subject: Oil And Filtered Water Still Don't Mix, But May Be Just As Valuable [print this page] The recent oil spill off of the American Gulf coast has brought several issues sharply to light, including the need for far better water filtration systems. Underwater oil production and collection methods are still extremely hazardous, leaving a large portion of the marine environment contaminated and requiring cleanup crews and filtration systems to attempt to return the water to its natural state. This disaster further highlights the problem of a dwindling supply of usable freshwater on the earth's surface.
While the Gulf Coast disaster initially affected large amounts of salt water, several inland freshwater lakes have now become contaminated. The paramount concern is how to quickly and efficiently applying filtration systems to these lakes. Why? Because according to the US Attorney General's office, 36 states in the Union are at risk of not having enough fresh, easily-filtered water available to them by 2013. This is a result of overuse and under-care, in a similar vein to the use of fossil fuels before the 1970s. As they became scarce, energy providers had to look for new solutions in order to keep the world's economy on track.
Freshwater scarcity is now becoming a real possibility as populations expand and freshwater stocks dwindle. With only 3% of the earth's total water being fresh instead of salty, and the bulk of that in glaciers or snow-cover, the amount of water that is available for easy human consumption without filtration systems is extremely small. Add to that the fact that much of this water is slowly being contaminated by man-made pollution, and a large problem emerges. The need for filtered water is on the rise; not only in homes, but on a large-scale to ensure that freshwater is safe for consumption. Filtration systems are being considered to change salt water into fresh water as the supply of drinking water is consumed.
Suddenly, an economy built on oil finds itself teetering on the edge of an abyss in which only the countries with fresh, filtered water will be able to survive, let alone thrive, and will hold the bulk of the economic power. Canada, for example, contains 9% of the world's filtration systems-free fresh water supply, but has only .5% of the population. The new world order could make its filtered water the most sought-after commodity on the planet. While filtration system technology is slowly being put in place to deal with contaminated groundwater and alter sea water for human consumption, this type of filtered water solution may be too little, too late. Water is the new oil; and filtered, clean water will be as good as gold.
