This is a guest post for the Blog Action Day 2010, an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking a global discussion and driving collective action. This year's topic is water.
Iwith.org thanks Ruben his participation in the Blog Action Day.
Continue reading Blog Action Day Guest Post: Water & Technology Through History
Originally appeared on Iwith.org Foundation on 15/10/2010
Water needs are shared for all animal species. Every living being needs water, and tries to find a place to live close to a water supply to get its needs. After that, this water supply acts as a limiting factor for the growth of the community. But mankind is different in this aspect to animals, as it has different abilities. Technology allows water to travel to new places, allowing for desert-like territories to sustain enormous populations. At a cost.Artificial transportation of water, although frequently associated to the Romans is in fact older. Assyrians, Egyptians and Harappans (a civilisation spanning modern-day Pakistan) already built them in 7th century BC. In the other side of the world, the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán had two aqueducts to provide it with water from the nearby mountains. All over the world, man has tried to move water from one place to the other, and civilisations have probably raised and felt by sudden lack of water (it is a theory for the decline of several civilisations in both pre-Columbian America and Bronze Age Near East).
In modern days, water transportation is of utmost importance for almost all metropolis, the clearest example being Los Angeles. Its metropolitan area can only supply the water needs of roughly one million inhabitants, but currently holds a little more than 28 million people. Several areas of China and India will suffer the same fate, as aquifers are being drained for irrigation purposes. This not counting under-developed countries (not necessary desert), lacking even the most basic water treatment and processing facilities.
The only solution for the coming water crisis is nation-wide co-operation. Be it in the form of technology to improve water treatment, production and desalination facilities, money to pay local workers to improve pipe systems and improve general conditions or in the form of direct water transportation for resource sharing. The United Nations have declared access to water a human right, it is the right time to embrace this.
Ruben Berenguel blogs in mostlymaths.net about productivity, time management and a little programming while he finishes his PhD in Mathematics. Don't miss your opportunity to subscribe to his RSS feed!.Disclaimer: This is a guest post. Iwith.org does not necessarily share nor endorse the views expressed by this writer.
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