I hope that industries will also develop new processes that require less water…
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Muriel-
We only seem to value this vital resource when it is gone or in very short supply. The time to treasure it is now- so we can husband it for future needs.