"Creaive solutions to the water crisis" (from the same Rawsthorn article in the post below)

- Some of them are being tested at Z33. Hanging outside the building is Rain Catcher, a giant raindrop-shaped device developed by the Spanish designer Jordi Canudas to add rainwater to the drainage system. Taking pride of place in the garden is Pig Toilet, an experimental dry sanitation project devised by the Dutch artists Atelier Van Lieshout. It combines a pigpen with a human toilet, the contents of which are eaten by the pigs, rather than being flushed away and wasting water.

- More conventional (and less stomach-churning) proposals include the LifeStraw, a $5 portable device invented by the Swiss company Vestergaard Frandsen to purify water as it is sucked up through a straw. Another is the Aquaduct, a concept tricycle developed by the American design group IDEO, which carries water, and purifies it using a mechanism started by turning the pedals.

(info taken from http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/09/style/DESIGN11.php?page=2)

All of the solutions that are being tested are possible and could work for sure, but you also wonder that during the process of the solutions how much water was used? Or is it similar to "you have to spend money to make money", you have to use water to make water?

I was skimming through the "objectified" blog the other day and saw a link to an article by Alice Rawsthorn about "creating solutions to a water crisis". This caught my attention because I saw another article a few days before about 'water being the new oil'. It talked of how much water a single person uses in one day through consumption, and if we keep heading this way then we could see a similar situation to the oil crisis arising.

Another important point being that you can choose to not use your car, but obviously you cant choose to not take a drink.

"Some 70 percent of the earth's surface consists of water, but only 3 percent of it is freshwater, and less than a third of that (the 1 percent in the exhibition's title) is drinkable. The amount of water we consume is increasing, whereas the supply of freshwater is static, which is why it's running out. More than a third of the world doesn't have enough water, and the situation is worsening." (http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/09/style/DESIGN11.php)

This quote kind of sums it all up. There isnt enough water for all our needs, or at least there wont be very soon..... shit. It seems that the more we expand and develop as nations/businesses/people, we produce more and more waste and use things that will someday run out. In our defense, when u look at the world and its statistics (70% of surface, water) you wouldnt think that water would be one of the things to run out. As we develop, the word "Renewable" seems to be getting more important.

We all have basic needs, shelter/food/water, that we need to survive. Though what the article talks about is the wastage during these necessities. For example, the water that comes out of your taps is drinkable, yet you use that water for washing the dishes, washing your hands, running a bath, brushing your teeth, watering the plants, etc. What if the water you needed for other uses than consumption was not drinkable, if this was the case, then the wastage would be less.

One of the main wastages of water that the article points out is sanitation. Britain and lots of other countries have wet sanitaion systems, but dry sanitation systems do work and can and have been used before.

"It sounds disgusting, but it works," said Crawford. "In the 19th century there was a vigorous debate between the advantages of dry and wet sanitation systems. The urgh! factor is the reason why wet systems won, but dry sanitation was a perfectly workable solution."