About Half of Global Wastewater Is Treated, Instead of Previous Estimate of 20%, Study Finds (upi.com) 43
schwit1 shares a report from UPI: The study published Monday in the journal Earth System Science Data, estimated 359 billion cubic meters of wastewater is produced each year -- which is "equivalent to 144 million Olympic-sized swimming pools," Edward Jones, a doctoral researcher at Utrecht University and the study's lead author, said in a statement. Researchers found that 52% of that wastewater is treated for reuse, leaving 48% untreated, which is substantially lower than previous estimates of 80%.
The authors warned that rates of treated water in developing countries are still very low due to lack of financial resources to build infrastructure and pay for expensive advanced treatment technologies. "We see that particularly in the developing world, where most of the future population growth will likely occur, treatment rates are lagging behind," Jones said. "In these countries in particular, wastewater production is likely to rise at a faster pace than the current development of collection infrastructure and treatment facilities. This poses serious threats to both human health and the environment," Jones said.
The authors warned that rates of treated water in developing countries are still very low due to lack of financial resources to build infrastructure and pay for expensive advanced treatment technologies. "We see that particularly in the developing world, where most of the future population growth will likely occur, treatment rates are lagging behind," Jones said. "In these countries in particular, wastewater production is likely to rise at a faster pace than the current development of collection infrastructure and treatment facilities. This poses serious threats to both human health and the environment," Jones said.
Great (Score:2)
So the other half isn't. .. that's supposed to reassure us? What happens when a bear shits in the forest? How come they don't use toilets? That's unsanitary. Not civilized.
Re: Great (Score:3)
Which means effectively that we need to work more on developing simple but effective waste water treatment that can benefit people in the third world. From one perspective it's easier since most of the waste there is often less contaminated. From another it's problematic to educate the users due to religious conceptions on 'uncleanliness'.
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...From another it's problematic to educate the users due to religious conceptions on 'uncleanliness'.
I wonder how much longer the rest of the modern world, is going to continue to tolerate religious resistance when it comes to sanitation? Are we really going to sit back and watch 3rd world prophets, create the next global pandemic?
Guess this is why my initial callous thought on this was shut the hell up about your 'god', purifying the drinking water. Needless to say, the planet has less and less tolerance for wet markets too right about now.
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Which means effectively that we need to work more on developing simple but effective waste water treatment that can benefit people in the third world.
I think OP was suggesting that the bears should be trained to use toilets (as soon as they're available).
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Your argument has merit, bearly, and I haven't researched the actual numbers, but there's nowhere near eight billion Ursidae shitting in the woods.
Humans, alternatively, defecate a metric fukk ton... and we likely eat (and post) worse than most bears.
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there's nowhere near eight billion Ursidae shitting in the woods.
OK, there aren't 8 billion bears .. but then there are lots of other animals that shit. How much of the Earth's shit do you think humans produce. Probably less than .00001%, not counting hot air.
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I'm inclined to believe this. My doggos& I defecate proportionately to the amount of food we eat.... _quite a fracking lot.
The rest of the fracki8ng world wants their lifestyle to allow their pets to be spoiled like that.
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he study published Monday in the journal Earth System Science Data, estimated 359 billion cubic meters of wastewater is produced each year -- which is "equivalent to 144 million Olympic-sized swimming pools,"
For people unfamiliar with the volume described, it's about three Libraries of Congress stacked up on four football fields, with the mass of 1000 double-decker buses.
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p.s. a cubic smoot is not the volume a smoot could be compressed into
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Could you please convert that to "furlongs per fortnight"? I'm still unclear on just how much water that is, although it sounds like a metric shitload. Basically, how many Olympic-sized shoeboxes would that be?
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"So the other half isn't. .. that's supposed to reassure us? What happens when a bear shits in the forest? "
The same thing as when those 2 billion people without toilets shit in the forest.
No water is wasted.
You don't need advanced technology (Score:2)
Build settling tanks out of bricks and/or cement, then pump the overflow water (its mostly clear at the point) through sand beds and return it to an aquifier. The sludge comes out of the bottom of the tank and gets hauled to a landfill. Thats 1800s technology. You dont need chemicals, membrane filtration systems, UV systems, or any of the other crap the screaming NIMBY "THEY ARE MAKING US DRINK PEE!!!" crowd demands in order to be comfy in their own ignorance.
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You don't need any of that if you're already living in poor conditions near nearby untreated sewage outflow. A bason toilet [oiengine.com] is an upgrade, and will produce valuable soil directly instead of eventually making sewage sludge.
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You frequently offer useful suggestions and information and I'm not sure that's permitted here.
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To be fair, his link and handle seem to match...
This article was almost made for him.
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Apparently I'm drinking about 3% toilet water, 43% ocean water and 39% (under)ground water.
https://www.watercorporation.c... [watercorporation.com.au]
You can just click "skip address" and browse, I believe.
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Scale is an important factor when considering arm-chair "scientific reasoning". I suggest you look into it.
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Scale is an important factor when considering arm-chair "scientific reasoning". I suggest you look into it.
Half of all wastewater is treated. That's the wastewater from over 3 billion people. Adding another 3 billion people is the same scale. It's not even remotely difficult.
Re: The increasingly nightmarish online experience (Score:2)
I find myself using technology less and less because the errors have become impossible to troubleshoot and fix. After getting numerous variations of OH NO somethings wrong! messages that provide absolutely no means to troubleshoot or fix means Iâ(TM)ve walked away. Also we canâ(TM)t do that right now please try again later.
What About the Oceans? (Score:4, Funny)
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Lucky for you, we ARE doing something about them!
We're killing them by the billions.
There ya go, problem solved!
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The difference being that over millions of years we have evolved to cope with that, and it's not so bad anyway due to being highly diluted.
On the other hand we know that human waste water can be a source of disease. You aren't going to catch a virus from fish poop, but you might catch one from human poop.
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You know who's poop is never treated? Fish and ocean mammals. They are making our oceans disgusting! Something must be done about them.
Go ahead. Fill up that gallon jug and start drinking. See where your mind takes you.
(There are a lot more toxic things in saltwater, than mere shit.)
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What? The environment is actually cleaner? (Score:1)
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. In a word? Microplastics.
That's like The Graduate except in echo form.
Thats Bull^H^H^H^HPeopleshit! (Score:1)
None of these countries treats significant percentage of their waste water.
Whoever made this calculation does not know how dirty a river looks like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Clear as mud (Score:2)
estimated 359 billion cubic meters of wastewater is produced each year -- which is "equivalent to 144 million Olympic-sized swimming pools"
If you think that reference comparison makes it easier for people to grasp how much water that is, you're an idiot.
For your readers, just say it's "really big water, a lot" and "more than they can imagine or grasp."
Here we go again with swimming pools... (Score:2)
"...estimated 359 billion cubic meters of wastewater is produced each year -- which is "equivalent to 144 million Olympic-sized swimming pools"
The last bastion of the orator with no sense of scale. Reduce it to swimming pools.
I can no more envision 144 million pools than I can 359 billion cubic metres. My poor brain does what all of our brains do - it short circuits into "lots" and moves on. Why not tell me how many hours a humming bird would take to extract an equivalent volume of nectar from a particular
New study finds... (Score:1)
that 90% of studies are total bs.
Blame Canada! (Score:2)
""I thought, that's what we need, we need a seven-foot tall piece of excrement walking around singing, dancing, shaking hands, mingling with the tourists to raise awareness and to put pressure on local officials,'' he said."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/ca [www.cbc.ca]
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Your post reminded me of this South Park scene that I recently found on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Look at TFA and TFP - who does the work (Score:1)
Meanwhile, 80% of the world's population does way below 50%.
I'm doing my part as of 40 years now and don't want to do any more while India, China, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brasil and Mexico do nothing other than talk about needing UN help and money.
If a wastewater plant costs $25 million (link below), then the fourth largest populated country, Indonesia, with a federal budget (link below