Water, Food & People more important than oil

[Tightwad]

I'm not sure how much traffic this topic will get on this
backwater board on BHM forum but I'll try to share this
with all who will listen and think about the implcations
of what I'm sharing.

The worlds water supply for food and drinking is in trouble.

http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/pubs/PUB019/RR019.htm

http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/pubs/PUB019/RR019.htm

http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2003/03/05/water_report030305.html

These are a few of the URL's that discuss this hidden problem
that has been overshadowed by Peak Oil. Global population &
food shortages also are ignored.

Seems to me that instead of worring about the fuel for your
cars one should work towards a sustainable food & water supply.
This will be very hard for most urban dwellers to think about
let alone do anything about. :( :(

[idris]

Last month, the water tower just over the road from my place had a leak: down the hill, round the corner, and out into the wheatfields: the birds loved it! The official story was that if they turned it off, ther next village would have no water, and the contractor was on holidays [vacation]. So! I got some garden hose, and borrowed some garden hose, and siphoned off about a litre a minute for two weeks, except when the hose got holes in it from being run over, right into the corn patch, just as the strong breezes at 30s Centigrade [got up to 101 F] weather came along. It got fixed, but the corn is doing well![ this being in Australia, where we are having a sixth year of drought { and every body is holding their noses because of the deservedly infamous AWB scam-scandal
}.

[kawalekm]

Actually, I think it is important to think of the three problems as interelated, especially in the US. Fuel is needed to run the machines that plant/tend/harvest/transport our food. Look at JAK's post in the "Other Enery Issues" section intitled "Your milage may vary". Fuel is also sometimes needed to transport water great distances, like here in California.

I think what we should be asking is how we are going to get the water and grow the food as our oil supplies shrink more and more. I'm in a relatively dry area with only about 20 inches of rain per year. I get my water from a well, pumped with a gasoline powered generator. No gasoline means no water and no water means no trees/garden.

As a backup for the well, I'm designing a water catchment system from my cabin roof. Even in a dry year I estimate I can collect about 9000 gallons of salt-free water that I can use for irrigation. Besides the regular fruit and nut trees I'm also planting drought tolerant trees like mesquite and locust which will wait as "famine foods".