If climate change is a shark, water is its teeth.
While climate change is this big, unseen thing that’s out there somewhere, we feel its bite via water: extreme rainfall events, flooding, and periods of severe drought.
However, we’re generally unaware of how sharp climate change’s water teeth may be until they bite.
A personal anecdote:
Last August floor drains and toilets in the homes in my neighborhood fountained sewage water during a rainfall of 3.1 inches (80 mm) in 90 minutes. The sewage was 18 inches deep in some basements, damaging everything from furniture to furnaces.
My home was spared, but my daughter’s house one block away wasn’t. It took 12 days to begin the cleanup by contractors from another city 500 km away. Hundreds of homes were damaged and there aren’t enough contractors.
This happened despite a new $200 million storm-water storage system involving 6.2 km of tunnels under the city. Experts say the 43-million-liter storage system worked but simply couldn’t handle the volume of water, nor is it feasible to build something that could
Meanwhile, flooded homeowners spent most of the last 8 months fighting with their insurance companies and contractors trying to get their homes fixed
Need-to-Know: Warmer ocean temperatures cause wetter monsoons and atmospheric rivers.
The science is well-established that climate change has disrupted the water cycle. increasing our risk of being bitten.
A brief science summary:
Warmer air can hold more moisture. Our atmosphere now holds nearly 10% more water vapor = more extreme rainfall.
Evaporation rates over land have increased = more droughts.
The oceans provide most of the water vapor found over land = more flooding
For more on this see: Need-to-Know: A Fundamental Change to the Earth’s Water Cycle is Underway and Extreme Water Requires Collaboration Not Control
Need-to-Know: Water, not oil, powers the world
Here’s an important context in a disrupted water cycle that gets overlooked in the media coverage of the ever-worsening floods and droughts: Our societies are powered by water, not oil.
We need water to grow food, produce energy, and provide housing materials, and water for clothes, paper, cars, and electronics. The list is endless because we need water to make anything. And the things we make, no matter how trivial, require huge amounts of water.
For example, your morning cup of coffee took around 140 liters (37 gal.) of water to make. Water to grow the beans, water to process the beans, water to make the packaging, water to make the fuel to transport the beans, water to make the electricity involved in roasting the beans, and so on.
The “hidden” water needed to make stuff is called virtual water but it’s a real as the water that goes into your morning coffee.
Each of us in North America consumes 8,000 liters a day through our food, clothing, electronics, building materials, energy, showers, and so on. That’s 3X more water than folks consume in poorer countries.
[All this is documented in my book: “Your Water Footprint: The Shocking Facts About How Much Water We Use To Make Everyday Products” along with +80 infographics]
Need-to-Know: When water scarcity bites, it often comes as a
shock.
Our virtual water consumption matters because two in three people suffer from severe water scarcity for at least one month per year. In poor countries, this means not enough drinking water or water to grow their food. Note: Climate change is only the most recent factor in a growing global water crisis: Overuse, mismanagement, and pollution are also major factors.
Reducing our water footprint is about smart substitutions and changes rather than sacrifice and self-denial.
Here’s some suggestions:
Switching to a mainly plant-based diet cuts a daily water footprint by 20 to 30%
Cut food waste. 40% of all food in North America is wasted, including the incredible amounts of water used to produce it. FYI best-before dates have nothing to do with food safety.
When it comes to clothes, electronics and everything else practice the 4Rs in this order: Reject, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Water-wise purchasing also means asking the hard question: I do really need this?
Need-to-Know: Reducing your water footprint reduces your carbon footprint too!
There’s a rough correlation between things that are big water consumers and big sources of carbon emissions.
Until next time. Be well.
Stephen