Read & Seed 5: Fourth Quarter and Final Review of Aqua Shock: The Water Crisis

1. The chapters I've covered this week were 7 and 8, pages 153-226.
2. Main topics of I read about were:

• The rising cost of water
• Not all areas have inadequate water, just inadequate storage for the water they do have.
• Americans waste nearly 640 billion gallons of water per year flushing old inefficient toilets. That's the equivalent of fifteen day's worth of flow over Niagara Falls.

3. Some significant things I learned were:

• Americans spent an estimated nearly 11.2 billion on bottled water in 2008. 
• Water is the least expensive in the Midwest and most expensive in the Northeast. 
• Bottled water costs 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water, depending on the origin of the bottled water. (packaging, production and water required)
• There is no "simple" solution to this water problem .

4. We should care about the fact that there is no simple solution to this problem because when we all finally realize that there is a very dangerous problem among us, it might be too late to come up with and implement the complicated solution that it will take to overcome this. We need to start looking at our needs vs. our demands. For example, lowering non-priority uses such as lawn watering. Also, we can start including the environmental costs in the price of water.
5. What needs to be done to address this problem is awareness. People need to know how much water we are wasting and can not get back. If people understood that water isn't something that we are always going to have readily available. Starting to plan and make a difference can be very beneficial to us all if we start now.
6. Overview of the book is basically giving facts about how much water we use not only for drinking and everyday use but also for production of things. Also, how people have rights over water and we need to be aware that just because you might live on the land above the water source or the river that runs through your land you don't necessarily own it.
7. Three most significant things you learned.

1. I learned that the amount of water on earth is constant, what changes is the form it takes-liquid, ice, or vapor, the amount of pollution, and the accessibility of the water
2. I also learned 70% of earth is water, yet only 1 percent of that water is readily accessible freshwater. 97% of this water is in oceans, salty and undrinkable unless it is desalinated which is very costly which leaves 3% freshwater. 2% of this freshwater is glaciers, polar ice caps and groundwater, which only leaves us with the 1% freshwater made up by ground and surface water
3. People think that drinking out of water bottles is safer than drinking tap water, think again. Bottled water isn't tested as regularly as faucet water for impurities and pollutants. Also, many popular brands such as Dasani and Aquafina are tap water or come from public reservoirs. A study was done that tested ten US bottled water brands in eight states and the District of Columbia and found thirty-eight pollutants including bacteria, fertilizer, Tylenol, and industrial chemicals.

8. These things are important because we need to understand how much water is actually available to us. And that much of the water is not readily available because it is in the form of ice and glaciers and must be melted in order for it to even be considered for use. Also important, is the fact that many people think bottled water is so much better for them, but in all reality it isn't always the case.
9. I recommend this book for others to read so that they can fully understand the predicament we are in with a possible water shortage. We need to start informing people if we want anything to change, and this book is a factual way to do that.

Read & Seed 4: Aqua Shock: The Water Crisis

1. This week I covered chapters 5 and 6, pages 107-151.
2. Some of the main topics I have read about are that there are two approaches to water rights, first is riparian the second is prior appropriation. Or a combination of these can be used. Also, I learned that The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the Army Corps of Engineers have a huge say in how water is managed, along with other government entities, representatives, and employees.

3. Some significant things I learned and new terminology presented are that ownership of the Republican River that runs through Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas is not necessarily determined by who owns the river bottom. Ownership of the water is divided based not on how many miles of river are in each state, but on a contract signed in 1943. At this time the state of Colorado sold the right to most of the annual flows of water through the river as follows: 49 percent went to Nebraska, 40 Percent went to Kansas, and Colorado only kept 1 percent. This means that if Colorado uses more than its allotted 11 percent they could face fines and lawsuits. No matter how much Colorado's population grows or how dry the land becomes, they are only allowed there 11 percent.

1. riparian: all landowners whose property is adjoining to a body of water have the right to make reasonable use of it
2. prior appropriation: first in time, first in right. In other words the first to use it is the person to have rights over it.

4. This affects our society because as consumers we use water from local places that we can find it. We use it for recreational use and also for consumption uses. Not many of us use water straight from a stream anymore but just knowing that if you needed that water you might not have the right to use it, even if it is on your land.We should care about this because there is going to come a time when water is going to become much more expensive the scarcer it gets and we need to know what water we will have rights to if it comes down to it.  The only thing that we can completely agree on in this country is that we have a big water problem and we need to find a solution. We need to start creating national water policies or advisory boards with regional and local approaches to solve all the water issues.

Read n' Seed 3: Second Quarter of "Aqua Shock: The Water Crisis"

1.  The chapters I have covered for this quarter are 3 and 4. 
2.  The main topics I have read about are:

• Other countries besides the United States also are dealing with the water crisis.
• Not only are we losing water from overuse and waste, but much water is being contaminated. 
• Many people are becoming ill from drinking water. According to a 2006 report from the EPA, 4,400 people were hospitalized and 50 people died as a result of waterborne diseases across the country.

3.  Some significant things I learned are

• Because of leaky pipes rain water gets into the sewer and is wasted. This is happening a lot in Boston because most of the pipe work is from the early 1900's and the useful life of these pipes is only 100 years. To fix this problem all the pipes would need to be replaced, which would be much too costly. So instead they must just suffer the consequences of wasting this water.
• Leaving water on for just five minutes wastes as much energy as leaving a 60 watt bulb on for fourteen hours. Most of do this while brushing our teeth, next time you brush turn the water off and help to save energy and water at the same time.
• People think that drinking out of water bottles is safer than drinking tap water, think again. Bottled water isn't tested as regularly as faucet water for impurities and pollutants. Also, many popular brands such as Dasani and Aquafina are tap water or come from public reservoirs. A study was done that tested ten US bottled water brands in eight states and the District of Columbia and found thirty-eight pollutants including bacteria, fertilizer, Tylenol, and industrial chemicals.

4.  These things affect society because we are falsely believing that drinking bottled water is better for us. Most of  don't go research online before we buy a bottle of water from the vending machine at school or at the gas station. These companies are getting away with having water that is contaminated and we are all still buying and consuming it. Some of the contaminants found in bottled water were shown to increase risk for cancer and other diseases. It makes me think no water is safe to drink anymore. Also, although it might be costly we need to invest in replacing and building water storage structures. Leaky pipes, faucets, etc. must be dealt with. We need to preserve more water or we will indefinitely run out.

Read n' Seed: First Quarter of "Aqua Shock"

Lake Superior

1. So far I've covered chapters 1 and 2, pages 1-56.
2. The main topic I have read about are how our water sources are quickly diminishing and how many places are fighting over ownership of these water sources and actually taking each other to court. I also learned 70% of earth is water, yet only 1 percent of that water is readily accessible freshwater. 97% of this water is in oceans, salty and undrinkable unless it is desalinated which is very costly which leaves 3% freshwater. 2% of this freshwater is glaciers, polar ice caps and groundwater, which only leaves us with the 1% freshwater made up by ground and surface water. Another interesting face is about how much water we use daily just for production. Nearly 47 billion gallons of freshwater are used for public water supply systems and domestic uses. More than 142 billions of freshwater are used to irrigate crops, water livestock, and meet other agricultural needs. And finally more than 195 billions of water (136 billion gallons of freshwater and 59.5 billion gallons of saline water) are used in energy production and for thermoelectric power plants (Marks, 2009) . 
3. I learned some significant things from the first two chapters of this book. I learned that the amount of water on earth is constant, what changes is the form it takes-liquid, ice, or vapor, the amount of pollution, and the accessibility of the water. Water goes through the hydro-logic cycle and evaporates in one place but may fall in a completely different place where the temperature is much colder,  therefor turning that once available water into ice.  Also,  according to data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District, Lake Superior is at its lowest point since January of 1926 (Marks, 2009) . We are losing much of our fresh water from this lake and we must start being more careful.
4. We need to start preserving our water and stop polluting it. The fact that Lake Superior's water level is going down affects us because lowing water levels make it much more difficult for maritime shipping, which Duluth/Superior is a main harbor and this could have very negative consequences on our economy. If this source dries up too much or completely there will be no way for ships to come through which consequently will make it harder for us to get products out/in. We will have to find an alternate source of transporting our goods. To address this we need to start using less water by cutting down shower times, turning off the water while brushing your teeth, switching to toilets that use less water, recycling water to water plants and lawns, and fixing leaky faucets or hookups. We need to start changing our ways before it is too late. Humans are composed mostly of water and once it's gone it could mean the end of our existence unless we find an alternate substance.

References from: Marks, S. (2009). Aqua shock: the water crisis in america. New York: Bloomberg Press.

Read n' Seed: Aqua Shock: The Water Crisis.

1. Aqua Shock: The Water Crisis.
2. This book is about the crisis of running out of water, the effects of this and what we can do to prevent it.
3. I chose this book because I find our limited supply of water to be very interesting and also very frightening and I'd like to learn more about this serious problem. 
4. 3 Sources: 
1. http://redmooncafe.blogspot.com/2009/12/review-of-aqua-shock-water-crisis-in.html
2. http://newsblaze.com/story/20100103160131lion.nb/topstory.html
3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/susan-j-marks/our-water-crisis-too-big_b_325962.html
5. There are 8 chapters and 226 pages. I will divide up my readings into each quarter by reading 2 chapters each quarter.

Welcome to Ashley's Fresh Air Atmmosphere!

My name is Ashley Roske. My blog is going to be about all the things I'm learning in my Environmental Health Class.

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