5/18/2018 2 Comments May 18th, 2018Welcome my changing world. A sporadic view into the madness of civilization and those who seek to manage it. Many people sense the widening polarities at the loss of stability. As each swing widens it becomes clear we are in the midst of change. So, how do we manage it?
The world is setting up to transform. The key drivers include automation, artificial intelligence, and climate change to name a few. Automation is our pursuit of efficiency and replaces physical production. Artificial intelligence is the emergent property of our complex communications and our need to understand/process information. Climate change is the reminder that we are interdependent to a global system that fundamentally shapes us as much as we shape it. I want to focus climate change. Specifically, water. In 2015, an obscure United Nations document, the World Water Development Report, unexpectedly made headlines around the world. The report made the startling claim that the world would face a 40 percent shortfall in freshwater in as soon as 15 years. Crops would fail. Businesses dependent on water would fail. Illness would spread. A financial crash was likely, as was deepening poverty for those just getting by. Maintaining water security is an increasingly important task for water managers requiring a resilient water source portfolio. What is water security? In broad terms water security is about ensuring that every person has reliable access to enough safe water at an affordable price to lead a healthy, dignified, and productive life, while maintaining the ecological systems that provide water and also depend on water. Without it we create risks of economical and ecological collapse that form a relatively dire circumstance for those used to going to the tap. How does this relate to climate change? Well, first lets note the difference between climate and weather. Simply, climate is what you expect; weather is what you get. Therefore, climate change means what we expect to get is changing. There's hotter weather, droughts, shorter winters, heavier rainfalls, and more forest fires to name some terrestrial changes. Generally, we see heavier rainfalls producing rapid flooding followed by prolonged summer droughts. These patterns show the destabilization in the form of wider swings that might eventually level out into something new. Either way, what we once expected to get is changing rapidly. How do you manage for unexpected exceptions? Well a major means is to create redundancy into the system. Being redundant is the state of being not, or no longer, needed or useful. Ironically, redundancy is needed in case the unexpected happens and a major component of the system breaks down. For example in Abbotsford and Mission, a landslide that knocks out a water main from the water treatment facility that provides 85% of your communities water for 7 weeks. In this scenario an additional source would be appreciated to meet the daily demands of industry, agricultural, and residential use without a sudden loss in water security. Thankfully, in British Columbia we have options for the time being. However, given climate change with its reduced snow packs, glaciers, and longer, hotter summers this may change. Water conservation is an important option to reduce demand and ensure long-term supply. Another option is to question why rainwater is often viewed as wastewater instead of a valuable resource. Capturing rainwater mixed with conservation helps subsidize against the more frequent droughts we are experiencing here in British Columbia. In short, we need to be prepared for an uncertain future, especially when it comes to climate change. Water security is a large component as it is also the basis of our food security, which is the foundation of our economic security that provides social stability. Climate change issues are complex and interlinked with other changes like automation and artificial intelligence. Properly managing our era of instability will require omni-consideration of the risks, and built in redundancies to address them. For our water supply that means multiple sources that ensure we can meet our needs and the needs of our ecosystems in the long-term.
2 Comments
5/14/2018 1 Comment May 14th, 2018How does civilization develop? If the new company I work for answered the question it would probably be "with a water main." I would struggle if I needed to fill a bucket of water and slosh my way up to the fourth floor of the building I work at. So, instead I turn on the tap fill up my cup and become irritated that I forgot my water bottle. A cup can only hold so much water; my bottle lasts me all day. A minor inconvenience I suppose seeing how water supplies are critical to achieving long-term development objectives and ensuring health and safety. Or so says Mission, BC.
For a place that houses 39,873 residents (if you trust the headcount) having water lets the city be vibrant, instead of withered like a forgotten house plant. Mission's major employer is School District #75, followed by Missions Memorial Hospital, and Corrections Canada. An interesting spin. Despite the high rates of obesity their demand for water is excessive, particularly during the dry summer months, which can reduce stream flows to the point that aquatic habitat is threatened, or water temperatures reach critical levels. They estimate that their population will be 50,335 by 2025 and that continued growth will put pressure on groundwater, pose challenges in management of rainwater and stormwater, and result in habitat loss, reduction of the urban forest, and deteriorating air quality. They'll need a third water source to accommodate that growth. Where do you get your water from? I don't even know the answer to that question. Wikipedia tells me that Victoria gets it's water from Sooke Lake. The system serves 330,000 people with clean drinking water from a collective reservoir of around 93 billion litres of water. It'll last us two years without any rainfall. Impressive. Summer often brings restrictions for the public, which often draws complaints. However, it's part of the arrangement with T'Souke First Nation to release water to Goldstream, Sooke, and Charters rivers to help fish habitat. I guess I'm okay with that. Why is this important? Well really I want to stress the point that water is a resource. Currently, it's deeply undervalued. We often collect our rainwater over impermeable surfaces and shoot it out to the rivers and streams. Then complain about water restrictions during the summer droughts. There's got to be a way to capture, store, and use stormwater. Seeing how we go from floods to droughts; I think this is important. It's one of the big questions on my mind as I cruise through work. What do you think about water? Anyways, here a random quote from the Gutenberg Galaxy. "If linear concepts of development are abandoned and the development of civilizations is viewed frankly as a multilinear process much can be done toward understanding of the history of Western culture as a progressive integration of many separate elements." |
AuthorRobin Roger Gagne is a freelance writer, web designer, and SEO wizard. Archives
August 2021
Categories |
Proudly powered by Weebly