Conserving Water For The Future

After learning about the statistics of how much agriculture consumes our planet, I was appalled to see how destructive it is. Jonathan Foley put into perspective the increase and rapid demand for food. Agriculture alone consumes 40% of our land surface, 70% of our irrigation system, and

Without water, the lives of millions of children, and adults, are at risk. For children under five, water-and-sanitation diseases are one of the leading causes of death [4], along with malnutrition. [5] Unfortunately, studies show that in 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population will be water stressed. [6] If this proves to be correct, then will two-thirds of the world’s population be hungry? We use so much water to produce even the simplest of agriculture. It takes 2,000 to 5,000 liters of water to make food for just one person, not to mention that humans need to drink 2.5 liters of water daily. [7]

As we all understand, the Earth has many landmarks and it is these physical features that create an abundant and organized system within which we thrive. One of the most abundant natural resources on the planet is water and the importance of this element is as crucial as any other. For the fortunate few who get to utilize it, this amazing reserve provides us with our necessity for daily consumption as well as our ability to grow just about anything we please. Common irrigation practices are essential for gathering water into a contained area to grow crops that would not typically survive in areas without heavy rainfall. As a matter of fact, “irrigation is an ancient practice that originated along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now Iraq” and is now the result of an estimated 40 percent of all crops grown around the world (Water Encyclopedia). This tactic has provided many different cultures with numerous varieties of crops as well as growth in crop yield which in turn dramatically advances human civilization. As we develop into a more progressive society, the tools and systems used to grow our crops also become more intelligent as well as sustainable

This essay is a review of the article “Growing More Food with Less Water”, written by Sandra Postel. According the article, our global freshwater sources, including underground aquifers and rivers are stressed beyond their ability to provide freshwater. Agriculture redesign is necessary with the two primary goals being to cut water demands of mainstream agriculture and bring low cost irrigation to poor farmers. Typical irrigation, crop furrow flooding is a main cause of wasted and polluted water. This article discusses alternatives to typical irrigation. These alternatives have been tested onsite by farers and surveyed.

Living on a farm for the first half of my life, I know that my dad and many of our neighbors’ schedules revolved around the rain. Aquaponic and hydroponic methods of farming both provide dramatic reduction in water usage. One system designed by Nate Storey claims to be able to reduce water usage substantially (2014). He says that a similar sized back yard garden will use twenty times the water as hydroponic/aquaponics system. Other systems have seen similar reduction in water usage, because unlike traditional farming with irrigation, aquaponics and hydroponics is a closed system that recirculates water multiple times so that most water loss is through evaporation and the plants using it for osmosis. In traditional farming, water is lost to runoff or evaporates before the crops have a chance to use it. Moreover, aquaponics was originally mentioned as a way to reduce fish imports and allow people of inland populations to have locally raised fish and produce in the Virgin Islands (Rakocy 2000). With the need to provide food, particularly meat, aquaponically raised fish provide an alternative to shipping fish inland from the coasts or international

Our crops are very important. I think we should give more water to the farmers, only because we need food, and our food comes from our farmers and their land. If the farmers’ have enough water, they can sell what they have left to cities, but i also feel like the cities should have a fair amount too.

Farmers aren’t the only ones who should be making the effort to preserve water. Laws should be put in place that control how much of these natural resources people are allowed to use per month or per year. Resources should be conserved so time is bought for scientists to find new solutions to the problem. A 40 percent increase is expected in water demand over the next two decades. Not only that, but clean water isn’t available to one out of five people in the world. Also, only 1 percent of water on Earth is available for human consumption. Solutions are evidently needed.

Thus, the agriculture sector must implement methodologies that guard and expand water for its own economic benefit as well as for societal and environmental needs.

Although water conservation helps, some people have misconceptions about what water conservation can and can't do. If we all work together to conserve water, we can help assure a bright and prosperous life for future generations. Become an advocate of conservation in your community. Help promote conservation as a wise and important water management principle.

Take shorter showers, turn off the water when we brush our teeth and just be more conscious of water usage in order to not be wasteful. When it comes to future farmers, they can pay close attention to water per acre feet regulations and follow them closely. Another way to extend water when it comes to agriculture is to use less water intensive crops. Examples are grain sorghum, cotton and sunflowers. Repairing leaks in irrigation and utilizing new and improved ways to irritate are other possible solutions. One new way to irrigate is the PMDI (Precision Mobile Drip irrigation technology system called (Dragon-Line). This new system is predicting a potential for 20-50% water savings compared to conventional irrigation. I believe that for my generation to help with water conservation, we need to be diligent about educating everyone in the past, present and future about the importance of not taking this precious natural resource for

We need to save water because we need to save plants. Earth’s oxygen and most of the food comes from plants. Not just us but plants also need water for survival too."Midwest Plan Service guidelines suggest that farms using 2,000 gallons per day" (Consumptive Water Use Restrictions in the Delaware River Basin. 2002. Agricultural and Biological Engineering Fact Sheet F-199, Penn State Extension). This shows that farmers around the world need lots of water to harvest healthy crops which demand a huge amount of water. Farmers may uses a lot of water for plants and animals but they also know techniques to save water. "Good grazing management increases the fields’ water absorption and decreases water runoff, making pastures more drought-resistant." (CUESA intern Janelle Shiozaki ). Rotational grazing is a process in which livestock are moved between fields to help promote pasture regrowth. Other ways farmers can save water is to decomposed organic matter to improve soil structure to help the environment breath better and animals habitat.

Less water means farming and other crops that need water to grow have lower yield. Water is needed to ensure food security, to feed livestock, and to conserve the biodiversity and environment.

Water is the main source of life on the Earth. It is vital for normal existence and functioning of organisms. Earth is sometimes called “water planet.” But, in fact, the number of freshwater is limited. “Only about 2 percent of the planet's water is fresh.” (How much water is there on Earth?) This water is not enough even to meet daily needs of mankind. According to World Health Organization, “a lack of water to meet daily needs is a reality today for one in three people around the world.” (2009) In the Middle East the situation is especially hard. This region is thought to be one of the droughtiest places in the world, most of it’s territory is deserted. Freshwater accounts to 1 percent of the world’s supplies, while the population comes

It is an essential resource for sustaining life as well as central to agriculture and rural development, and is intrinsically linked to global challenges of food insecurity and poverty, climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as degradation and depletion of natural resources that affect the livelihoods of millions of people across the world. According to the World Bank, (2010) report, water is a scarce resource with multiple interwoven uses that range from drinking water, energy, irrigation, manufacturing things, transport of people and goods among others. The report further states that, more than one-sixth of the Worlds’ population does not have access to safe drinking water, with 80% living in rural areas thus access to water cannot not be guaranteed globally.

In contrast, water resources planners have often trivialized green water management in rain-fed agriculture (Liu, Zehnder, & Yang 2009). Green water management often comes in the form of effective use of rainfall (Liu, Zehnder, & Yang 2009). Green Water management has great conservation potential. For example, according to Liu, Zehnder, & Yang (209), strengthening rainfall management could possibly double or even quadruple maize yields in sub-Saharan Africa. Rainwater harvesting is a promising approach for green water management in the semiarid tropics of Asia and Africa (Liu, Zehnder, & Yang 2009). Experiments with rainwater harvesting increased yield by a factor of 2 to 3 in Burkina Faso, Kenya, Niger, Sudan and Tanzania as compared to the current yield levels (Liu, Zehnder, & Yang 2009). Additional spending in many of the rain-fed areas allowed more poor people to rise above the poverty line than would be expected with investments in irrigation infrastructure (Liu, Zehnder, & Yang 2009). Green water management is not only limited to ‘‘infrastructure’’ and management technologies, as biotechnological advances can also be helpful (Liu, Zehnder, & Yang 2009). For example, a hybrid ‘‘New Rice for Africa,’’ which was developed to grow in the uplands of West Africa, produces more than 50% more grain than current varieties when cultivated in traditional