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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>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?
Having “a limited water supply” is simply another way of stating “wastewater treatment is a very time-, infrastructure and resource-intensive process that cannot be provided everywhere”. The logistics involved are mind-boggling and they are what provides an upper limit to the total amount of fresh water that can be used.
Staying below that upper limit (by using less water) is significantly easier than artificially raising the limit by covering the world in wastewater treatment and desalination plants and the infrastructure required to maintain them.
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