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Post by Admin on Aug 17, 2016 9:24:17 GMT
Water Conservation appears to be a regular topic of environmental discussion. Conduct some investigation into Water Conservation, and then discuss the following questions:
What is Water Conservation?
How do we currently conserve water in Australia?
Do we really need to conserve water?
In your postings, remember to discuss any geographical (environmental, ecological, biological) implications (issues) for conserving and not conserving water.
Support your arguments with cited supporting evidence.
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Post by Admin on Aug 26, 2016 0:20:41 GMT
According to the Ecology Dictionary, water conservation is the physical control, protection, management, and use of water resources in such a way as to maintain crop, grazing, and forest lands, vegetative cover, wildlife, and wildlife habitat for maximum sustained benefits to people, agriculture, industry, commerce, and other segments of the national economy.1
As water is a natural resource, one could argue how can we physically control nature?
Through our actions, as human beings, we can control and maintain certain processes for reducing water usage. There are a range of examples within the home, such as:
• setting irrigation times for the garden to avoid the direct heat of the day
• using a glass of water to brush our teeth rather than letting the tap continuously run with water
• placing a pool cover over your pool to reduce the water being evaporated
• using a broom to sweep the decking, or a blower, instead of the hose
• maintaining the environmental setting on the dishwasher to reduce water usage and maintain efficiency in energy usage
• waiting for a full load of washing to use the washing machine
These are some examples that I use at home. What are some examples of water conservation within your home?
Reference: 1 www.ecologydictionary.org/WATER_CONSERVATION Accessed 26 August 2016
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Post by margaret on Aug 28, 2016 5:57:08 GMT
We often see references to our "carbon footprint". This means the amount of carbon emitted in the production of everything we use in living the way we do - that is, carbon emitted directly by us (the "primary" footprint), such as when we drive a car or use an air conditioner, as well as the "secondary" footprint, our "share" of the carbon emitted by manufacturers and service providers as they supply us with food, clothing, shelter, goods, transport, and power. 1 Australia's carbon footprint is particularly high: If the rest of the world lived like we do in Australia, we’d need the regenerative capacity of 3.6 Earths to sustain our demands on nature. 2Less commonly heard is the term "water footprint". This includes not only the water we knowingly use - showering, flushing the toilet, washing clothes and dishes, preparing food, watering gardens and cleaning cars - but also the water used by others in growing our food, manufacturing clothing and all other goods we use, as well as water used to construct and maintain community facilities used in sport and recreation, shopping malls, and of course schools. Water is a renewable, but finite, resource. There is the same amount on earth today as there was when the dinosaurs roamed. As our population grows, pressure on our limited, available supply is mounting. This is exacerbated by pollution and the fact that there are seasonal and geographic differences in the amount of water available. Today, in many locations, we are using more fresh water than the earth’s natural limits can sustain. 3 [My emphasis] You can calculate your water footprint (here's one tool: waterfootprint.org/en/resources/interactive-tools/personal-water-footprint-calculator/personal-calculator-extended/ ) . The advantage of knowing your water footprint is that you can take steps to reduce it. You can't affect how much water is used to grow crops to raise the beef to make the hamburgers you eat. But you can choose to eat differently - and/or you can have shorter showers, adjust the flush on your toilet, use recycled water (from shower or washing machine) to clean your car. This post was created mainly to experiment with formatting footnotes when posting to ProBoards but I came across some interesting sites in the process. The water footprint calculator above is just one of several available online. btw I don't know why they ask for income but you can leave it out (I tried) - it still gives you a footprint figure. I'm guessing the income question is for the website's own research - for data on how water usage relates to income level.
1 whatis.techtarget.com/definition/carbon-footprint Accessed 28 August 2016 2 www.wwf.org.au/our_work/people_and_the_environment/human_footprint/ecological_footprint/Accessed 28 August 2016 3 waterfootprint.org/en/water-footprint/personal-water-footprint/ Accessed 28 August 2016 |
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Post by abdult14armata on Aug 30, 2016 22:43:10 GMT
Water conservation refers to the preservation, control and development of water resources, both surface and groundwater, and prevention of pollution.1 Currently in Australia we can conserve water by using water tanks, dams, rule about watering garden and washing car and using recycled water purified. Using rainwater can reduce water bills, provide an alternative supply during water restrictions and help maintain a green, healthy garden. Depending on tank size and climate, mains water use can be reduced by up to 100%. This in turn can help:
reduce the need for new dams or desalination plants
protect remaining environmental flows in rivers
reduce infrastructure operating costs.2We need to conserve water because some part of Australia suffers for bad drought. 3
1 www.google.com.au/search?q=conservation+of+water+australia%27&safe=strict&rlz=1C1CHBF_en-GBAU704AU704&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=623&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAobulgN7OAhWDtpQKHfCUBqoQ_AUIBSgA&dpr=1#safe=strict&q=conservation+of+water+definition Accessed August 26, 2016 2 h ttp://www.yourhome.gov.au/water/rainwater Accessed August 26, 201 3 www.bom.gov.au/climate/updates/articles/a010-southern-rainfall-decline.shtml Accessed August 26, 2016 |
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Post by abdult14armata on Aug 30, 2016 22:53:45 GMT
*Who know anything like this:
Most of don’t spare a thought for the amount of water hidden in the food that we eat. Have a look
at how much water it takes to produce some of our favourite foods :
An apple = 70 litres A glass of beer = 75 litres
A glass of wine = 120 litres Bag of chips = 185 litres
Slice of bread = 40 litres Cup of tea = 35 litres
Cup of coffee = 140 litres A potato = 25 litres
An egg = 135 litres Glass of milk = 200 litres
Hamburger = 2400 litres Cotton t-shirt = 2000 litres
Leather shoes = 8000 litres One kg of beef = 16000 litres11 www.coolaustralia.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Water-fact-sheet.pdf |
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Post by abdult14armata on Aug 30, 2016 22:58:51 GMT
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Post by abdult14armata on Aug 30, 2016 23:03:32 GMT
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Post by samlol16 on Aug 30, 2016 23:18:55 GMT
Droughts in Australia are defined by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) as rainfall over a 3-month long period being in the lowest decile of what has been recorded for that region in the past. This definition considers that drought is a relative long term and rainfall deficiencies must be compared to typical rainfall patterns including seasonal variations. Specifically, drought in Australia is defined in association to a rainfall insufficiency of pastoral leases and is determined by decile analysis applied to a certain area. However, it does not consider other variables that might be important for establishing surface water balance, such as evaporation and condensation (precipitation). Documented climatic change records now show adequately reliable to profile the climate variability considering expectations for regions. BOM records since the 1860s show that a ‘severe’ drought has occurred in Australia. On average, once every 18 years are state governments are responsible for declaring a region drought affected and the declaration will consider factors other than rainfall. ‘During the severe, Australia wide, 1902 Federation Drought, the total sheep population dropped to fewer than 54,000,000 from a total of 106,000,000 sheep in 1891; and cattle numbers fell by more than 40 percent. It was 1925 before the sheep numbers reached the hundred-million mark again.’
The worst drought that has affected the country occurred in our current century between the years 2003 to 2012. Many regions of Australia are still in significant drought and rainfall records have showed a levels of extreme low since 1994, with many scientists attributing this to ‘climate change and global warming’. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought_in_Australia |
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Post by jackusan on Aug 30, 2016 23:19:55 GMT
A way of, well not so much as conserving water as creating is by seeding the clouds as they do in Singapore. In Singapore they "seed" the clouds, which pretty much means they make the clouds produce rain by applying silver iodide, potassium iodide and dry ice (solid carbon dioxide). Liquid propane which expands into a gas has also been used. The reason Singapore does this is to make sure it doesn't rain on National day. It's genuinely a good idea. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_seeding#Methodology |
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Post by Admin on Sept 1, 2016 7:05:36 GMT
*Who know anything like this:
Most of don’t spare a thought for the amount of water hidden in the food that we eat. Have a look
at how much water it takes to produce some of our favourite foods :
An apple = 70 litres A glass of beer = 75 litres
A glass of wine = 120 litres Bag of chips = 185 litres
Slice of bread = 40 litres Cup of tea = 35 litres
Cup of coffee = 140 litres A potato = 25 litres
An egg = 135 litres Glass of milk = 200 litres
Hamburger = 2400 litres Cotton t-shirt = 2000 litres
Leather shoes = 8000 litres One kg of beef = 16000 litres11 www.coolaustralia.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Water-fact-sheet.pdfAbdul, the water required to produce all of these products is very interesting and actually rather daunting.
I enjoy my 2 coffees in the morning, which would equate to around 250ml (for both). Reflecting on the data you have research means that it requires 280 litres of water to be used for my morning coffees. This is 1,400 litres during a school week, and 2,240 litres for a usual Monday to Sunday week.
This then equates to approximately 116,480 litres of water for an entire year. While I enjoy my coffee and am not likely to decrease the quantity I drink, I think that I will be more thoughtful in other ways of conserving water so that I can have a coffee. Especially when put into context that a standard Olympic-size swimming pool contains 2,500,000 litres of water1.
How do others see the data? How many hamburgers, bags of chips or apples do you consume in a week, month, year? It would be interesting to gather our 'water footprint' as a class; as Australia is the highest user of water per person in the world, despite being the driest inhabited continent2.
The discussion perspective that Abdul has presented actually extends to the next topic discussion. Start writing down what you eat and drink over the next week or so.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reference 1 media.bom.gov.au/social/blog/39/when-dam-size-matters/ Accessed 1 September 2016 2 blueplanet.nsw.edu.au/water-facts/.aspx (Point 41) Accessed 1 September 2016
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Post by Admin on Sept 1, 2016 7:18:59 GMT
BluePlanet has indicated that a tap that drips once every second wastes 30 litres of water daily1; put this into perspective to how much water, soft drink, milk that you consume in 1 day.
While it might just be 30 litres of water, when put into perspective of water usage by countries around the world, we might then consider this to be a significant waste of water and justification for water conservation (as well as fixing the dripping tap).
Africa withdraws 47 litres per day per person for personal use (drinking, sanitation, cooking, gardens) while the United Kingdom withdraws 334 litres2. That is a difference of 287 litres per person between Africa and the United Kingdom.
The average eight-minute shower used 62 litres of hot water3, with an average bath being 80 litres. The difference in water usage between someone living in Africa and someone in the United Kingdom would equate to 4.6 average showers or 3.5 average baths...in ONE day.
------------------------------------------------------------ Reference 1 blueplanet.nsw.edu.au/water-facts/.aspx (Point 22) Accessed 1 September 2016 2 ibid (Point 28) 3 www.waterwise.org.uk/news.php/11/showers-vs.-baths-facts-figures-and-misconceptions Accessed 1 September 2016
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Post by Admin on Sept 1, 2016 7:32:21 GMT
Droughts in Australia are defined by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) as rainfall over a 3-month long period being in the lowest decile of what has been recorded for that region in the past. This definition considers that drought is a relative long term and rainfall deficiencies must be compared to typical rainfall patterns including seasonal variations. Specifically, drought in Australia is defined in association to a rainfall insufficiency of pastoral leases and is determined by decile analysis applied to a certain area. However, it does not consider other variables that might be important for establishing surface water balance, such as evaporation and condensation (precipitation). Documented climatic change records now show adequately reliable to profile the climate variability considering expectations for regions. BOM records since the 1860s show that a ‘severe’ drought has occurred in Australia. On average, once every 18 years are state governments are responsible for declaring a region drought affected and the declaration will consider factors other than rainfall. ‘During the severe, Australia wide, 1902 Federation Drought, the total sheep population dropped to fewer than 54,000,000 from a total of 106,000,000 sheep in 1891; and cattle numbers fell by more than 40 percent. It was 1925 before the sheep numbers reached the hundred-million mark again.’
The worst drought that has affected the country occurred in our current century between the years 2003 to 2012. Many regions of Australia are still in significant drought and rainfall records have showed a levels of extreme low since 1994, with many scientists attributing this to ‘climate change and global warming’. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drought_in_AustraliaSam, taking into account what we know about 'climate change and global warming' should we (Australian Government, Australian society) seriously consider how we approach water conservation? What are the ongoing implications that we should be considering?
Reflecting on the past two wet seasons in Darwin, there has definitely been climate change and a dramatic reduction in the rainfall across the Northern Territory; in comparison to previous year. This has impacted not only on local farm/produce owners, but has also had a negative impact on the wildlife and their reproduction cycles.
For example, the renowned 'Barramundi'. Environmental studies conducted by the Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries, Northern Territory are conclusive that the duration and magnitude of the wet season strongly drives biomass of Barramundi stocks, with large wet seasons resulting in higher recruitment than smaller wet seasons1.
How can our consideration of water conservation influence (change) the environment around us?
------------------------------------------------------------------- Reference 1 fish.gov.au/2012/reports/finfish/Pages/barramundi.aspx Accessed 1 September 2016
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Post by Admin on Sept 1, 2016 7:46:04 GMT
A way of, well not so much as conserving water as creating is by seeding the clouds as they do in Singapore. In Singapore they "seed" the clouds, which pretty much means they make the clouds produce rain by applying silver iodide, potassium iodide and dry ice (solid carbon dioxide). Liquid propane which expands into a gas has also been used. The reason Singapore does this is to make sure it doesn't rain on National day. It's genuinely a good idea. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_seeding#MethodologyJack, by 'seeding' the clouds is this actually increasing the quantity of water that we have? Or is it a way that humans are simply controlling the water cycle?
There are 4 stages of the Water Cycle 1. Evaporation : is when the sun heats up water in rivers or lakes or the ocean and turns it into vapor or steam. The water vapor or steam leaves the river, lake or ocean and goes into the air. 2. Condensation : water vapor in the air gets cold and changes back into liquid, forming clouds. 3. Precipitation : occurs when so much water has condensed that the air cannot hold it anymore. The clouds get heavy and water falls back to the earth in the form of rain, hail, sleet or snow. 4. Collection : when water falls back to earth as precipitation, it may fall back in the oceans, lakes or rivers or it may end up on land. When it ends up on land, it will either soak into the earth and become part of the “ground water” that plants and animals use to drink or it may run over the soil and collect in the oceans, lakes or rivers where the cycle starts1.
So whilst 'seeding' the clouds enables precipitation (or rain) to occur, it is not actually creating extra water, as the earth has a limited supply. Reflecting on the seeding process, as we are limited in controlling the collection of the majority of the precipitation, could this not be decreasing the supply of fresh water as it may be collected across the oceans and not dams and fresh water lakes/streams or the earth's surface.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reference 1 www.kidzone.ws/WATER/ Accessed 1 September 2016
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max
New Member
Posts: 12 
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Post by max on Sept 2, 2016 2:24:52 GMT
In Australia, which is the world’s driest consentient it is important that we conserve water. What we could do to improve our water levels is simple, we could lower our water use by use things such as flow controls for taps and waters, water efficient products, improved irrigation and improved irrigation control systems. We could also use alternate water supplies, E.g. rain water, bore water and grey water. The water bore I use works off an aquifer, if you don’t know what an aquifer is use my web link reference. I think that bore systems work well because it is a renewable resource of water as it ‘recharges’ after being used, but this can only happen with some aquifers. water.usgs.gov/edu/earthgwaquifer.html |
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Post by amyledam on Sept 2, 2016 2:36:55 GMT
Water conservation is an environmental method in order to reduce the usage of water. In today’s society, the use of water is used carelessly because it is so accessible everywhere however; this is not the case for developing countries because it is hard to find fresh water and countries that do not receive a lot of rain also have to deal with the constant struggle of having water restrictions. In Australia, we currently conserve water by having water tanks because they naturally collect rain water. This has ineffective outcomes on states and territories that do not produce a lot of rain because it will cost money to install and further takes up space on the citizens’ properties. Water conservation was a major issue that occurred especially within the states of southern Australia. The water restrictions were placed in order to preserve the amount of water usage within the southern states because there were major drought issues. I believe that Australia needs to have conserve water, especially within states that are dealing with droughts and that do not produce a lot of rain because that means they have to enforce water restrictions to reduce the usage of water. The Northern Territory is currently the main providers of water because it naturally produces rain yearly but the rain produced each year varies. There are issues for not conserving water in Australia because it can affect the environment and the economy. If Australian’s use water carelessly, it can drain the natural soils that depend more on water than we do and droughts ruin the natures land and the scenery it provides. Conserving water has positive results for Australia because we commonly deal with droughts and it is good to preserve the water we have instead of using it and ending up with water restrictions which has economic effects on citizens because they have to pay fines if they do not obey the restrictions. Bibliography The Nature Conservancy, 2016. Easy Water Saving Tips, accessed 26 August, 2016. URL: www.natureaustralia.org.au/celebrating-australia/water-saving-tips/ Wikipedia, 2016. Water Restrictions in Australia, accessed 2 September, 2016. URL: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_restrictions_in_Australia |
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