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Water We Gonna Do? (October 13, 2006, One)

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Program Summary

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink. Water is essential for life, but, living on our ocean planet, we are surrounded by undrinkable saltwater. The population is growing, the fresh water supply is not. Water we gonna do?

Experts say we must use and reuse what we have, finding efficient and cost-effective ways to utilize our limited water resources. Desalination plants that remove the salt from seawater are up and running in Tampa Bay and around the world, but they are expensive and currently use fossil fuel energy to operate. Various recyling processes, like reverse osmosis and distillation, are effective ways to purify and reuse dirty fresh water, and of course, waste treatment plants are a vital part of any community's health.

What can be done about water shortages in desert areas like the Middle East or impoverished areas of the Third World, where tainted water still kills? How can expensive, highly technical treatments be adapted for countries that don't have the money or means to use them? These are some of the slippery issues discussed by these experts.

Guests

Brent Haddad
Associate Professor of Environmental Studies
University of California
Santa Cruz, California

Sandra Postel
Visiting Senior Lecturer in Environmental Studies at Mount Holyoke College
Director of the Global Water Policy Project
Amherst, Massachusetts

Jerry Maxwell
Manager, Tampa Bay Water
Tampa Bay, Florida

Related Links and Resources

American Water Works Association
Seawater Desalination in California
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Water Recycling and Reuse
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Water
U.S. Geological Survey: Drink a cup of seawater?
U.S. Geological Survey: Water Resources of the United States
UNESCO: Water, sustainable development and conservation of freshwater resources in the world
WateReuse Association - Creating New Sources of High Quality Water

For Discussion:

• How has the availability of water shaped civilization?

• What factors can lead to water shortages in some areas, but not in others?

• What is desalination? Explain reverse osmosis and distillation. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these techniques?

• How can recycled water be used?

• What effects could global warming have on our water availability?

Activities

Splish, splash, please don't take a bath. (Take a shower instead.) All of the web sites in the related links section above contain excellent information about water processing and reuse. For lesson plans and activities for middle and high school levels, visit the U.S.G.S. Water Science for Schools: All about water! The Water Science topics page summarizes the myriad issues covered in this well-organized site, and each section goes into further detail, ending with a quiz or other activity that pulls together the points made in that section. Check out Storytime: Your water plan for Dryville, read how 3^rdgraders feel about water-quality, find out how wet your state is, complete questionnaires and opinion surveys, and browse the picture gallery.

I think, therefore I drink. Several Thinkquest projects present different aspects on water. Water for the Future (Water Desalination) is a colorful, animated site that explains various purification processes and talks briefly on desalination around the world. A quiz tests your smarts. A section on Management at the Water, Water, Everywhere site has discussions of pollution, purification, economics, and conservation, among others. View a schematic layout of a purification plant. From Singapore come two very good Thinkquest efforts: Water, with anime style animation and fun sound effects that highlight sections on demand, meeting the demand, conservation, resources, and a review of Singapore's desalination project. Pair it up with NEWater - Water For Our Future, a site that documents the creators' study and taste-testing of drinking water recylced from, uh, toilets.

How dry I am! What's more precious than gold? In California, it's water, where big business has gone to "war" in the past to gain control over the state's unevenly distributed resources. Read all about it at Got Water? From Newspapers in Education Thirsty for Drought Relief, from the New York Times Learning Network, examines the effect that long-term drought is having on Arizona, a natural desert state.

Get your feet wet at these Science Friday Kids' Connection pages about water:
Onondaga Creek (May 19, 2006, Hour Two)
November 12, 2004, Hour Two: Melting Ice

Use the search box below to perform a Google search within any of the specifc sites or general domains mentioned in this Activities section.

Hear the Program

RealAudio format (courtesy NPR Online)
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mp3 download (Science Friday Podcast)