Seems like a number of cities are restricting water usage. This might be a dumb question, but do you think we are running out of water?
http://www.cbc.ca/story/news/national/2003/03/05/water_report030305.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2000/world_water_crisis/default.stm Global Warming, Record Breaking Temperatures, War's, Tropical Storms, Nuclear Threats, Dying Civilians, Iraqi operations requiring a ton of money, gas prices soaring, inflation possibly rising due to minimum wage.... Sure why not add lack of water to the list of stuff that is going on.... Could it possibly get any worse?
================ No global warming in south east, we have had above average highs[normal boundarys ], BELOW average lows. Water restrictions are common in summer. TThink its a local problem, so some could be low/shortage, in CA, western states????? Local shortages [pure water]have been common for some time, in certain areas S Arabia has had a somewhat a shortage for decades apparently; but they desalt sea water, have plenty. No global warming there, snow hit that part of world last several years, first time EVER , french trader harryTrader posted it murray TT
My Guru, Sri Shrii Anandamurti, predicted that a water crises would begin in 2000 (way back in the 1980's) and would continue to wreak havok in the world after that period. Certainly, it is directly corelated to the ill effects of deforestation.
I think most of the issues that we are suffering from in the cites can be accounted for with understanding that they are either mature or suffering from poor future planning. Too many folks concentrated in one place, be it a city or state. For such a mobile people, we really are stagnant. There are millions here who have never traveled more than 50 miles from where they were born. We may be an advanced country, but most of it IS old. That is from a utility services basis.
The earth loses a little water to space every year, it is truly a tiny amount AFAIK. Water circulates from the oceans and lakes to the atmosphere at which time it is cleaned because not much other than the water molecules get absorbed. The winds distribute it all over the planet where it falls as rain and becomes the water table. It is further filtered by the soil and eventually it can be brought to the surface for use by humans. And of course modern science tells us this is not by design..... Anyhow, to answer your question, no we are not running out of water.
obviously the oceans will not run dry. but cheap clean water, yes. there are a lot of water technology companies all over this - check out the ETF PHO ( www.amex.com )for investment purposes: "The PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield (before the Fund's fees and expenses) of an equity index called the Palisades Water Index. The Palisades Water Index (ZWI) is a modified equal-dollar weighted index comprised of U.S. exchange-traded companies engaged in the global water industry. The Index includes companies that are well-positioned to benefit from the *inevitable increase in the value of water* as the demands of the global population adjust to the inter-relationships between human health, economic development, ecological sustainability. There is no assurance that the price and yield performance of the benchmark index for the fund can be fully matched. "