water

[den_the_cat]

IF you pull all your water from a borehole so don't use mains water and IF you treat your waste water via reed bed or similar so don't use chemicals would it be true to say that your water usage is irrelevant - given that water is not actually 'used up' it all eventually returns to the environment?

Or am I missing something?

[Stonehead]

IF you pull all your water from a borehole so don't use mains water and IF you treat your waste water via reed bed or similar so don't use chemicals would it be true to say that your water usage is irrelevant - given that water is not actually 'used up' it all eventually returns to the environment?

Or am I missing something?

You're missing a lot! Haven't time to explain now as I'm just checking something before dashing on to the next job.

Back later.

Oh, have a look at the detailed explanation of our water issues on my blog. It was done by a hydro-geologist.

[den_the_cat]

sorry - wasn't making myself clear - I mean a borehole that you know can meet your needs, not one which may run dry.

[baldowrie]

all bore holes have the potential to run dry particularly if your usage out weights the length of time it takes for water to peculate through to the fault line(s) your bore hole has tapped into.

No one can actually know whether or not a bore hole will meet your needs, you can only hope it will as it is not an exact science.

As said in Stonehead blogs plant the wrong thing in the wrong place, coupled with dryer winters, and you have a dry bore.

With a private water supply you become very aware of your water usage and a bath become a luxury instead of an every day occurrence.

[den_the_cat]

all true although we've previously had a bore hole and I know from that that some supply plenty of water. The BF also has a degree in AgroForestry so we have a reasonable idea of what planting we would need to be aware of.

So this is really a theoretical question; IF you have a borehole which supplies as much water as you want and IF you use a reed bed system to treat the water AND IF you take reasonable care with the chemicals you put into the water for washing etc CAN YOU be damaging the environment by using as much water as you wish?

To put it really simply; If you have enough water in a sustainable system for plants, animals and you, is there any environmental reason to not have a bath every night?

[Stonehead]

all true although we've previously had a bore hole and I know from that that some supply plenty of water. The BF also has a degree in AgroForestry so we have a reasonable idea of what planting we would need to be aware of.

So this is really a theoretical question; IF you have a borehole which supplies as much water as you want and IF you use a reed bed system to treat the water AND IF you take reasonable care with the chemicals you put into the water for washing etc CAN YOU be damaging the environment by using as much water as you wish?

To put it really simply; If you have enough water in a sustainable system for plants, animals and you, is there any environmental reason to not have a bath every night?

You're never the sole user of the water. It's a shared resource that falls on, flows through and extends under everyone's land and is also immensely important to the entire environment (plants, animals, etc).

It's also not possible to have a totally sustainable system - there are losses all along the way. You can recover some and put it back, but much is lost.

To have a bath every night just because you can is selfish and greedy. "It's there, it's mine and I can use it how I want."

People downhill from us have that exact attitude - their boreholes don't run dry, the water is "theirs" and they'll use it as they want.

So no, that argument doesn't hold water with me!

Anyway, I'm suppose to be cooking dinner...

[den_the_cat]

It's also not possible to have a totally sustainable system - there are losses all along the way. You can recover some and put it back, but much is lost.

Well I suppose this is the crux of my question - chemically water is H2O and of course it can be changed to something else (photosynthesis for example uses H2O and CO2 to produce Glucose and O2 - but it doesn't actually reduce the amount of water on the planet, becuase respiration combines the O2 with glucose to produce CO2 and H2O again at no net loss of water.

So on a planetary basis is the amount of water stable, or are there things we do that reduce it forever? Clearly there are some things which can take it out of the water table for longer than other things, and clearly it's moved around by weather, tides and people buying bottles of iclandic mountain water in M&S Food Hall, but do I actually remove water forever from the ecosystem by anything I do?

[baldowrie]

Think Stonehead has already answered that in his last reply.

However not wishing to appear inflammatory but no one can help with any one trying to justify their reasons for wanting to do something.

[den_the_cat]

*sigh* I'm not asking anyone to justify my having a bath every day, I don't happen to have a self sustaining borehole at present but I am, in any case, capable of making and accepting responsibility for simple moral decisions without asking people to help me justify it, or not, but thanks for your concern.

Probably I should have phrased my question more generally but I thought it was more easily answered with a theoretical mini-ecosystem to consider. Clearly I was wrong.

What I'm asking is a question I have a personal curiosity about - do we actually depelete (worldwide) water over time by anything we do. From my limited scientific knowledge I don't think we do, but I'm curious and there are some members here who are really good with that type of thing.

[Muddypause]

I'm certainly no hydrologist, but my understanding is that we do not use up water in the way that we use up coal or oil, for example. Water just goes round and round in a continuous cycle. It may temporarily get waylaid in something else's cycle, like a plant, or a person, which cannot survive without a constant supply of the stuff, but eventually it will rejoin the cycle of evaporation, rain, flow, collection, etc, evaporation.