Summary
This article was about how our water supply is slowly diminishing. Our waters are affected by climate change, poor manegment of stormwater run-off, and antiquated sewage plants. People in Canada use, on average, about 350L of water daily! Europeans use approximately 200L of water daily and Africans use 50L. The main reason for our excessive use of water is thought to be because of our unlimited supply. Only ten-percent of the water we use is used for cooking and drinking, and the rest just goes to waste. Montreal-based Brac Systems developed a way for us to recycle our waste water, or "greywater" ( bath, toilet, laundry and kitchen water that goes down the drain ). This system filters the water and then it can be used to water your garden or for your toilet. Many water treatment plants are out-dated. This causes the water to leave the plant slightly contaminated. There are many studies on how to clean water cheaply and effectively. There was a recent break-through by Craig Criddle and Brian Cantwell. They created a way to clean water where more energy is produced and less is actually used. This occurs when less oxygen is pumped into the water.
Connections
In this article, the concepts of supply and demand are shown. This article strongly relates to chapter two. This article is about how our water supply is slowly decreasing, so there is a decrease in the supply of water, even though the demand is still the same. This decrease in supply is mainly caused by global warming, or climate change. Since water is a necessity in our everyday lives, the demand never changes. If the City of Vancouver were to start charging the citizens of Vancouver for water, like they do in Victoria, people would conserve more water. People would conserve more water, because there is a fee on it. This would allow our water supplies to last longer. Water in an inelastic resource. Water is inelastic, because it is a necessity, people use it everyday (washing hands, running the toilet, washing dishes, laundry, etc..).
To summarize, this article relates to the factors of supply, and water an inelastic resource.
Reflection
I think that this decrease in our water supplies will affect us sooner or later, but I think that we should start to do something to clean our water. Also, Canadians should start to conserve water. In this article, the author mentioned that there is a new, more efficient water purifier, I think that we should start using it in BC and all over Canada as soon as possible. Or, the government should try to upgrade some of the current water treatment plants, because they are doing more harm than good to the environment. I agree with the article about the fact that we waste a lot of water everyday. Personally, I waste water by taking long showers, letting the water run while cooking and washing dishes, and also by flushing after every time I go to the washroom. Let's save our water!
I agree with you that Canadians need to conserve more water. It can be really hard because in a regular household we just turn on the tap and we have what seems like an infinite supply of water. I think that though the supply of water is decreasing, the demand for it is increasing. We have hotter summers now because of climate change, and people want to water their lawns more often. This article was an interesting read because it discusses a way to reuse water that goes down our drains, something I didn't think was possible. You did a good job with the article :)
ReplyDelete