As extreme weather events unfortunately become more common, more media coverage is addressing the links between greenhouse gas emissions (GGEs) and climate instability. Curbing GGEs as quickly as possible is critical for preventing the worst projected impacts of global warming, but there’s another key component to climate change and GGEs that’s sometimes overlooked in the conservation efforts: freshwater.
Even a slight rise in average global temperatures requires more water for irrigating food crops, running climate-control systems in buildings and using public and personal transportation solutions, and keeping people, and animals, alive and healthy. This increase in water demand also requires more energy, which can produce more GGEs. In many places, water systems are already under stress, and although there are positive actions that both organizations and individuals can currently take, the rising temperatures will continue to increase the stress on water in the years ahead. Here are three factors we all need to consider.
First, extreme droughts are likely to worsen as global temperatures rise, driving up the need for new water supplies in affected areas. Second, the global population is forecasted to approach 10 billion people by 2050, per the UN, which will increase water needs worldwide. Third, as a result of these two changes, relying on groundwater and rainfall will no longer be adequate. However, existing solutions for bringing in water--such as trucking it in on fossil-fuel powered vehicles or power-intensive pumping from alternative locations--emit carbon, which contributes to the GGE-driven warming process.
So, why aren’t we talking more about the role of water conservation in sustainability? Extreme heat, flooding, and unusual weather patterns are easy for most of us to notice, but water crises tend to be localized and easier for unaffected people to ignore. That’s especially true when a quick turn of the tap brings many of us all the clean water we need.
Already, more than 2 billion people live in places where water is scarce and/or contaminated, according to the World Health Organization. As the population and drought-stricken areas grow, the number of people facing water scarcity, and the resources required to help them, will grow as well. That means it’s time to start talking about how we use water now and what changes we can make to protect the world’s freshwater resources.
Pumping water to people in drought-stricken areas requires a staggering amount of power--which also requires water, mostly for cooling equipment. In 2020, almost 12 gallons of water were required for every kilowatt hour of electricity generated in the U.S., totaling more than 47 trillion gallons for that year. That figure shows how water and power--and greenhouse gas emissions--are interconnected. It also highlights our ability to address water and GGE issues by optimizing energy use.
Optimization starts by understanding what industries and activities use the most water. Despite the huge amount of water the energy industry needs, agriculture uses the most water of any industry--70% of all freshwater worldwide, according to the World Bank. Data centers that house servers for cloud storage, analytics, and AI processes also use a lot of water. NPR recently reported that a medium-sized data center uses as much water per day as 1,000 U.S. homes.
Virtually all manufacturing processes require water. When you factor in the water required for consumer and household goods and transportation, the average American uses more than 600 gallons of water per day. So, although industries are major water consumers, their consumption is based on consumer demand.
When we’re more aware of how much water our lives require, we can make smarter individual and organizational decisions to preserve this key resource. It’s already happening to some degree at the government level, with hundreds of water conservation rebate programs in place for homeowners around the U.S. for water-wise landscaping and more efficient appliances. In California, the state is offering incentives to agricultural businesses that convert spray irrigation systems to more efficient drip irrigation, which minimizes water evaporation.
There’s still plenty that industry and government can do. For electrical generation, there’s new interest in re-using the water that’s used to cool equipment, so facilities aren’t constantly drawing in new freshwater. Using sensors and other control systems to quickly detect leaks and minimize water usage could have a major long-term impact on industrial water consumption.
Consumers, the end drivers of demand for products, food, and energy, may feel that their individual decisions are drops in the ocean, but even small changes in a person’s behavior can save thousands of gallons of water per year. At scale, new consumer habits could save billions of gallons annually. A good place to start is by calculating your current water use footprint, and keeping in mind that the electricity you use requires water, too.
Knowing that agriculture, manufacturing and technology consume lots of water on our behalf, there are some simple steps most of us can take now to reduce water demand, including:
These smaller consumer changes, along with large-scale changes by the government and industry, can help preserve our water resources for future needs, like our growing population. At the same time, reducing water usage can reduce energy consumption that generates GGEs, to help slow global temperature rise and help reduce the severity of water crises in a warming world.
Guest Authors:
Ann Torres, VP Strategic Innovations at Synapse and Managing Director, San Francisco
Ann Torres is VP of Strategic Innovations at Synapse, part of Capgemini and is the co-lead of Capgemini's new Innovation Hub in San Francisco. She is an organizational leader and an expert at shepherding new product concepts into scaled production and helps clients transform their businesses by bringing teams together to architect and deliver solutions to complex technical challenges. Ann leads engineering teams that fuse leading-edge technology and product realization to create innovative connected hardware products and systems. She is responsible for growing Synapse's Health Tech Business and is passionate about sharing her experiences in development, innovation, diversity, and sustainability.
Chris Blower, Senior Mechanical Engineer, Technical Lead
Chris Blower is a Senior Mechanical Engineer and Technical Lead at Synapse, part of Capgemini, where he has leveraged his extensive knowledge in simulation modeling and analysis to advance technologies and deliver innovative solutions. With 10 years of experience as an engineering consultant, Chris has successfully led projects in various sectors including automotive, aerospace, biomedical, and consumer electronics. His areas of expertise include aerodynamics, CFD, FEA, simulation and analysis, electro-mechanical systems, robotics, injection molding, fluid mechanics, and vibration theory.
