Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/356
53 WWW.hPLUSMAgAzIne.CoM b ut there's a critical difference between energy and water. We can substitute our way out of the energy crisis. Petroleum may be dense and convenient, but we don't have a committed relationship with it. As soon as another energy source does the job better and cheaper, it's "sayonara Saudis." The Stone Age didn't end because we ran out of stones, Sheikh zaki Yamani wisely observed, and the Petroleum Age won't end because we ran out of oil. but we can't substitute our way out of the water crisis. Water is the stuff of life, and there is an irreducible minimum below which life is not sustained. So we have to get smart about water. What are the solutions? The basic answer is "doing more with less," as bucky Fuller was fond of saying. Water effi ciency — and even radical water effi ciency — is in our futures, and we'll achieve it in three ways. Let me summarize them: sexiest fi rst, most profi table last. Technology is the most exciting option, since we're both dazzled by cool new things and organized around making money from them. The catalog here is diverse. It includes low-fl ow fi xtures like faucets (down from 2.2 gallons per minute just a few years ago to 1.2 gpm today) and toilets (down from 1.6 gallons per fl ush to 1.28) and waterless toilets (like the urinals you're starting to see in offi ce buildings that save 40,000 gallons per year each, at a return on investment (RoI) of 14% per year). (As always, your mileage may vary.) It includes hyper-effi cient pumps and motors like the turbines and impellers from the Pax group, inspired by nautilus shells and other biological solutions; and low-energy fi ltration technology using carbon nanotubes, which will pass water molecules — but not viruses, bacteria, toxic metal ions, and large noxious organic molecules — through their smooth, water-repellent interiors. but as with the reduce/reuse/recycle hierarchy in waste management, this is the third step in the process, since investment will be more productive if there's a smaller fl ow for it to manage. The second major lever: pricing. As with many key resources, prices are often distorted by policies, whether they be historic legacies or decisions to suppress prices to expand access (incorrectly priced resources incent people to overuse). Conversely, lifeline rates can provide access to basic supplies at a modest price, while escalating rates for higher usage tiers provides incentive to effi ciency. Watch for both variable water pricing and challenges to historic water subsidies. behavior change, the third lever, is both the easiest — because it requires no investment, no complex change in infrastructure, no lag time — and the hardest, because it depends on people changing habits. It's also the least glamorous. It's as simple as not running the water when you brush your teeth or wash the dishes; not over-watering your lawn; or (a bit harder) encouraging your employees to notice and change how they clean a production line. Water utilities around the world are investing heavily in effi ciency technology and education, because they fi nd it a much more economically effective investment than building new supply infrastructures. Finally, some of the most interesting technology doesn't fi t in the normal "clean tech" taxonomy, since it's more about systems and processes than things. My favorites example is the TReeS program in Los Angeles. LA's rainfall would deliver half its water budget, but 75% of LA is paved, so most of that rain runs off to the sea — and at that, only after running through, and burdening, the city's water treatment plans. The TReeS uses technologies — from permeable paving that captures rainfall to forestation programs that provide massive water storage in the root zone of trees — that mimic the "sponge and fi lter" function of forests and demonstrate the feasibility of retrofi tting a city to function as an urban forest watershed. The program has already saved the city $200m — and according to projections, it will cut water imports by up to 50%, create up to 50,000 jobs, remove the 100 year fl ood threat on the L.A. River, and eliminate the need for a $4 billion treatment plant. now that's cool refreshing technology. ReSoURCeS Water Cycle http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/ watercyclefreshstorage.html hyper-effi cient Pumps http://www.thepaxgroup.com/technology/ nanotech Filtration Technology http://news.smashits.com/295383/ nanotechnology-may-solve-water-crisis-in- India.htm The TReeS program http://www.worldchanging.com/ archives//003674.html