Welcome to this month's Science in Fiction feature! Science in Fiction is a meme I created to showcase the wonderful aspects of science in Young Adult fiction novels. For more information and previous feature, check out the "Science in Fiction" tag!
This month, I'm featuring Forged by Erin Bowman!
This is the sequel to Taken and Frozen, and the conclusion to the trilogy. The Taken series is built on a world of experimentation, cloning, and resource control. A huge problem, mostly explained in Taken, is available freshwater resources. Water rationing is common in this world.
So today, I'm going to talk about water stress, water scarcity, and a case study!
And, it is a bit of coincidence (okay, not really) that today is World Water Day! You can CHECK if you don't believe me :D
Water is actually my area of interest (and hopefully, expertise). Aquatic chemistry and science is my focus area of my environmental engineering major. Water is everything - with no water, there is no life. You ever hear the phrase "the third world war will be fought over water"? Personally, I'm very inclined to believe that theory.
Facts about water:
- About 97% of the Earth's water is salt water, leaving about 3% as fresh water.
- Of that 3%, 70% is ice (icecaps, glaciers, etc.)
- Less than 1% of the freshwater can be used for drinking water
- Agriculture/irrigation and electric power are the two highest uses of water, followed by consumer use
- Water withdrawals have tripled in the last 50 years
- Freshwater availability is often tied up with politics, unbalanced power, and poverty
(See HERE for the source, and for more facts.)
Water stress and water scarcity are two different things. According to the UN, "an area is experiencing water stress when annual water supplies drop below 1,700 m3 per person". Water scarcity is occurring when annual water supplies drop below 1,000 m3 per person. Absolute scarcity is occurring when annual water supplies drop below 500 m3 (source HERE). Globally, we're experiencing water stress.
The cast study:
Last week, it was announced that California has one year of water left (super hot topic in the environmental and political world right). I actually planned this post weeks ago, but it's morbidly convenient that this announcement was made last week and coincided with my post, just like it's oddly convenient that World Water Day happened to be within weeks of me planning this post.
California has been relying on sources of surface water, and will have to turn to ground water to meet the demand in water. Groundwater is very precious, and not easy to replace. Politicians are claiming that California will not run out of water in a year, because so much groundwater is available, but using the state's ground water supply is not smart at all. California's supply of groundwater has been decreasing rapidly. Jay Famiglietti, a water scientist, believes that water rationing might need to be employed in California. In fact, restaurants and bars are no longer allowed to serve water automatically.
One thing I personally found interesting, being an engineer and expecting the interconnections of all environmental issues - if there is less water available, there will be less power generated from hydroelectric sources. This could mean two things - California (and other states) will turn to renewable sources of energy, such as wind or solar; or, the states will turn to non-renewable sources of energy, like natural gas through hydraulic fracturing (which is totally evil, the nightmare of environmental engineers). THIS article talks about this dilemma briefly.
Scary, no? This winter has been very dry for California and the West Coast, and the ground water levels have been dropping for years. Emergency relief plans may possibly alleviate some problems temporarily, but a long-term plan has yet to surface. This is not just a problem California is/will face. Will water rationing be part of the state's future? Part of the world's future?
What do you all think?
California has been relying on sources of surface water, and will have to turn to ground water to meet the demand in water. Groundwater is very precious, and not easy to replace. Politicians are claiming that California will not run out of water in a year, because so much groundwater is available, but using the state's ground water supply is not smart at all. California's supply of groundwater has been decreasing rapidly. Jay Famiglietti, a water scientist, believes that water rationing might need to be employed in California. In fact, restaurants and bars are no longer allowed to serve water automatically.
One thing I personally found interesting, being an engineer and expecting the interconnections of all environmental issues - if there is less water available, there will be less power generated from hydroelectric sources. This could mean two things - California (and other states) will turn to renewable sources of energy, such as wind or solar; or, the states will turn to non-renewable sources of energy, like natural gas through hydraulic fracturing (which is totally evil, the nightmare of environmental engineers). THIS article talks about this dilemma briefly.
Scary, no? This winter has been very dry for California and the West Coast, and the ground water levels have been dropping for years. Emergency relief plans may possibly alleviate some problems temporarily, but a long-term plan has yet to surface. This is not just a problem California is/will face. Will water rationing be part of the state's future? Part of the world's future?
What do you all think?
I'm not sure about the case study but i liked your facts, I love learning new thing :) Thanks For Sharing
ReplyDeleteHaha, well, it's all real so... I'm not making it up!
DeleteAnd thank YOU! :D
Ohh! Interesting post Alyssa. <3 Thank you so much for finding and sharing :) You are amazing. <3 But omg, that is not a lot of water o.O I see that many people in America and other places drink water from bottles. But here at the top of Norway, we have the best tap water. <3 and very safe to drink.. wonder if that is different in other places. Most likely is. Hmm. But yeah. Amazing post sweetie :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! And no, it isn't. A lot of people aren't aware of the global water crisis! I think Europe has a lot of countries with great water quality and purification systems, but with the varying climates in the United States, it's not as easy. It's vastly different on the East Coast than on the West Coast (in the United States), for example.
DeleteThank you!
This is a fantastic post Alyssa! I keep on hoping we'll turn to renewable energies but it seems that those energies are not interesting enough for politicians to support, and since there are no economic interests behind them, thinking of our future is not scary enough!
ReplyDeleteMaybe people should read more dystopians and realize how plausible so many of those futures are??
I agree! The United States gets a little less than 10% of its energy from renewable sources - very different in Europe, I hear. We need to up those numbers! Everything is so intricately connected, but politics definitely has a huge impact on all of these issues.
DeleteI think dystopian novels could be quite educational, if people read them AND took them seriously!
Wow, this has been a really interesting post! I used to live in California and always knew that water was a bit of an issue but since I moved four years ago I hadn't realised just how serious the situation is. Those facts are pretty scary. I don't know how well water rationing would work but I'll definitely be keeping an eye out now to see what they do.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!
It's chilling, isn't it? I never really thought of a state in the United States having so little water, for some reason... we're not a third world country, why would we be in such dire need of water? I was totally wrong. I want to see what the state, nation, and world will do. Hopefully they're sitting up and taking notice.
DeleteThank you!
Knowing all this makes me feel smart! Thanks Alyssa ;)
ReplyDeleteLOL well I am very glad for that, Eileen! No problem ^_^
DeleteIt makes me think about that alien invasion movie with Aaron Eckhardt. They're here for our water! :) But yes, it makes sense that one of the commonly touted renewable energies (hydroelectric) would be less efficient in California. We'll see what they come up with. $5 says they'll institute a new tax first. That always seems to be their go-to. ;)
ReplyDeleteLOL! That's funny. And honestly, I'd rather pay a few dollars more than be drinking toxic or salty water...
Delete