What About Water?!

“Enough already! What about water?! You’ve barely even written about it. I thought this was supposed to be a hydrophilic mission, not just a phil mission!!”

Nobody has said that to me - it’s just the vibe I get from myself when I pretend to be you, reading my blog. So OK! I get it, sheesh. Let me hit you up with some knowledge.

Taiwan is a sub-tropical island, and gets plenty of rain. Much of it quickly flows to the sea, but scarcity is not a huge issue. The coverage of the clean water infrastructure is fairly complete, and it delivers filtered water to homes across the country. However, when I go home today, I cannot drink my tap water. Why? Because after the water is collected and treated, it passes through a dirty, aging distribution network. So many people buy bottled water, or have personal filters. This is a system-wide issue that requires government investment for maintenance and repair. This issue is not so severe in the US, which is why it is A-OK for you to drink your tap water – don’t be fooled by bottled water ads, and try to enjoy the taste – it’s just minerals. (And it builds character!) 

Natural river pool, 50m

Speaking of tap water - The very first water treatment plant in Taiwan was designed by Mr. Fish’s professor and mentor. This morning the two of us visited the Tap Water Plant in Hualien, which is nearby, at the foot of the mountains, where the water running off collects. Afterwards, we went swimming (in Hualien’s drinking water source) in a natural river pool up ahead of the plant, where it would be treated. The water was crystal clear, refreshingly cold, and wonderful.

Another water-related problem made apparent last week was the city-wide flooding caused by Typhoon Fanapi in Kaohsiung located on the Southeast part of the island (Taiwan’s second largest city, which hasn’t flooded in 50 years). A tremendous amount of rain fell in a very short period of time, and the sewage and drainage system could not handle the load. There is blame being flung around like poo left and right, but the fact is that preventative measures were not taken. "[A] fluid ounce of prevention is worth a gallon of cure." Just like with our bodies, where proper healthcare means preventing injury and illness, the health of our cities, environment, and all life on earth depend on governments spending money wisely on well-planned engineering projects that can prevent disasters. I did consider the possibility of going to Kaohsiung to help out, but being on the other side of the mountains, with roads destroyed and trains not running, I was not in any position to respond. Plus I had my own flooding to deal with (see previous post).

The first detailed map that plots the composite threat to human water security and to biodiversity across the world - created during a study for a report in the journal, Nature

What I have been working on is not the humanitarian, rural village field-work that you may have been imagining. That will certainly come when I travel to join an NGO in Yunnan Province in China in November, and if I end up going to Guatemala (or Nicaragua) next year. In the next section, I will write about what I am currently doing, voluntarily, for the Incubation Center at National Dong Hwa University - analyzing the feasibility of utilizing Deep Ocean Water (DOW), our planet’s most abundant and unused resource.

I find this topic exciting, potentially very useful, but if I scare you off or bore you, I understand – feel free to skip this section. But I urge you to return for a future post where I will describe Fish’s projects and what I have learned from him – you will find it more interesting and applicable.

There is much promise in the idea of utilizing DOW for many applications, as outlined in my Week 1 post. But for the dream to become reality, it must make economic sense, so the key is that a complete multi-stage system must be built, and it must be sustainable – a word you hear often, I’m sure.

I will spare you the hard data; here are a few facts I’ve gathered

• The cost of pipe and pump installation is the limiting factor: it is unpredictable, the material expense is high, it requires expertise, and the equipment can easily be lost.

• Driving desalination using energy generated by OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion) is NOT efficient, so obtaining drinking water can only be collected as a byproduct while using the water for other functions.

• Using DOW for coldwater agriculture (1) and aquaculture (2) have already been proven to be very successful…

o   1) In temperate climate areas, by passing cold deep ocean water through pipes in the soil at the depth of the roots results in rapid growth, high yield, and high sugar and aromatic content.

o   2) In certain special places (<0.1% of the ocean’s area), upwelling occurs, where DOW rises to the surface. There is high biological productivity in these areas, and it’s where half of our fishery products come from. Aquaculture using DOW simulates this phenomenon, and products grown/raised beat out milk, eggs, and beef in terms of proteins and nutrients, by far.

o   Despite all this, neither can currently be justified as the standalone function. Much more research and development is required.

• Using DOW for leisure (swimming pools and hot springs) does NOT seem like a good idea for a few reasons:

o   1) If brought to the surface, light will cause photosynthesis in the nutrient rich water, and bacteria will grow – not exactly the best soup to soak your body in. Filtration would be required, and thereby more energy.

o   2) After using the water, it must go somewhere. Salt water cannot be simply dumped onto land or into rivers without causing much harm to the environment.

Besides learning everything I can on the topic, I am sifting through a lot of experimental and economic data, and will need to format and present it later this week. If you were wondering “How?” or “Why?” while reading any of the bullet points above, feel free to ask me separately – they are equally important, but a bit technical for this blog.