1. Luciana Valente Pace University School of Law
FRESH WATER
Luciana Valente
Pace University School of Law
11/15/2018

2. 1 THE EARTH IS BLUE - 50% uncollected rainfall
Earth’s surface: 71% oceans
Total water:
- 97.4% oceans
- 2.6% non available freshwater
% available freshwater
Available water:
- 20% remote rivers
- 50% uncollected rainfall
- 30% human use 1
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3. DISTRIBUTION OF WATER
POPULATION WATER RESOURCES CANADA % % CHINA % % ASIA % % S. AMERICA % %
In South America, 60% of the water flows through the Amazon River 2
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4. FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE AVAILABILITY OF WATER
The Hydrologic Cycle
Global Warming
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5. WATER SCARCITY CAUSES dry climate drought desiccation water stress
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6. THE WATER WARS - The Middle East
The Niles Basin: Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt
The Jordan Basin: Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Israel
The Tigris-Euphrates Basin: Turkey, Syria and Iraq 4
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7. INCREASING THE WATER SUPPLY
Building dams and reservoirs:
- The Aswan High Dam
Transferring water:
- The California Water Project
- The Aral Sea
Tapping groundwater:
- pollution
- depletion 5
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8. 6 Desalinization: 1. Thermal Distillation:
- used since c. 49 B.C. by Julius Cesar
- solar distillation
- multistage flash
2. Electro dialysis
3. Reverse Osmosis - nanotubes
4. Disadvantages of desalinization:
- high cost
- high energy
- high waste (mountains of salt)
Cloud Seeding and Towing Icebergs 6
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9. IMPROVING WATER EFFICIENCY
Irrigation water:
- conventional gravity flow
- center-pivot low pressure
- LEPA
- drip irrigation
Homes, businesses and industries’ water 7
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10. THE PRICE OF WATER Las Vegas X Tucson Government subsidies
Water laws in the U.S.
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11. DRINKING WATER QUALITY
Purifying Water:
- Filtration
- Chlorination
- Denitrification
- Biological aeration
Recycling Water:
Creative solutions:
- UV - slimes
- horseradish - the “Aquasaver”
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12. THE AMAZON BASIN 20% of the Earth’s surface 4/10 of South America
3/5 of Brazil
1/5 of the world’s freshwater
1/3 of the world’s rainforests
50% of the world’s biodiversity
Unfortunately, there are no projects for the exportation of water from this region.
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13. THE AMAZON RIVER Volume = 100 to 300 m3/sec.
17% of the world’s fresh water
highway of commerce
OTHER WATERS:
visibility pH
yellow/white: m
dark/black: m
green/blue: over 4 m
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14. CONCLUSIONS Water is one of the most abundant natural resources;
Water distribution does not match population;
The hydrologic cycle and global warming affect water availability;
As we use water resources faster than they can replenish, we cause water stress;
Water scarcity can lead to war, especially in the Middle East;
The ways to increase the water supply have to be managed to avoid environmental degradation;
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15. To improve water use efficiency, we need to involve farmers, city residents, businesses and industries, and also cut government subsidies;
To improve drinking water quality we need to upgrade the existing methods of purifying and recycling water, and also value creative solutions;
Although the Amazon Basis is a huge global repository of freshwater, there is no project to export this valuable natural resource.
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16. THE END
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