Conservation of Water
As I am trying to educate all of us on water, there are numerous things we have to do to conserve the water we have. Some of our current uses for water are going to have markedly increased demands. We have to get rid of entitlements for growing corn. There are plans to double the amount of ethanol production facilities in the high plains. Despite already scarce water, some farmers and corporations are willing to use up this precious resource without a care for the future. Of course, money is the driving force, the same as everything else in our world.
When it comes to money, we are not going to allow the future, or that of our children, to stand in the way. The environmental defense fund says the added corn production may require up to an additional 120 billion gallons of water from the Ogallala annually. Why do we allow our gasoline to be supplemented with ethanol? That results in a net energy loss. Ethanol does not get the mileage as does a gallon of gasoline with out the ethanol supplement. Clever politicians help these laws get passed and once more the last thing on their mind is water. The overriding concern in all of this is money, money, money.
Fracking is another venture the oil and gas companies are pursuing in every state that has a drop of oil under the surface. The amount of water used for fracking is immense. One well may use anywhere from 1.5 million gallons of water up to 16 million. According to GASLAND, that translates to 400 to 600 tanker truck loads of liquid, mostly water with additives, to the well.
Fracking also requires 200 to 300 tanker truckloads of waste be hauled away. Overall 38,400 to 172,800 tanker truck trips may be necessary over the life of one well. All this requires oil and gas to run the trucks, not to mention repairing the infrastructure destroyed by them.
According to Fractracker, there are about 1.7 million wells in the United States with the majority of them being fracked. I think you can do the math and realize the tremendous water requirements. Do we have that much water? With the current water usage and population growth, if use remains the same, we will not.
I have talked to people working the Bakken formation in North Dakota and an oil executive of Sun Oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada. The consensus seems to be we have enough oil to last two hundred years. We will not have enough water. We are running out.
There is coming a day when we will run out of water and a gallon of water will be more valuable than a gallon of oil. The worst part of that is, the oil will not quench our thirst.
God bless America and God bless you all from the Maverick Doctor,
Rick R. Redalen, M.D.
Pick up a copy of my book “God’s Tiniest Angel and the Last Unicorn,” available on Amazon.
Dr. Rick is a retired American physician, entrepreneur and philanthropist who has done mission work around the country and around the world. He is now on a mission to improve healthcare in America. Visit maverickdoctor.com or email him at rickr@maverickdoctor.com.