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Voda

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Water is Gold
(Karan Singh, Shell Chemicals,
8/9/00)
Rising population growth, coupled
with economic growth, is
straining many of our natural
resources and, among
these,water is certain to become
the most critical.
Our industry has long held the belief
that water is free and chemicals
are expensive - but that myth is
about to be blown apart

WATER
IS GOLD
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The tragedy of the Aral Sea
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What is Water?
A clear, colourless, tasteless, odourless liquid that is
essential for plant and animal life and constitutes, in
impure form, rain, oceans, rivers, lakes etc

People dont demand water - except for drinking and
cooking. They actually ask for these services:
buildings - washing and cleaning and waste disposal
transport - carrying capacity
industry - feedstock, cooling, dilution, waste disposal
leisure, enjoyment, beauty - sights, sounds, smells,
exercise
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Water - a critical issue for the 21
st
century
Intricately connected to climate - and affected by climate
change...
Touches on everything:
Energy,
Food,
Human/environmental health
In many places, the way that we have provided these
services through our past and present water technologies,
is no longer sustainable.
To maintain all the services that water provides, we have
to change the way we think about it
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Water
Global water availability and use
Water availability - globally, and regional variations
Water use - agriculture, industry and domestic
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Total volume of water on Earth = 1,400,000,000 cubic kilometres
(represented by 1 gallon)
Total freshwater on Earth = 35,000,000 cubic kilometres
(represented by one teacup - 3%)
Available freshwater = 200,000 cubic kilometres
(represented by 1/7 teaspoon - <<1%)
Availability of Freshwater
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Annual Average Fresh Water Availability
- by country (Global Av. is meaningless)
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
Brazil Russia Canada USA China India Australia Mexico
1
9
2
1
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5

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Per Country per Year
Per Person per Year
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Water Availability and Use
(litres/person/day)
1,849 1,942 1,252 869 1,943 312 288 236

Agricultural
Use
173 258 41 203 2,129 3,134 896 101

Industrial
Use
129 389 68 58 556 430 274 255

Domestic
Use
2,151
(20%)
2,589
(4%)
1,362
(31%)
1,129
(18%)
4,625
(6%)
3,921
(1%)
1,444
(2%)
592
(<1%)
Total Used
(% of
available)
10,950 57,534 4,109 6,027 27,397 290,410 76,712 98,630

Total
Availability
Mexico Australia India China USA Canada Russia Brazil
The different balance of uses shows up patterns of huge variation
and inequality - between developed and developing countries.
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Global freshwater use - categories
Agricultural
Use
65%
Industrial Use
25%
Domestic Use
10%
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Water Use by Category and Country
(Litres/Person/Day)
0
500
1000
1500
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2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
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Domestic Industrial Agricultural
Compare: UK average
domestic water use is
~ 145 litres/person/day
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Agriculture - Water Use in Food
Production
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
growing 1kg wheat growing 1kg rice growing 1kg sugar beet growing 1kg potatoes
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)Compare: UK average
domestic water use is
~ 145 litres/person/day
Meat takes >> more:
beef: 15 to 70,000
chicken: 3 to 6,000
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Food - reflecting the true ecological
cost?


1 serving of
hamburger, fries
and soda requires
7000 litres of water
to produce it.

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Industry - Water Use in Manufacturing
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
1 litre beer 1kg paper 1kg bricks 1kg steel 1kg aluminium 1kg fertiliser 1kg refined
crude oil
1kg synthetic
rubber
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8
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Domestic - Water Use in the (UK) House
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
per lavatory
flush
bath shower, per
minute
automatic
washing
machine, per
load
dishwather, per
load
watering garden,
for one hour
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Range
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UK Domestic Daily Use Per Person
washing machine
12%
outside
3%
drinking
3%
dishwasher
1%
bath / shower
17%
WC Flushing
32%
miscellaneous
32%
All is treated to
very high EU
quality standards;
only these (33%)
need to be, for
health reasons
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But of course we dont all use the same
- global inequality in domestic use
Poor Africa - 5 litres/p/d
Rich West - 550 litres/p/d
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Impact now - over-extraction of
Groundwater
India - Water deficit just over 200 Billion cubic meters per year
Water tables dropping by 0.7 m per year in some areas
Salt invasion of coastal aquifers - over-pumping is contaminating drinking
water
Bangladesh - During dry season, water tables often drop below tube-well suction
levels
Pakistan - Groundwater pumping exceeds recharge by 27%
China - Water deficit of 30 Billion cubic meters per year
Water tables dropping by 1 - 1.5 m per year in northern and central plains
USA - Groundwater over-pumping at a rate of 1.6 Billion cubic meters per year
(15% of annual use) in major food and vegetable producing areas
Saudi Arabia - 85% of water demand met by mining non-renewable groundwater
Current water debt around 6 Billion cubic meters per year
Much of the rest by using salt water - desalination
North Africa - Depletion at a rate of 10 Billion cubic meters per year, 40% of
which occurs in Libya...
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Schemes to put water where it isnt
Libya - Great Man-Made River
Project
$25 billion scheme launched in
1991
Water pumped from desert
aquifers in the South at a planned
rate of 2.2 Billion cubic meters per
year; but wells may be dry within
40-60 years
Transported 1,500 km North in
4,000 km of 4m diameter concrete
pipe
80% destined for agriculture
(See also California, and Las Vegas!)
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Agricultural water impact - Cotton
To produce
1kg of cotton
requires
17,000 litres
of irrigation
water
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The Aral Sea story
Once the worlds fourth
largest inland body of
water
7.9 million hectares
irrigated and used for
cotton production
By 1990 combined river
inflow was reduced to
13% of pre-1960 flow
The Sea has lost half its
area and three-quarters
of its volume in 40
years
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The social & environmental tragedy
of the Aral Sea
Fishing industry that supported 60,000 jobs and produced
44,000 tonnes a year in the 1950s has disappeared
Each year, 100 million tonnes of toxic dust-salt mixture are
blown by the wind from the dry seabed and deposited on
surrounding farmland, killing crops
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Pollution sources
Rural Drainage
(mainly diffuse)
Nitrates (& phosphates)
from fertilisers
Soil particles from
ploughed fields
Organic waste - slurries
and silage from farms
Pesticides from fields
Urban Drainage
(mainly point source)
Storm overflows -from
combined sewer systems
Sewage treatment effluents
Industrial treatment
effluents
Hydrocarbons & other
chemicals from paved areas
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Pollution impacts
Solids - visual pollution; colour and reduced light
penetration and diversity; silt deposition; blanketing
food sources and spawning grounds
Organics: BOD/COD - oxygen reduction during
natural purification, fish kills, diversity reduction; NH
3

- fish kills
Nitrates and phosphates - eutrophication; drinking
water abstraction limits
Bacteria and viruses - drinking, bathing and
recreation use restrictions; wildlife infection;
prevention of some food uses - eg shellfish
Persistent chemicals - pesticides, THMs,
oestrogen-mimicers etc - long term (unknown?)
health effects
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Climate Change
- what changes can we expect?
rising temperatures
rising evaporation
changed rainfall
patterns
rising sea-level
increased storm
frequency/intensity
more flooding
new crop patterns
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Water is Gold- an industrial view
Karan Singh, Commercial Operations Manager, Shell Chemicals SE Asia
- INSEAD Sustainable Development Panel, Singapore, 8/9/00:

Our latest scenario planning programme has identified a number of
major discontinuities that are very likely to impact on industry in the
years ahead, and the first of these is what we call:
WATER IS GOLD
Rising population growth, coupled with economic growth, is straining
many of our natural resources and, among these,water is certain to
become the most critical.
Our industry has long held the belief that water is free and chemicals are
expensive - but that myth is about to be blown apart
14
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
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Technology - agricultural improvements
10% of current global harvest is being
produced by depleting water supplies
how to meet the water demand needed to
feed an increasing global population?
Two-thirds of water withdrawn for human
use goes to irrigation
93% of irrigated areas receive water by
furrow and flood irrigation, this method
may use only half of water applied
Indian results, 1990s, shifting from furrow
to drip irrigation - yields up 2 to 52 %;
productivity (yield/water use) up 46 to 255
% on a range of mainstream crops.
(LEPA: Low-Energy Precision Application)
90-95% LEPA prskalica
95% Kap-po-kap
80%
Niskotlana
prskalica
80%
Brazda s
ventilima
60% Brazde
Tipina
efikasno
st
Metode
navodnjavanja
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Tehnologija efikasnost uporabe
industrijske vode
Vie naknade za kanalizaciju i zabrana kemikalija
Sheme minimiziranja i prerade i ponovne uporabe na licu
mjesta dovode do uteda ak do 90% u ukupnoj potronji
vode
Velike utede uinjene povratkom otpadne vode u
ponovnu uporabu u proces.
Primjena Nula otpada strategije i moj otpad je sirovina
za tvoj proces sheme (Denmark)
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Poboljanja u domainstvu
Toilets (32% household water use)
Standard units use 5 to 7 gallons, improved units use 1.6 gallons
per flush
Composting toilets using no water are available
Baths / showers (17% household water use)
Old units use 6 to 8 gallons, improved units use 1.0 to 1.5
gallons/minute
Sinks / taps
Taps can mix air with water to reduce water use without loss of
amenity
Clothes washing (12% household water use)
Horizontal axis machines (Europe) use as little as 25% of the water
needed by vertical axis machines (US)
Dishwashers (1% household water use)
Models to adjust water use to dirtiness of load; Ecotech dish -
washer uses no energy, just the pressure of hot water from the tap