– How will water eventually run out?

Question

Water has been described as a finite resource. I’m talking about all water – not fresh drinkin water.

I understand that there are various things that water goes through to be recirculated through the environment, such as being absorbed by the sun and there is a cycle. But how can this lead to water being a finite resource? Are there other ‘destructive’ processes involving water that means it will be lost forever?

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Answer 1

“Water” is functionally infinite. We just don’t have the technology to destroy very much of what’s available on the planet. “Water that humans can use in a given manner or location” is what’s limited.

For example, the Great Lakes. Lake Superior is the largest body of fresh water on the planet and that’s awesome, but it’s too far away to irrigate lawns in Las Vegas. Sin City still needs to conserve water because there isn’t very much water *right there*.

Another example…. The City of Chicago. Chicago is on the shore of Lake Michigan so there’s a functionally infinite supply of fresh water for drinking, irrigation, whatever. Cool. Now imagine the city’s sewage treatment breaks down, and there are poopies floating around Navy Pier. Not cool. The pollution will disrupt the local ecosystem, cause fish kills and algae blooms, and eventually get to the water intake cribs. If the city’s water processing plants start sucking up tons of rotting fish, poops, and laundry detergent, the plants will break down and stop processing water. Suddenly that functionally infinite water resource becomes functionally zero, and you’ve got ten million very thirsty, very stinky people in the metro area wanting to put heads on spikes. The City of Chicago needs to conserve water to keep from overloading the facilities that treat sewage before putting it back into the lake, and to keep from overloading the facilities that pull water out of the lake.

Final example, City of Los Angeles. The Pacific Ocean is right there, but it’s salty. Los Angeles can put its wastewater into the ocean, but it can’t get drinking water out. Los Angeles needs to conserve water because there isn’t enough not-salty water to go around.

It’s not “Water” that’s the problem, it’s the “Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink,” issues that’s cause by salt water, or dirty water, or water that’s locked up in the atmosphere and aquifers so it’s not easily available for what humans want to do with it.