Freshwater - One Reason to Nix Solar?

Solar power, like every other fossil and renewable source of electric power (other than wind-generated power) is dependent upon adequate supplies of fresh water. The amount of water required varies with the type of process used to convert sunlight into electricity.
2 Major Types of Solar Generators

PV-based Solar Panel Power Generation
Source - europlas.co.uk

Solar Thermal Power Generation
Source - treehugger.com

Photo-voltaic (PV) and Solar Thermal are the two predominant technologies for converting sunlight into electric power.
Solar Thermal requires orders of magnitude more fresh water supplies than does photo-voltaic power generation. For example,a proposed Solar Thermal Power Plant to be located in Amargosa Valley, Nevada, required 1.3 billion gallons of water per year. This volume represents 20 percent of the Valley's available ground water supply - water that the desert Valley badly needs for other uses. This water usage level is of the order of use required by a coal-fired plant.
Photovoltaic power generation, on the other hand has a very minimal water requirement once it is installed and running. But its power generation capability is also limited to that of a single home or two. 
Sustainability

Shale gas extraction
Source - news.consumerreports.org

Depending upon definition, when water use is a criteria, some renewable energy sources begin to look unsustainable.
Even shale gas, will be deemed unsustainable when its water use is a criteria
Sustainable Electric Power Generation

Wind Power
Source - treehugger.com

Wind power is the only electricity generating option that has virtually no dependency on freshwater.

Bottled Safe Water - Good or Bad?

Like the saying "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder," local conditions and people's circumstances determine the acceptability of every action taken to quench thirst.
Water in Bottles

A sheepskin water container
Source - aliexpress.com

Carrying and transporting drinking water for personal and community use in containers fashioned from animal skins has been an accepted practice forever.

Source - rusmilitary.com

Early canteens for water carried by soldiers were fashioned to resemble historical containers created from animal skins.

Soda and Mineral Water Bottles
Source - sha.org/bottle/soda.htm

The first glass bottles were produced around 1500 B.C. but it was only after 1903, when the automatic bottle blowing machine was invented, that people started carrying their individual water supply in glass bottles.
For a long time, soda drinks and drinking water (containing minerals of many many kinds) was sold in glass bottles in stores where the bottle was recycled.
The Plastic Bottle

Source - plasticsareforever.org

It was only in the 1960s that plastic bottles (the PET bottle) became cheap enough to be used for dispensing water and other drinks.
The popularity of water in plastic bottles is so great that each year about 38 billion plastic water bottles end up in US landfills.
The water in these bottles can cost $1.50  or more - water that is available for free from public water foundation or for less than a penny at home.
Are Plastic Bottles Good or Bad?
The correct answer is: It depends!
As safe drinking water is easily and commonly available everywhere in the developed world, buying water in a bottle at 10,000 times what it would cost to get from a tap, may be seen as foolhardy and wasteful by some.
But what if bottled water was the only safe water available for miles around i.e. what if there was an implicit guarantee that tap water would be unsafe? Would the purchase of a bottle of water be then seen as foolhardy or wasteful?
Unfortunately, the former case is the typical case in the developed countries of the world, while the latter situation is the typical situation in developing and underdeveloped nations.
Safe drinking water in plastic bottles, at a cost that the lower class can easily afford, may be just the solution for people in the developing and underdeveloped world, when their tap water is unsafe!

Nigeria - Bottled Water Brand
Source - deparkbottling.com

India - Bottled Water Brand
Source - waterreview.in

Also, if the switch to water bottles engineered with cornstarch. instead of the PET process, can be quickly deployed worldwide, we will also be reducing the plastic decomposition time from 700 years to about 80 days!

Commerce - A Water Scarcity Elimination Tool

Scarcity of safe drinking water is a problem as old as civilization. One solution in common use till the end of the twentieth century was commerce
Commerce

Source - housemedicalclinic.com

The most common definition of commerce is 'the exchange of goods and commodities' 
i.e. a transaction between two parties (individuals or societies or countries or geographical areas) that involves an exchange of one good or commodity from one party in exchange for another good or commodity from the other party.
Commerce is, of course, the backbone of economics and applies to everything that exists both natural and artificial.
Commerce is also behind many of the deals we have today that involve transporting freshwater over extremely long distances.
Los Angeles, California
Commerce between water-scarce regions and regions with surplus water was a common solution in earlier times.

Source - usc.edu

Source - circleofblue.org

In 1905, this city. with few local freshwater lakes or streams, acquired groundwater rights under 300,000 acres of land in the Owens Valley, to secure safe drinking water for its residents. The city built an aqueduct system to transport this water from Owens Valley to Los Angeles, a distance of over 220 miles.
In late 2011, Los Angeles' Municipal Water Authority has sued a local Ovens Valley Water District (Mammoth Community Water District) to ensure that the water in a creek, on land Los Angeles owns is exclusively available for use by Los Angeles only.
With safe drinking water security once again a looming concern, Los Angeles City is taking steps to reinstate its ownership on Owens Valley water.
in anticipation of water scarce times.
Globally, the aqueducts that exist on every continent and virtually every country are examples of commerce being a tool to eradicate water scarcity both within nations and between nations.

Is SAFE DRINKING WATER the New OIL?

Analysts everywhere are eyeing the problems that humanity is having with safe drinking water supply, both in terms of quantity and quality, as possible new sources of large profits. "Water is the new oil" is the mantra of analysts seeking to publicize investment opportunities

The Global Water Industry

Source - snetglobalwaterindexes.com

The global water industry, about $360 billion in size, is the third largest industry in the world - behind petroleum and electricity. 
Globally, over 90% of water utilities are owned by governments. In Europe, 45% of utilities are privately owned with many owned and operated by publicly traded firms. In the US, only 10% of water utility companies are privately owned.
The opportunity to invest, of the kind that exists in the oil industry simply does not exist in the water industry.
Oil is NOT Water
Oil and water don't mix but they weigh about the same. Depending upon the type of oil and its density, 1 gallon of oil weighs 6-8 lbs, while 1 gallon of water weighs about 8 lbs. So, they are very similar in weight, but water is a resource that thrives on motion - water must always be moving. If held in a stagnant mode, water deteriorates quickly or simply evaporates or disappears into the ground. 
A Million Thirsts

Source - renalfellow.blogspot.com

Source - narrativeandotology.blogspot.com

Thirst is location specific. Each thirst reflects the unique cultural, human, industrial, agricultural, ecological and environmental issues of a location. The kind of pollution that may need cleanup is different in each location. 
The big similar solutions (like digging wells, building Dams, constructing aqueducts, etc) that supply the needs of a region have all seen their best days.
So how does an industry evolve such that it meets all the urgent needs? In three possible ways:
- Tap an existing global industry with a robust infrastructure available to support a variety of needs. Oil has just such an infrastructure today, but water does not.
- Create a global industry. It took over 75 years to go from individual oil wells serving a local need, to any oil well being able to serve a need anywhere in the world. Do we have 75 years and the billions to invest in building a global water industry?
-  Ignore "use, waste and demand" to focus only on supply. Desalination could fit this bill. Unfortunately, however, nearly all of the 15,000 desalination plants are privately owned but not publicly traded. Also, revenues from individual plants are so low that they are not viable candidates for stand-alone investment as water plants.


Thus, Water Cannot Be The New Oil - Those of us who envision participating in a 'market' in water, a market akin to the markets that exist for trading other natural resources, have a long wait ahead of us.

A Common Remedy for Differing Freshwater Consumption?

The most commonly quoted global statistic is that 70% of the world's freshwater is used in agriculture, 22% to make the industrial (i.e. non-agricultural) goods we cannot do without, and 8% for residential and personal use by people. What this statistic is missing is that this global breakdown is not the situation in any country
How Freshwater is Actually Used

Source - Scientific American.com

From the accompanying chart it does indeed appear that the global segmentation of 70%-22%-8% for agriculture-industry-residential is quite correct but the segmentation of individual countries is quite different. 
The only point of agreement might be that, generally speaking, the major users of freshwater do consume the most in the agricultural industry and the least in peoples' home.
Some conclusions:
- China and India, the countries with the largest numbers of people, do use the most water as could be expected. The US is the third larger user of freshwater in the world
- Nigeria, the last country in the top 10 list, seems to consume nearly all its freshwater to grow food, with tiny amounts spent on personal and industrial needs.
"Virtual Water" Exporters and Importers
Virtual water is defined as the amount of water consumed to create a product that is exported or imported. The exporter if the product is labelled an exported of virtual water while the importer of the product is known as an importer of virtual water. Some interesting conclusions:
- The US, an extremely large consumer of freshwater measured in terms of "per capita consumption" is also a large exporter of virtual water through all the food stuff it exports
- Japan, a consumer of small amounts of freshwater, is the largest importer of virtual water.
Resolving the Freshwater Crisis
Recognizing the different ways individual countries consume their water, implies that a different remedy may be required for each countries' specific situation. This conclusion must, however, be balanced against the "time" it will take to develop and deploy all the many necessary solutions.
Would it not be ideal if we could all pool our resources to develop a solution applicable to everyone?
Making this point again using different words:
- What is the equivalent of the "cell phone" for the freshwater industry?
or,
- What, in the freshwater industry can lead to the same result as the cell phone did in the personal communications industry, namely, hook the 60%+ people who had no hope of getting a land-line connection in their lifetime, but got connected using wireless technology embedded in the mobile handset!

How Successful Are We At FreshWater Management?

A study was completed in early 2010 that mapped threats, like scarcity and pollution, to freshwater supplies at the regional level. This study shows that humankind has, so far, a good record at combating threats to freshwater security is many parts of the world.
Conclusions of the Study
1. About 80% of the world's population exists in areas where freshwater supplies are NOT secure
2. The most severe threat is to 3.4 billion people
Natural Areas of Freshwater Scarcity

Natural areas of Scarcity
Source - nature.com

Looking at the global map:
- Much of North America (especially the population centers of Canada, US and Mexico) and Western Europe is under high stress. Many areas experience extreme natural stress
- Much of Middle Africa should be fairly unstressed
- Most of India and Western China are under high natural stress.
- There are wide areas with NO natural water flows like, much of Australia, northern and Southern Africa and Inner Asia.
Impact of Human Intervention

Freshwater Managed by Humankind
Source - nature.com

Looking at this global map, some startling results are visible:
- Much of North America (except Mexico) is being managed to virtually eliminate natural unavailability of freshwater
- Middle Africa, despite being under few natural forces of water stress, is experiencing extreme freshwater scarcity
- India's water management is somewhat successful at alleviating natural water stresses but has a long way to go to be freshwater secure
- China's water management is somewhat successful at alleviating natural water stresses but has a long way to go to be freshwater secure
Assumptions underlying the Study
Undoubtedly, we need to better understand and agree with all the assumptions, subjective factors, weighing of individual threats, combining of threats, etc before people all over the world will accept how well or how poor a job they have done on freshwater security.
However, there are three conclusions that we should all be able to agree on:
A. The threat of freshwater scarcity is a common threat virtually everywhere around the globe.
B. There are two options to resolve this common threat: We can
EITHER work together, addressing the BIG scale of the threat, to find a universal solution, 
OR we leave it to individual nations and regions to work out their individual custom solutions.
C. The problem of freshwater insecurity is so large in scale that time is of the essence i.e. we must eradicate freshwater security quickly before the increasing freshwater demand overwhelms us. This increasing demand is coming in the next decade from the 500+ million people who are expected to dramatically improve their Standard of Living and the 700 million additions to the human population

Water Extracted For Agriculture

A most common statement is that agriculture uses the largest amount of water when our world is looked at as a whole: 70% of our water usage is for agriculture, 22% for our industries and a meager 8% in people's homes and for their personal use.
The 70-22-8 Segmentation does not apply to any country

Source - RBC Wealth Management 

Water extracted for agricultural use is different in different countries. 
The richest nations use the most water for their industrial goods with agriculture usage being only about 50% of their industrial usage.
In contrast, low-income and middle-income nations spend over 800 times more water on agriculture than they do on industry. These lower income countries spend as much as 82% of their water supplies on agriculture.

Source - www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/globalmaps/05_AGW_PCT_TW.pdf

Countries have their own individual ratios between the water they use for agriculture and the water they use in industry.
As shown in the chart, agricultural water use can range from a low of <25% to a high that is >90%.
And, the lower-income countries generally use a greater percentage of water  for agricultural uses.
Rain-Fed Agriculture

Irrigation fed land
Source - fao.org

The water that is withdrawn by nations for agriculture is always supplemented by rainfall.
In fact, agriculture that depends solely and mostly on rain represents about 80% of the total area under cultivation - This crop land produces about 60% of global food.
Also, developing countries have the largest share of cropland that requires irrigation i.e. land on which rain-fed agriculture is not suitable.
Southwestern US, southwestern Australia

Water Channels in a Blade of Grass

Cross-Section of a Blade of Grass
Source - 

This is a cross section of a single blade of grass, stained for the microscope. The smiley faces are the channels that water is drawn up through. The photo was taken at an EM Lab

Why Seek Freshwater Abundance? To Better Lives of More Others!

A reason why we talk so much about a crisis in freshwater is our desire to better the lives of our fellow human beings whose life revolves around the collection and transportation of freshwater to the extent that they have little time in a day to accomplish anything else
The 60+ billion hour annual investment

Women Carrying Water in Tanzania
Source - news.bbc.co.uk

A major impediment to success for many women and children around the globe is the time they spend on freshwater collection - a time they could be spending in school or working at a job or earning additional income or spending quality time with their families.
In Africa alone, it is estimated that over 40 billion hours are spent to transport freshwater from where it is available to where it is needed.
The 6+ miles of walk to and from where the freshwater is available not only take valuable time away from these women, but it also makes them vulnerable to physical attacks and the risk of harassment and sexual attacks while they are travelling through desolate places.

Children Transporting Water
Source - unep.org

For children too, getting the water where it is needed is a trek that makes them miss school and an education that might rescue them from poverty.
The age of many of these children is 10 or 11, when they start to take on the task of procuring water for their families.
The work is so treacherous for young children that they sometimes loose their footing while drawing water from a well and fall into the well.
The delivery of freshwater is a never-ending chore for may of the women and children e.g.in Niger, as 80% of the people have no running water connections, the task of collecting and bringing freshwater is a constant never-ending task.
Raising Living Standards for 500 million people

Source - advisorperspectives.com

An estimated 500 million people in the developing world are expected to join the affluent in the developed world. 
The more affluent a person or community is, the more freshwater she and the community will consume.
China is by far the leader in adding people to its Middle Class, followed by Russia, Brazil, Mexico and India.
Why Seek Freshwater Abundance?
With more freshwater available we are confident that unavailability will no longer hold people back from their potential.  This is one reason why any freshwater scarcity is a concern. 

Lot's of Freshwater, But NOT WHERE It's Needed

Precipitation, commonly called rain, the predominant source of freshwater, is more than enough for a 10+ billion human population plus the other species and nature's ecosystems that must have freshwater.
Rainfall

Source - countryofsb.org

From the very beginning, rain has supplied the freshwater needs of human, other species and nature's ecosystems in two ways: 
- Either, by dropping manna-from-the-heavens directly onto crops and where the freshwater was needed and/or 
- Replenishing lakes and other bodies tapped by humans, other freshwater species and nature's freshwater ecosystems.
Total Rainfall on land

Source - sciencemag.org

A total of 98,500 cubic kilometers of rain is estimated to fall on land every year.
This liquid precipitation is in addition to the 12,500 cubic kilometers that fall as ice and snow on land.
Ignoring for a minute that this rainfall in not geographically uniform and that it has extreme spacial and temporal variations, the 98,500 cubic kilometers/year
= 270 cubic kilometers/day
As 1 cubic kilometer = 264 billion US gallons,
the average rainfall of 270 cubic kilometers/day
= 71,280 billion US gallons/day
For a 10 billion human population (the projected human population in 2050), this rainfall
= 7,128 US gallons per day.
Why Freshwater Scarcity?
Ignoring freshwater accessed over long distances from surface bodies (lakes, rivers, etc) and underground aquifers, with so much rainfall available per person per day, why do we have scarcity anywhere in the world?
The answer: Scarcity is the result of rainfall not being uniform all over Earth's land mass and the unpredictable spacial and temporal variations of rainfall.

Africa - The Not-so-DRY Continent!

The frequent photographs of parched African landscapes are familiar to all of us. Recent research tells a different story than the typical one of acute horrendous freshwater scarcity.
Accounting for Groundwater
A good map of underground aquifers has always existed for much of the world -except for Africa.
Freshwater availability projections for Africa have always omitted accounting for groundwater - till now.
Africa's Aquifers

Source - Environmental Research Letters Journal
Dated 19 April 2012

The productivity of Africa's aquifers has now been quantified.
Apparently there is a lot of water underground in much of Africa.
The orange and yellow areas, in the accompanying larger map, only cover 15-20% of the African continent, and identify aquifers with lowest expected productivity.
The blue and black colored areas are those with aquifers with the highest productivity.
In the smaller map, the same orange and yellow colors identify the worst condition i.e. the areas where the aquifers are the farthest underground.
Bottom Line
Underground aquifers contain:
1. More than 100 times the annual renewable freshwater resources, and
2. More than 20 times the freshwater stored in all of Africa'a lakes and other surface reservoirs


Now all we need to do is figure out a way to get this water to Africa's people who can drink it and use it for growing much-needed food.

"Water Stress" Has Many Definitions

Just like the saying "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder", Water Stress has different meanings around the globe. Remedying water-stress is difficult when few can agree on what the term means for all of them.
Water Stressed Areas

Source - news.bbc.co.uk

A large part of the world is experiencing stress on its water resources. Severely-stressed areas (red in the accompanying map) include Southwestern United States,  northern Mexico, Western and Eastern South America, vast portions of India, Northern China, much of Africa that surrounds the Sahara Desert, southern Africa and Australia (not shown)
Water stress, thus, is a fixture of both developed and developing countries
Water Stress in The Developing World

Boy Collecting Water
Source - sanakvo.org

In Asia and Africa, water stress is defined as lack of water for drinking and sanitation, both basic to human survival and good health.
This stress increases with income disparity for those in lower economic strata as the more affluent can get their water needs satisfied using their economic clout.
But even the affluent in the developing world suffer from water stress. Their stress arises from the ever-increasing water demand from production of goods and services that are the benchmarks defining someone as affluent.
Water Stress in The Developed World

Fountains in Las Vegas
Source -gothereguide.com

Water Recreation
Source - minneapolisparks.org

The inability to procure water needed to sustain economic growth and lifestyles is how water stress is defined in affluent countries.
Reducing Global Water Stress
So, it is difficult for all the world to agree on a common definition of water constitutes global water stress. And no globally supported effort can be defined and implemented to cut global water stress.The world's worsening water crisis, continues to further worsen.

Every Water Is Not The Same!

We all are quite familiar with the salty taste of ocean water compared to water deposited by rain and water streaming out of a faucet. Another difference may help us tap on-demand, the oldest freshwater source on Earth.
The Ocean in the Atmosphere
The hydrologic cycle maintains and continuously replenishes a vast ocean of freshwater in the air closest to the ground. This ocean is the source of all rain and snow, the dew we find deposited on our cars, dew deposited on the ground early in the morning and the moisture that appears on the outside of a cold glass. 
Isotope Hydrology

Change in isotope content during the hydrologic cycle
Source - ANTSO.gov.au

It is an established fact that water from different sources contains different number and types of isotopes.(see post dated Oct 15, 2011).
Isotope Hydrology is the new science that uses existence of isotopes to estimate age and origin of water in each stage of the hydrologic cycle.
What makes Isotope Hydrology most interesting is that it can map a "local" hydrologic condition to include an identification of the the origin and content of water in the local atmosphere.

Predicting & Catalyzing Precipitation
The primary cause of freshwater scarcity is continued lack of rain where and when we humans want and need it. Precipitation (mostly rain) directly waters our food crops, adds runoff to increase river flows and lake levels, and replenishes ground water reservoirs.
We could soon produce rain on-demand using Isotope Hydrology that can accurately measure the isotopic content of local air, compare it to conditions that produce rain and identify what changes are necessary to produce rain on demand anywhere on Earth!

Defining the Challenge Differently

Sometimes a challenge is overcome simply when the problem is defined differently - usually from a different perspective. Ongoing Climate Change research may guide us to efficiently extracting moisture from the air we breathe.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions
Source - scinewsblog.blogspot.com

The Common Perspective on Climate Change - Cut Carbon Dioxide Emissions
To counter climate change, our overwhelming focus in every industry is on reducing addition of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. 
This reduction is achieved by "scrubbing" emissions to capture the carbon dioxide they contain.
Typically, the "scrubber" chemically removes carbon dioxide in the emission. When the scrubber eventually  'wears out, it is replaced with a new scrubber. The 'used up' scrubber is disposed or cleaned up and reused.
The extracted carbon dioxide can be stored or the carbon can be processed to create artificial fuels that supplement fossil fuels.
What if we supplemented our focus on only emission reduction with extraction of carbon dioxide that we have added into air?
An Uncommon Perspective - Pull Carbon Dioxide OUT from Air 

Photosynthesis
Source - en.wikipedia.org

Source - guardian.co.uk

This perspective acknowledges that we have put carbon dioxide into the air and defines the climate change challenge as one of taking carbon dioxide out of air.
Photosynthesis is nature's technique for extracting carbon dioxide from the air - a technique that is impractical for use by people because of the lead time required to seed, nurture and grow the number of plants required to c lean-up today's air.
So we are left with developing artificial techniques for pulling carbon dioxide out of the air. Furthermore, these extraction techniques have a value all their own, even when we reduce the additions: We need them to extract the carbon dioxide that we have already added into the air. 
Three private companies seeking to develop a technically and economically viable process to take carbon dioxide out from air are Climeworks, Kilimanjaro Energy and Carbon Engineering.
Composition of Air
The air (in the troposphere) is composed of the following:

Nitrogen (N2)	78%
Oxygen (O2)	20%
Noble gasses	1%
Carbon dioxide (CO2)	0.03%
Water vapor (H2O)	0.97%

Source - http://www.lenntech.com
There is much much more water than carbon dioxide in the air!
Defining freshwater as a supply issue or a demand issue
So, how can we define the challenge of freshwater scarcity differently? One way is to see the glass half empty and reducing. Another way is to see the glass as half full and filling.
Extracting moisture from the air is an example of the latter approach. This approach has a lot in common with extracting nitrogen from the air to make artificial manure (fertilizer) responsible for feeding much of the world today. It also has a lot in common with extracting carbon dioxide from the air to curb climate change and its impacts.

WORLD WATER DAY March 22, 2012

The GOOD news

Source - guardian.co.uk

"Drinking Water Access" MDG
The Millennium Development Goal: Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking-water
Goal has been met ahead of schedule
By this measure:
(a) 89%  of the global population (6.1 billion people) had access to clean drinking water by 2010,
(b) 92% of the global population will have access to safe drinking water by 2015, and 
(c) Between 1990 and 2010, more than 2 billion people gained access to clean drinking water


The NOT-so-Good facts
1. An estimated 1.1 billion people still lack access to clean drinking water
2. 2.6 billion people don't have adequate sanitation
3. 1.8 billion people die every year from diseases associated with dirty water


A Global Crisis Looms

Source - 

1. The MDG goal assessment (above) becomes clearer when the details are closely reviewed.
- Sub-Saharan Africa and Oceania (the orange colored areas) are NOT on track to meet Global drinking water access goals.
- Data at the country level also hides many extended periods of drought in many countries including those in the developed world (e.g. in Southwest USA and in Eastern Australia)
2. More than 40% of the world's population will live in areas experiencing high stress by 2050 (Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)
3. An additional US$30 billion is needed to provide access to everyone
4. Considering only population growth, rainfall amounts per person have dropped precipitously e.g. rainfall in Pakistan provided 5,000 cubic meters of freshwater for each person in 1947. Rainfall provides less than 1,000 cubic meters for each person today.

A few other facts
1. Food production is the single consumer of freshwater supplies today - over 80% of available freshwater supplies in Asia are used for growing food.
2. China, India and the US use roughly one-third of the roughly 4,000 cubic kilometers of freshwater extracted globally each year - India uses approx 13%, China uses approx 12% while the US uses approx 9%. (source: Fourth World Water Development Report by UNESCO)
3. Food demand is expected to rise by 70% by 2050


The way forward

Technological Innovation or .....?

Squirreling May Be Ideal Fix For Freshwater Scarcity

Freshwater scarcity exists when supplies and demand don't match. Freshwater is not unique in this regard - frequent shortages exist in everything at one time or another. Hoarding for days when supplies are scare is a well known tactic.
Squirrels and Food

Source - collectiblechildrensbook.com

We are all familiar with the tales of squirrels collecting acorns, apples, nuts and other food and storing them to last all winter when no food is easily to be found. The words 'squirreling a little something' imply that something is being saved for another day or time when it will not be as readily available
Many other animals follow this practice - Dogs hide bones to be eaten when no bones are available.




Local Freshwater Storage

Source - wilsonnc.org

Humans also have a long history of storing supplies to last a full season or during times of scarcity.
The commonly visible water tank collected water for small communities and served as a reservoir for members of the community to draw water from when needed.

Holding Ponds
Source - valleywater.org

Industrial and agricultural have holding ponds that they can access in time of reduced supplies.

Source - waterhearesexpert.com

In affluent homes all over the world we have water tanks now in each house to heat and store hot water. These tanks typically hold 30 gallons but can be as large as a 100 gallons. In emergency situations, like after an earthquake, these tanks can provide necessary drinking water for a few days.

Rooftop tanks
Source - hindu.com

Developing World Solution
In the third world, where water supply is available only a few hours a day for a few days a week, people have taken local storage to a new level by storing hundreds of gallons in rooftop tanks.
These rooftop tanks have in a way turned the local water supply utility into an intermittent supplier of water.




So why isn't "local storage" one of the solutions in our quiver to counter future water shortages everywhere in the world? All that needs done is to collect the quantity of water we need, individually or on a cooperative basis, adequate for the period over which we expect not to receive water supplies in the future?

Water Resources impacted by Climate Change?

Implications of climate change on the Earth's Hydrologic Cycle are slowly coming into focus but the underlying phenomenon are still not well understood. Any assessment of climate change impact on water supplies are, thus, only our attempt to err on the 'safe' side for humanity and nature's ecosystems.


The Greenhouse Effect

Source - ucar.edu

If the greenhouse effect can be attributed to a single event, this event happened in 1988. Scientists, seeking to explain a series of unusually warm years, were able to link for the first time in 1988, the increase in atmospheric temperature to the retention of long-wave radiation (received in sunlight) in the atmosphere. Further research linked this increase in retention to an increase in greenhouse gasses that include Carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, methane and chlorofluorocarbons.
(As addition of carbon dioxide fuels increase in all the greenhouse gases, we are developing ways to reduce human carbon dioxide emissions)
Predicting Climate
We all know too well how difficult it still is for us to predict tomorrow's weather. 
Our difficulty is simply due to our lack of understanding on how the vast number of processes and their feedback cycles, come together to make the weather we experience.
Climate Change
As we don't really know how to predict the impacts of climate change, we have developed the approach of trying to understand (and model) historical data on temperature rises and the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. So, using the historical record as a 'given' we are measuring the increase in amount of greenhouse gases to assess what climate we should expect
Pinpointing Impacts of Climate Change
Climate change is expected to cause rapid changes in temperature, precipitation and concentrations of greenhouse gases (water and Carbon Dioxide). To predict the direction of these changes (i.e. will the result be a flood or a drought?) we make models to represent nature's complex ecosystems. The conclusions we reach are only as good (i.e. as closely representing the functioning of the ecosystem) as the models we can make.
Keeping in mind that our conclusions on the impact of climate change on water resources is only as good as the models we make, 

Rainfall is THE Concern

Source - loadstorm.com

Numerous computer model-based assessments have raised concerns of BIG changes in the amounts of rainfall.

• In high latitudes areas (in equatorial Africa and Asia, in Southeast Asia) annual rainfall is projected to dramatically increase, while in mid-latitudes and in most subtropical regions rainfall is expected to decrease. 
• A general reduction in precipitation of snow is expected to reduce the amount and duration of snow cover

Additional implications of reduced or unanticipated rainfall can also be postulated:

• If we pollute more and more water, less rainfall implies that the concentration of pollutants in our water supply will remain higher longer
• As we use an enormous volume of water to generate electricity and cool thermal power plants, any reduction in rainfall will only increase pressure on water supplies
• Current levels of irrigated food production will have inadequate amounts of irrigation water (for example, in the dry US West) leading to reduction in food supplies - some studies predict a drop in USfood production by 30% for a 3 Degree Centigrate increase in air temperature.
• And ..........

Maybe, the solution is to develop ways to extract both water vapor and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere!!

Water Defines Climate Everwhere

Water in the troposphere, the atmosphere closest to the surface, conditions the Earth. In some locations water runs the local heating system while, at the same time, it acts as the cooling system in other locations. Water has an inordinately strong effect on climate. 


What is climate?

Climate Map
Source - blueplanetbiomes.org

Climate is weather averaged over a long period of time, usually, 30 years.
In this averaging, weather is defined by many variables. The predominant variables are temperature, precipitation and wind movement.


Temperature

Air Temperature Variations
Source - griffin.uga.edu

Temperature is a measure of the 'heat' in any location.
This 'heat' is the sum of the amount of energy deposited on a place by sunlight and the amount of energy existing on Earth at that place.
Water in the atmosphere and in surface bodies acts as the controller of heat distribution around the planet.
Water in the wind moves heat from one location to another.
Ice sheets and clouds cool the Earth's surface by reflecting the heat energy back into space.
Ocean and river currents transport heat to locations far and near.


Precipitation

Source - valdosta.edu

Precipitation IS water - in every form that water exists!









Water's Venetian Blind effect

Source - b4i.ie

Water in the air (with other greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide) acts in much the same way as slats in a Venetian blind. 
The angle of each slat influences how much of the suns' heat and light enters a room. We can move the slats to form a 'closed' surface to, in effect, stop most light and heat from entering a room. We can fully 'open' the blinds to allow entry of the most amount of light and heat into a room.
In a similar way, nature manipulates the water content of air at individual locations (in conjunction with other parameters) to influence (raise and lower) in a very large way the temperature at a particular location.