About 20 years ago we were all throwing out bottles and food packaging that contained BPA. The words BPA stand for (bisphenol A) – it’s a chemical used to make hard, clear plastics and protective resin linings inside metal cans. It helps plastics stay strong and heat-resistant, but small amounts can migrate into food and drinks. But the chemical is an endocrine disruptor, hurting our bodies in a number of ways.

We’ve come a lot further since BPA. We now have microplastrics and PFASs to worry about. Forever chemicals, or PFAS, are man-made chemicals and products made to repel water, grease, and stains. They’re in firefighting foams, non-stick cookware, waterproof clothing (yes, they’ve been used by the eco-darling Patagonia), stain-resistant carpets, fast-food packaging that seem like paper but which are water-proof, and many industrial processes.

PFASs don’t break down, and they escape factories, landfills, and training sites into soil and groundwater, eventually reaching our drinking water. Wastewater plants can’t fully remove them, so they circulate in rivers and crops too. Long-term exposure has been linked to immune, hormone, and cancer risks.

This report on Green Prophet explores PFAS in German drinking water.

Consumers can reduce exposure by limiting grease-proof packaging, choosing PFAS-free textiles and cookware, and supporting water testing and filtration in their communities. And now the EU is taking a bold step in making sure all European Union member states worked to monitor and reduce PFAS levels in drinking water. Consider that if you live in Iraq, PFAS are the last thing you need to worry about – European, American and Chinese oil companies are leaking crude oil right into the water, and they know about it.

But those same Europeans who want to make the world a better place, at least where they live, has created a  Drinking Water Directive. Don’t click on that link if you have an aversion to bureaucratic policy speak.

According to a press release sent out, EU countries will need to inform the commission on PFAS in water, including data on exceedances of the limit values. According to the commission, rife with overpaid bureaucrats who engage in political activities against western values,  the new reporting system is reportedly “simpler than under the previous Drinking Water Directive and reduces the amount of data to be reported.

“It is the first time systematic monitoring of PFAS in drinking water is being implemented in the EU,” they write.

What happens if your country exceeds the limits put in place? The EU countries must inform the public, and protect public health. Actions may include closing contaminated wells, adding treatment steps to remove PFAS, or restricting the use of drinking water supplies for as long as the violation continues.

The UE believes that people should have access to safe drinking water.

If you are from a non-EU country and are concerned about PFAS in your drinking water, take these guidelines to your ministry or oversight group in your region or country dealing with water monitoring.

The EU says that the guidelines were developed with member states.

“PFAS pollution is a growing concern for drinking water across Europe. With harmonised limits and mandatory monitoring now in force, Member States have the rules and tools to swiftly detect and address PFAS to protect public health, says Jessika Roswall, Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and Competitive Circular Economy.

How to remove PFAS from your tap water at home?

Next question for readers and entrepreneurs? The most common in-home water filters that remove PFAS are activated carbon filters like those found in a Brita Elite jug or Berkey filter, but the best is reverse osmosis and undersink-ROs like Aquafor.

In Canada and the US, the main Berkey-style gravity water filter options people compare are Berkey, ProOne, British Berkefeld, Alexapure, and Waterdrop.

Dual stage filters (activated carbon + reverse osmosis) the best option.

If you are taking minerals out of the water, you do need to put them back in. The  company Mayu developed a novel method to rejuvenate purified water after understanding how “dirty” tap water has become. And on that note, here are 6 ways to soften hard water naturally.

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Iran’s second-largest city, Mashhad, is facing an acute water emergency after dam reservoirs feeding the city fell below three percent capacity, according to Iranian state and local media. Officials warn that without rainfall or improved inflows from neighboring Afghanistan, the city’s supply could soon collapse. It’s happened before that Iranian generals have accused Israel for stealing their clouds.

Iranians on X are talking about murdered bodies showing up in the dried sediment. “Reports that at least 74 bodies have been found in the Karaj Dam in Iran, all thought to be executed anti-regime dissidents,” says X commentator Nioh Berg.

“Because of the drought and lack of rain, this dam has dried up almost completely and revealed a MASS GRAVE. The victims had their hands and feet tied, and they were rolled into rugs, as well as wrapped in plastic. Their murderers didn’t account for the drought, and thought the bodies would never be found. This news story was published and then quickly deleted by regime media, after they realised it’s probably their own doing.”

“The water storage in Mashhad’s dams has now fallen to less than three percent,” Hossein Esmaeilian, the chief executive of the water company in Iran’s second largest city by population, tells ISNA news agency. He adds that “the current situation shows that managing water use is no longer merely a recommendation — it has become a necessity.”

Mashhad lies in Razavi Khorasan Province in northeastern Iran, a semi-arid region dependent on a small network of dams for drinking water, agriculture, and limited power generation. The most critical of these are the Doosti (Friendship) Dam, built jointly by Iran and Turkmenistan on the Hari (Harirud) River; and the smaller Kardeh and Torogh dams that directly supply the urban network.

The Doosti Dam, completed in 2004 near the Turkmen border, was designed to provide up to 60 % of Mashhad’s potable water. But its inflows have plummeted after Afghanistan’s Taliban government inaugurated the Pashdan Dam upstream on the Hari River near Herat earlier this year. Iranian officials accuse Kabul of violating cross-border water agreements and cutting off critical flows. The Iranian daily Jomhouri-e Eslami warned this week that the new Afghan dam “threatens the very survival” of Mashhad’s reservoirs.

The Hari River — about 1,000 kilometers long — originates in Afghanistan’s central highlands, flows west through Herat into Iran, and ends in Turkmenistan’s Karakum Desert. Historically, its seasonal floods recharged aquifers and sustained farming along the Iranian border. But with multiple new Afghan dams under Taliban control, less water is reaching Iran’s northeastern provinces, even as rising temperatures and a prolonged regional drought accelerate evaporation.

Related: The Taliban kills Japanese water hero

Within Iran, years of poor water management compound the crisis. Kardeh and Torogh dams, both built in the 1970s, are now near “dead storage,” with barely enough volume for municipal use. Over-extraction of groundwater around Mashhad — home to more than three million people and millions of pilgrims annually — has further destabilized the system, causing land subsidence and salinization of wells.

Iran has also been spending billions normalizing terror by finding Palestinians to join Hamas, Lebanese to join the Hezbollah and for the Yemenites to become Houthis. Paying for conflict and not supporting your own people, comes with a high cost. The Iranian regime hates Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Israel so much that it will sacrifice anything in its global jihad.

Experts say the situation underscores both climate vulnerability and political risk in transboundary basins. Iran’s government is pressing for negotiations with the Taliban over shared water rights, as Afghanistan pulls the plug on its water by creating its own dams, but cooperation remains uncertain amid border skirmishes and mistrust.

If inflows from Afghanistan remain restricted and rainfall fails again this winter, Mashhad could face mandatory rationing and long-term aquifer collapse — a warning sign for the entire region as climate change and geopolitics converge in Iran’s drying east. Could we see a bigger conflict between Iran and Afghanistan? A good possibility. Similar tensions have been brewing for years between Ethiopia building the GERD dam and Egypt which is being denied water upstream.

If you’ve ever travelled to cities like Amman, Jordan, the water-stressed city shows how life goes on with water stress. Some city folks get water piped in once a week, but because municipal supply is so limited, many households, businesses, and institutions buy extra water from private tanker trucks and store this in private reservoirs so they never run out.

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The United Arab Emirates is serious about supporting renewable energy, clean water and smart agriculture. Part of the way they support impact companies is through the Zayed Sustainability Prize. Named after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of the United Arab Emirates, the Zayed Prize this year was selected for companies and research that harness AI and other technologies to reduce carbon emissions and ensure access to clean energy, water, food and health care.

The jury selected the 33 finalists from 5,980 entries, representing a 15 per cent increase in submissions over last year.

Each winner of the six categories, health, food, energy, water and climate action categories will receive $1 million in prize money, while the six winning Global High Schools will all take home $150,000. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on January 14 as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. Green Prophet has been invited to the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in the past and it offers a taste of future-thinking sustainability issues. At least in the dream world.

“The Zayed Sustainability Prize continues to honour the enduring legacy of Sheikh Zayed, whose visionary leadership in sustainability and humanitarianism guides the UAE’s mission to uplift livelihoods worldwide by fostering development in some of the most vulnerable regions,” said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Cop28 President and director general of the Zayed Sustainability Prize.

“By leveraging emerging technologies, such as AI, carbon capture and removal, tidal energy, precision agriculture, biomimicry and climate analytics, they are addressing the needs of the moment while inspiring the next generation to innovate and drive sustainability in impactful ways,” said Dr Al Jaber.

“This year’s prize finalists showcase the remarkable steps being taken around the world to address urgent needs with creativity and determination – offering a vision of a more sustainable future,” said Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, chairman of the prize jury.

“From enhancing biodiversity and food security through innovative technology, to providing critical energy and healthcare solutions for underserved populations, these pioneers are reshaping our world.”

Offering a better tomorrow

This year’s health category finalists focus on delivering quality healthcare services to underserved and remote communities. Those shortlisted include Periwinkle Technologies, an SME from India that deploys Smart Scope, an AI-enabled cervical cancer screening device that provides results in 30 seconds. The Israeli Femtech company MobileODT already offers such a solution and is already on the market.

In the area of Food and Agtech prizes were given for empowering small-scale producers, promoting sustainable food preservation, and transforming arid land into productive farms. One featured company is Nafarm Foods from Nigeria that has developed hybrid solar dryers that make tomato paste.

Energy category finalists include Palki Motors Limited, an electric car company from Bangladesh that manufactures local, low-cost electric cars with solar-powered battery swap stations.

The water finalists include the High Atlas Foundation, from Morocco, which provides a solar-powered pumping system to increase groundwater extraction.

Climate action finalists were chosen for focusing on advancing carbon capture, ecosystem restoration, and building climate resilience and include Distant Imagery from the UAE: which specialises in the development of AI-powered drones for environmental monitoring, seed planting and habitat restoration.

The high school finalists are divided into six regions, with candidates selected for offering project-based, student-led sustainability solutions.

Sustainability finalists

Health

• Periwinkle Technologies – India
• Rology – Egypt
• Telemedan – Chile

Food

• ABALOBI – South Africa
• Nafarm Foods – Nigeria
• Xinjiang Shawan Oasis Sustainable Development Institute – China

Energy

• D-Olivette Global Enterprise – Nigeria
• Palki Motors Limited – Bangladesh
• Turbulent – Belgium

Water

• Elman Teknoloji Ltd – Turkey
• High Atlas Foundation – Morocco
• SkyJuice Foundation Inc – Australia

Climate action

• Distant Imagery – UAE
• Hyera Inc – US
• OpenMap Development Tanzania

Global High Schools

The Americas

• Centro de Estudios Tecnológicos del Mar 07, Mexico;
• Institución Educativa San Nicolás de Tolentino, Colombia
• Mulgrave School, Canada

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Mpesa Foundation Academy, Kenya
• Sakafia Islamic Senior High School, Ghana
• St Kizito High School Namugongo, Uganda

Middle East & North Africa

• Benlahrech Said High School, Algeria
• Merryland International School Abu Dhabi
• Obour STEM School, Egypt

Europe & Central Asia

• Baku Modern Educational Complex, Azerbaijan
• Gebze Bahçeehr Science & Technology High School, Turkey
• Presidential School in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

South Asia

• Faafu Atoll Education Centre, Maldives
• Girls Higher Secondary School Khaplu, Pakistan
• Janamaitri Multiple Campus, Nepal

East Asia & the Pacific

• Beijing World Youth Academy, China
• Te Pā o Rākaihautū, New Zealand
• Votualevu College, Fiji

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Expensive emergency-style devices used by armies can be run by generators and pull water from air. They work like air conditioners. And here are 5 ways you can re-use your air conditioner water. Water generation companies from Israel like Watergen have been in the market for a decade and have been made to connect to solar systems. They are bought by agriculture developers for hydroponics in off-grid locations and they can be used at hotels where water might need to be shipped in weekly. Consider that even in countries like Jordan people still get weekly water deliveries!

Related: stackable emergency shelters

New advances in Saudi Arabia, out of its expat-majority majority university KAUST say they have developed improvements on energy-intensive water generation from air systems and that the solar integration they use is seamless.  Consider that Maria Telkes, a Hungarian-American inventor working with the US Army has already created a zero-energy passive water from air extractor decades ago that could be improved upon and used for water in disaster zones like in Turkey after one of their regular earthquakes – the latest killed 53,000 in Antakya last year.

Even in arid parts of the world, there is moisture in the air. This moisture could provide much-needed water for drinking and irrigation, but extracting water out of air is difficult because it takes a lot of energy. A new technology developed by KAUST researchers in Saudi Arabia may consistently extract liters of water out of thin air each day without needing regular manual maintenance.

Harvesting water from air is not a new idea, or even a new technology, but existing solar-powered systems are clunky.

Read more: Air Con runoff – cherish it like the rain

According to the researcher postdoc Kaijie Yang, who led the study, “solar-powered harvesters work in a two-stage cycle. An absorbent material first captures water from the air, and once it is saturated, the system is sealed and heated with sunlight to extract the captured water.

“Alternating between the two stages requires either manual labor or a switching system, which adds complexity and cost. The new harvester developed at KAUST requires neither — it passively alternates between the two stages so it can cycle continuously without intervention.

“Our initial inspiration came from observing natural processes: specifically how plants efficiently transport water from their roots to their leaves through specialized structures,” she says.

Looking at plants gave the team the key idea for their new system. “In our system, mass transport bridges play a crucial role as a connection between the ‘open part’ for atmospheric water capture and the ‘closed part’ for freshwater generation,” explains Yang.

The mass transport bridges are a collection of vertical microchannels filled with a salt solution that absorbs water. The water-rich salt solution is pulled up the channel by the same capillary action that pulls water up plant stems, and then the concentrated salt solution diffuses back down to collect more water:

“By optimizing the transport of mass and heat within the system, we enhanced its efficiency and effectiveness,” says Tingting Pan, another postdoc who worked on the project.

https://www.greenprophet.com/2024/01/redsea-hot-climate-and-saltwater-greenhouses/

During testing the system in Saudi Arabia, each square meter produced 2 to 3 liters of water per day during the summer, and about 1 to 3 liters per day in the fall. During the tests, the team ran the system for several weeks without the need for maintenance.

They also showed that it could be used as a direct point source to irrigate Chinese cabbage and desert trees.

“The materials we used were a water-wicking fabric, a low-cost hygroscopic salt and a plastic-based frame. We chose the materials for their affordability and availability, so we anticipate the cost is affordable for large-scale application in low-income areas,” says Qiaoqiang Gan, one of the study’s senior authors.

The post New water gen from air invention, uses biomimicry, the sun and salt channels appeared first on Green Prophet.

If Germany has a problem with polluted water and PFAS levels, what could that mean for the rest of the world?

In a landmark study Eco-Environment & Health, researchers screened German drinking water for 26 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

The latest study involved collecting 89 drinking water samples from various locations in Germany, analyzing them for 26 different PFAS using high-performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The findings revealed that while the 20 recently regulated PFAS were below the detection limit, the sum concentrations varied widely, with some samples exceeding the threshold for certain PFAS.

Comprising more than 4,700 chemicals, perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of widely used, man-made chemicals that accumulate over time in humans and in the environment. They are known as ‘forever chemicals’ as they are extremely persistent in our environment and bodies.

They can lead to health problems such as liver damage, thyroid disease, obesity, fertility issues and cancer. More about Emerging chemical risks in Europe – PFAS here.

This effort, notably supported by residents, marks a significant step in understanding PFAS presence in drinking water.This research is pivotal in informing future regulatory decisions and public health guidelines, the researchers note. It highlights the need for ongoing surveillance and stricter controls on PFAS in drinking water.

Dr. Aki Sebastian Ruhl from Berlin emphasizes the importance of this study in providing a comprehensive view of PFAS distribution in drinking water across Germany, a crucial aspect in evaluating environmental and health risks.

The collaborative effort in this study has provided valuable insights into PFAS levels in German drinking water, laying the groundwork for future environmental and public health initiatives, and underscores the necessity for further research to understand the long-term implications of PFAS in drinking water and to develop more efficient removal methods.

Next question for readers and entrepreneurs? The most common in-home water filters that remove PFAS are activated carbon and reverse osmosis. Dual stage filters (activated carbon + reverse osmosis) are also an option.

What filters can remove PFAS from drinking water? Does a Brita do?

The Israeli company Mayu developed a novel method to rejuvenate purified water after understanding how “dirty” tap water has become. Here are 6 ways to soften hard water naturally.

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Harvesting water from the air is not a new idea. Arid countries like Yemen are already using low tech watercones to funnel sea water to drinking water. Another funnelling device is being developed by an Italian designer to trap water vapor in a Warkawater tower to harvest potable water directly from the air.

Still another device, called the Roots Up Dew Collector, is now being developed for Ethiopia in a project together with the University of Gondar. The device, which can also be used to grow vegetables and other crops, is dew trapping and will be used in the country’s arid northern regions.

The dome-like structure uses plastic sheeting to trap water vapor  during the day, turning it into dew which is then changed into water when exposed to cool evening air.

Roots Up is an organization based in northern Ethiopia that is working together with local farmers to help them use more sustainable agricultural methods to produce crops.

The greenhouses can be placed over planted crops to provide them wth water as well as producing needed drinking water. Due to not needing any mechanical components (motors, etc), the device can be quicky moved from place to place and then erected quickly without needing any external power sources.  Their overall simplicity makes them a good solution in undeveloped arid regions.

Read more on ways to create drinking and irrigation water from water vapor:

Warka water towers pull drinking water out of thin air
Time to drink water from aircon units
Yemen funnels seawater to drinking water with the low tech watercone

Update 2024: looks like someone needs to make this happen. 

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Finding ways to augment supplies of fresh drinking water have been around for years. These ideas vary from basic “low tech” ones like a Yemenite funnel water cone to extract fresh water from saltwater to using water created by aircon units.

Purifying sewage systems to create safe, drinkable fresh water are also being tried; and have received visible support by personalities such as high tech mogul Bill Gates, who demonstrated this by drinking purified toilet water. The headline: from Poop to Potable.

Extracting water from the air may have one of the most promising futures due to technology being developed by an Israeli company, Water-Gen, that has taken extraction of  water from AC units one step further.

Impressing and hydrating armies

WaterGen is now developing and producing portable units that literally turn water vapor in the air into potable drinking water. The company first got its start back in 2011 when it introduced its first working prototype units for the Israeli Defense Forces.

From there, it has also received attention from the US, French and UK militaries; which have been looking for a more economical way to provide fresh water to troops stationed in desert locations like Iraq, North Africa and Afghanistan, where transported drinking water can cost anywhere from $15 to $17 a gallon.

WaterGen units that have received the most attention from the military include a “wearable” portable Spring System  unit (see photo) that can filter as much as 7 to 10 gallons (28 – 40 liters) daily; and a larger unit for field bases that produces as much as 120 gallons (480 liters) a day.

WaterGen Chairman and co-CEO Arye Kohavi says that a portable water producing system helps free the military from the need to transport water supplies in tanker convoys which have often been subject to attack in locations like Afghanistan.

India, a country which has a severe problem of enough fresh water for its giant population, has also become interested in Water-Gen devices.

This has resulted in agreements being reached to introduce civilian versions of WaterGen units into India this year.  “We have been approached by many companies in India to partner with for launching products with WaterGen technology. We will launch our products there this year; and believe the Indian market has a huge potential,” says Water-Gen founder Kohavi.

If WaterGen will work in a country such as India, one might well imagine how it would work in other locations which have suitable climate conditions. This could include parts of the Middle East; if this becomes possible.

Update 2020, the Watergen units are going to the UAE.

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Perforene is made from graphene, the exciting new nanomaterial which comes in the form of one-atom thick sheets of carbon atoms. Like an overzealous nanotechnology, graphene seems to photobomb itself in as the solution to numerous environmental problems such as, storing electricity, removing air pollution, advanced photovoltaics, high strength materials and now desalinating water.

Under a microscope, this material looks like a mesh net with holes as small as one hundred nanometer. These holes are small enough to block the chlorine and sodium ions in salt water but large enough to allow pure water molecules to pass through.

The material was invented by Lockheed engineer. In an interview with Reuters, Stetson said that this new material is 1000 times stronger than steel and 500 times thinner than the best existing reverse osmosis desalination filter.

He said, “The energy that’s required and the pressure that’s required to filter salt is approximately 100 times less.”

Why desalinating water is not energy efficient

Desalination typically uses at least 3 kilowatt-hours per cubic meter. To put this into familiar terms, filling a 2 liter bottle with desalinated water consumes the same amount of energy as running a 15-watt compact fluorescent light for 24 minutes.

The energy required to purify two liters of freshwater would only run the same light for less than two minutes.

This may not seem like a lot of energy, but it adds up.

According to information published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the world’s desalination plants consume approximately 360 million kilowatt-hours each day. Because of their gluttonous energy consumption, desalination plants are nearly always collocated with electrical power generating stations.

Nuclear power is often used. But in a bit of political doublespeak, the desalination plants are said to generate electricity. Electricity “generated” by existing desalination plants is only the excess energy produced by the collocated power plant that hasn’t been consumed.

If unconsumed energy is the same things as producing energy, Lockheed-Martin’s desalination technology might become one of the most important sources of energy and water in the Middle East.  The company is seeking commercialization partners and hopes begin manufacturing this amazing new material in 2015.

Image of graphene molecular sheet via shutterstock

The post Graphene nanotechnology makes desalination 100 times more efficient appeared first on Green Prophet.

Parts of this country receive up to 4 meters of rain each year. But Ireland was running out of water so its government recently brought in water charges. Here is why.

Jordan is one of the world’s driest countries, with desert comprising 75 percent of its land area. The entire country averages only about 160mm of annual rainfall and 41 percent of its land receives fewer than 50mm of rain each year.

Ireland receives an average of 1000mm of annual rainfall and parts of its Atlantic coastline receive nearly 4000mm (4 meters) of rain each year. Ireland’s driest recorded year was 1887 when only 356.6 mm of rain fell, more than twice Jordan’s average rainfall. With such a plentiful source of freshwater, Ireland never had to pay for huge reservoirs, desalinization plants, waste-water reclamation systems or Red to Dead sea projects.

In fact, in 1997, the government of Ireland decided that water should be a basic human right. So domestic water charges were abolished. Ireland did this thirteen years before the United Nations General Assembly passed resolution 64/292 in July 2010 which also “Recognizes the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.”

Water, they argued, shouldn’t be a commodity. Water should be a human right.

Irish residents took full advantage of this basic right. They washed their cars, dishes, clothes, bathed, showered and drank the free water. They could even water their golf courses and gardens during rainstorms and let their faucets drip 24 hours per day, 365 days per year– all for free because there was no such thing as a water meter!

Hundreds of thousands of new homes were built without any consideration for water efficiency. Flush a toilet in a brand new million dollar Dublin home and seven liters of freshwater will begin a journey to the sea. Water was free so one noticed or cared when leaks in pipes developed. It is estimated that 41% of Ireland public utility water leaked away from underground pipes before arriving into Irish homes.

The average Irish citizen consumed 140 cubic meters of water per year. This is between two and three times the average for the rest of Europe and slightly less than a Jordanian’s average water consumption of 170 cubic meters per year.

It wasn’t long before the rainy country of Ireland began to experience water shortages. Ireland’s just-in-time rainwater delivery system couldn’t cope as the demand from growth and leaks and wastage grew towards infinity.

An Irish government report published in 2012 concluded that “Our current model of water provision, where unlimited quantities of an expensive product are provided at no charge, is simply not sustainable,” as economist Milton Friedman once said, “If you put the Federal Government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there will be a shortage of sand.”

It took slightly longer than 5 years but in 2014, only 17 years after the Irish government abolished water charges, the water charges came back. This time the government wasn’t shy about putting a price tag on this valuable and limited resource. As yet another Atlantic storm drops torrents of Gulf Stream humidity onto this Emerald Isle, the Irish water charges are estimated to start at €1.70 per cubic meter.

Meanwhile in Jordan, water costs €1.92 per cubic meter but subsidies reduce this so that only about €0.51 of this is passed on to the water user. So unless you’re willing to soap up outside in the rain, a shower in Cork Ireland (1207mm rain/year) will cost more than three times as much as a shower in Amman Jordan. (271mm rain/year). Put another way, a faucet that leaks one drop per second would cost about 15€ each year in Ireland and only 4€ in Jordan.

But what would happen if Jordan ran out of water or if the government could no longer guarantee the purity of Jordan’s water supply? People might buy bottled water. At about €0.50 per liter, bottled water costs €500 per cubic meter. This is 260 times the cost of Jordan’s municipal water. Sometimes governments must charge for a limited resource in order to reflect the true social cost of that resource. This is certainly true of water. After all, water is a basic human right.

Photo of Ireland and Wadi Rum desert by Brian Nitz.

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Aquifers in other parts the world, containing large amounts of ancient or “fossil water” , are also in jeopardy as these non-renewable sources of fresh water are being exploited by countries with increasing water needs.

One of America’s largest “fossil water” aquifers is the Ogallala aquifer, which lies under 8 states in America’s “bread basket” wheat growing region; stretching from South Dakota to Texas. This aquifer covers a land area of 111.8 million acres (45.24 million Hectares) and 175,000 square miles (281,635 sq kilometers).

The water in this ancient aquifer is estimated to be at least 10 million years old and created during a period when there was considerably more water in that region; such as during the last great Ice Age. The water trapped in this aquifer in not replenished through annual rainfall; so once it is used up, it’s gone – possibly forever.

Intensive farming in this region has resulted in large amounts of Ogallala water being tapped to grow grains such as wheat, corn and sorghum. These grains provide much needed foodstuffs and animal feeds for people living in the US as well as other parts of the world.

More recently, grains like corn and sorghum have also been used to manufacture biofuels like ethanol. The depletion of water in aquifers like the Ogallala is becoming a big concern to environmentalists who now estimate that most of the water remaining is this aquifer alone will be used up by the year 2028 in areas like Texas and Kansas. These states are now in the midst of one of the worst droughts in recorded history.

If prehistoric aquifers like Ogallala are in danger of being depleted in non-desert regions, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what will be fate of fossil water in desert aquifers like those under Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Libya.

When ex-Libyan leader Muamar Gadaffi began his Great Man-Made River project in 1984, he boasted that the water in the Nubian Aquifer could supply the needs of Libya for “hundreds of years” and turn that country into an agricultural wonder. When the water was created there, animals like elephants, giraffes, wildebeests and other African species roamed that region and were hunted by primitive peoples.

The fossil water in Saudi Arabia’s Disi (part of which is under Jordan) and Wasia aquifers may be even more ancient.

Jordan is now involved in a project to extract large amounts of Disi aquifer water and convey it to Amman in large underground pipes.  It’s only a matter of time before this not replaceable water will be used up as well. There’s no sure solution to the problems of severe water shortages, even with more strict water conservation and recycling of waste water supplies. This appears to be the reality facing many countries; especially those in water scarace regions like the Middle East.

Read more on water scarcity and undergeround aquifers:

Saudi Arabia and Iran Are Exploiting Their Ground Water Supplies

Jordan’s Disi Water Conveyance is on Track; But to Where?

Libya’s Great Man Made River Project Could Stop Flowing

Map of water depletion on Ogallala Aquifer, by NBCNews.com

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