Water is the giver of life. All living organisms on this planet need water to survive in some shape or form. It quenches the thirst of both animals and plants, and even provides shelter for aquatic creatures. In my opinion, I think it's the one thing on this planet that everyone, and everything has a right to. I don't think it's some commodity that you can just market off to people who are in dire need of it. I understand that a businessman like Pickens wants to make typical business moves, and he already sees into the future a world with a booming population and an inevitable problem with needing water. I understand that he's taping into water that is underground, and needs to be "rescued" and wouldn't otherwise be used for farming. I fear though, that all of this is simply a prelude to an environment where water is directly owned to specific people as opposed to one large body of government, and an environment where water only goes to the highest bidder. I feel that a lot of people will get hurt like this and we'll turn into this reverse Water World society. I don't think any single person should hold rights over it and give it to someone else for profit. I understand diverting water from one area to another to help out with forest fires but this is not what that is. The article about Pickens describes a scenario where the owner will have the ability to simply sell the water to the highest bidder, and that buyer can do whatever they want with the water. I can think that among businessmen, eventually greed will overrule the altruistic nature of society and everyone else will suffer because of it. Local residents that are losing this underground source of water have absolutely no say in anything since their wallets aren't deep enough and that isn't fair when it comes to something like water. Not to mention, how this may affect the natural order in the animal kingdom. Even though this may be underground water that Pickens is referring to, there is no telling what precedent this may set with other people trying to possess water. As of now it's underground water, but pretty soon it could turn into specific lakes being drained, or other unknown aquifers. We don't have an idea of how this may affect the animals in the environment, but there is definitely no way of immediately writing everything off as saying they won't be affected whatsoever. In Florida, I feel that there isn't really a chance of this happening as of now because we are already aware of the damage that civilization and roads have done to block off Florida's natural flow of water and I think measures would be taken to stop any sort of monopoly on water in Florida.
I decided to take on the task of actually seeing where I was with my water conservation and measure out how much water I use in a normal day, keeping true to my usual routine and not adjusting anything. I went online and did a little research, seeing how much water is typically used for everyday tasks and decided to make my calculations. I take about 15 minutes to shower and I found out that I use about 30 gallons of water each time I shower. I used the toilet about six times that day, and I found that for each flush, I'm using around 3 gallons of water. I have a phobia about my hands being dirty so I wash them a lot, at least 5 times a day and I measured the amount to be a gallon of water for the total amount. I'm pretty conscious of water running when I brush my teeth and wash my face though, and I don't leave the water running when I'm brushing or when I'm scrubbing my face, using about 1/2 of a gallon for the total of both activities. I drank a gallon water as well because I love staying hydrated and don't really drink anything else except for ice tea. All in all, I used 50 1/2 gallons in my day. I think that I'm pretty conservative with water. I don't use anything in excess unless I have days where I do laundry and wash dishes. I don't typically do dishes every day, I usually let them sit in the sink for a few days and I decided not to do dishes so my typical calculation wouldn't be inflated. I don't really see any way that I can conserve water, other than not flushing my toilet after each use and cutting back on my hand washing, however I feel those are necessary for sanitary purposes. Other then that, I'll try to improve on my shower time and cut back to 10 minute showers to use less water.
I decided to take on the task of actually seeing where I was with my water conservation and measure out how much water I use in a normal day, keeping true to my usual routine and not adjusting anything. I went online and did a little research, seeing how much water is typically used for everyday tasks and decided to make my calculations. I take about 15 minutes to shower and I found out that I use about 30 gallons of water each time I shower. I used the toilet about six times that day, and I found that for each flush, I'm using around 3 gallons of water. I have a phobia about my hands being dirty so I wash them a lot, at least 5 times a day and I measured the amount to be a gallon of water for the total amount. I'm pretty conscious of water running when I brush my teeth and wash my face though, and I don't leave the water running when I'm brushing or when I'm scrubbing my face, using about 1/2 of a gallon for the total of both activities. I drank a gallon water as well because I love staying hydrated and don't really drink anything else except for ice tea. All in all, I used 50 1/2 gallons in my day. I think that I'm pretty conservative with water. I don't use anything in excess unless I have days where I do laundry and wash dishes. I don't typically do dishes every day, I usually let them sit in the sink for a few days and I decided not to do dishes so my typical calculation wouldn't be inflated. I don't really see any way that I can conserve water, other than not flushing my toilet after each use and cutting back on my hand washing, however I feel those are necessary for sanitary purposes. Other then that, I'll try to improve on my shower time and cut back to 10 minute showers to use less water.
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