Name: Reena G Patel
Status: Other
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
I wanted to ask why we have to conserve water if there is an endless supply of
it?
Replies:
First, the idea that there is an endless supply of water needs to be thought
about. Is this really the case? While the oceans may seem to be vast, the
water in them is not readily used for drinking. There are methods to make
ocean water suitable for drinking, but this requires relatively expensive
reverse osmosis and filtration systems and these methods are not yet feasible
on a large scale. The other problem is that there is not an abundant pure
water supply in all the cities and towns and large metropolitan areas and
farms which require them.
At present we still rely heavily on regular rain
patterns to refill our watersheds and I am sure you have read in your local
paper about conserving water when a dry period occurs over an extended time.
In short, water conservation's goal is trying to insure that each person will
have an adequate supply of pure water to suit their necessities at a
reasonable cost. Naturally if water shortages occur, purchasing bottled water
to drink and cook could be an expensive proposition over a long period. If
farmers rely on a watershed to supply irrigation water to their fields, we
cannot waste water in our cities which draw water from those same watersheds.
Finally pollutants which make available water unusable in our creeks and
rivers and lakes can make demand increase for those remaining pure water
supplies. I hope this gives you some things which are considered in deciding
on water conservation.
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