Comments on: General Electric's water source

Jeff Fulgham, with GE's Water and Process Technologies, suggests ways to turn around the water crisis.

[m.o.t.u.]

Sydney, Australia also suffers...

from lack of urban planning & infrastucture, and a overwhelming misabuse of this natural resource by the general populace. After 10 years or so of unrestrained development, all rain run-off from these new dwellings / medium density developments is directed into a stormwater system which in turn discharges into creeks, harbour or ocean. Money was the most important resource but that's changing. Sydney had the capacity to store a significant volume of water right beneath it's feet, neither Government or Developers had the courage or vision to intergrate onsite water storage in residential developments

[paulej]

Huh? Let me read this again...

What does hospitalization have to do with the rest of the world using water?

And Chicago wastes a lot of water. So? Do you propose to pipe it over to... say... that emerging country without enough water?

If you have plenty of water (such as out of the HUGE lake next to Chicago), water is not "wasted". It goes into the ground and into the rivers. That's called recycling ;-) (This is like blaming the Sun for contributing to wasting trillions of gallons of water by extracting it out of the lake and pouring it over Indiana.)

Water shortages might be real in some more arid locations around the wold, but for GE, it's an opportunity. Where there is an opportunity to make money, somebody will produce a solution.

Paul

[snivlem]

Let me guess...

You drive a Ford Excursion, right?

[pmfjoe]

I don't pay enough for my water?

Perhaps the writer doesn't know how this works (I live in fast growing city which has build 1 new plant and is currently building a much larger new plant, plus refurbishing and expanding the 2 exiting ones). But when I pay my water bill that goes to pay for the operational cost of providing me the water (i.e. maintenance, personnel, etc.). Then I pay my taxes which covers the cost of the bonds the city issues for the construction and renovation of new/existing plants. And if the city doesn't get enough money they either raise the water rates or my taxes, nothing is free!

[tonymkirk]

Subsidized? Oh, yeah...

Yeah, right. The cost of the water is subsidized, so I'm not paying for it?!? Excuse me? That money comes from all of us to begin with--it doesn't fall from the sky (unlike rain).

[devinm78]

It's HOW you pay for it.

It's not that complicated. True, nothing is free and water is paid for through taxes, etc. However, because you don't (completely) pay for water based on how much you use, but rather as part of your generic tax bill (which if you're like most people you probably complain is too high), you generally give little thought to how you use water. Here's an example: If you pay a flat monthly fee for movie rentals and can get as many as you want, you'll probably be a little less selective in your movie choices than if you paid for each individual rental. Water has, in recent history in developed countries, generally been paid for out of taxes with only a small portion of the cost showing up on a "water bill." As a result, people using water don't consider the true cost of water in their usage habits. The article is simply making the point that people would use water more efficiently if they paid for each unit of it based on its full, real cost.
I'm sure the writer has a thorough understanding of how the process works; perhaps he gave readers a little much credit in assuming they would understand the fairly obvious point being made.

[Bud Cotterell]

water treatment

In the 1950's I worked with an Englishman who claimed that in
some areas they had a "Cavatore" and all the buildings were double
piped,all grey water was recycled back to the buildings and watered
lawns,flushed toilets,washed cars etc.He was of the opinion this
was way of the future,the toilet waste went to the sewer,but was
flushed with grey water.Special piping was used so a mistake was
not likely to happen.