Thirsty? How 'bout a cool, refreshing cup of seawater?

Thursday, March 29, 2012
By: Howard Perlman
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/drinkseawater.html

Summary of Article:
 This article is about the desalination of water. First it explains that desalination is the process by which we turn ocean or saline water int fresh drinkable water.  Then it explains how in some parts of the US fresh water is hard to get so this method becomes useful.  Also this article talks about classifying how salt is in water.  If water has a concentration of more than 1000 ppm of dissolved salt then it is technically saline water.  This article also talks about how water will continually be harder to get in the US so this technique of getting water will be very useful.  Next the author talks about the process of desalinization and how it is an ancient method of getting water.

Opinion:
This article made me realize that if we run out of natural freshwater we won't be totally dead.  It also made me realize that we have the ability to mass produce fresh water.  We could distribute it to third world countries or places that need water.  I'm also glad that this means we probably won't be running out of water for a very long time.  Something else I found interesting was that that in ancient times this technique was used to get water.


Questions:
1.  Do you think this could solve world thirst problems? If so how?
2.  If we ran out of natural fresh water could this method be used to provide all of our fresh water? How?
3.  Do you think this will ever be the worlds only way of getting water? Why and if so how soon?
4. Should Nam be allowed to add a random question if one is not already present?

I've Got 99 Problems and My Thirst Is One

 The Future of U.S. Water Supplies is Anything But Certain
By Climate Control (Not really sure if this counts as the author)
http://news.opb.org/article/the_future_of_u.s._water_supplies_is_anything_but_certain/
 
Summary:
The author believes that the water availability in the United States is decreasing. This is due to factors such as global warming, pollution, a rising population, and natural droughts. While most people associate access problems to third-world countries, the US may also be getting problems. For the last ten years, the US Southwest has been suffering from droughts and high water demands. Because the Colorado River is being overused, water distribution arguments have sprung up. In the Southeast, water has been highly restricted due to resource overuse, population boom, and poor weather. This is all foreshadowing for future issues. As polar ice melts into the ocean due to global warming, the sea water will start to rise. This will mix it with the country's drinking water supplies. This is a problem because of how polluted sea water has become and how high the salinity level is.

Opinion/ Reflection:
I found the article shocking when it said that we may be having water problems in the US since when we think of water issues we think of Africa or India. The problems that are the cause of the water issue are all things we are/ will be learning about. We already discussed how human population growth may be a problem, but we didn't discuss how the water supply in America may be affected. We will be talking about global warming later. I found it interesting that the biggest problems were in the Southern part of the United States. This means that if global warming continues, we in the North may also be getting water shortages. With temperatures like last summer, water shortages may not be that far away.

Questions:

1. Is there any way that we could prevent a United States water shortage?
2. How concerned should we be with this issue?
3. Is it too late to prevent an issue/ Were there any warning signs to hint to a possible water shortage?
4. Do we have responsibility to supply the drought areas in the US with water?
5. Do you like green eggs and ham?