Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Water World
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: “WATER AND LIFE”
CHAPTER 2: “THE CHARACTERISTICS OF WATER”
CHAPTER 3: “PHENOMENOLOGY OF WATER”
CHAPTER 4: “WATER BETWEEN USES, CONSUMPTION AND TREATMENTS”
CHAPTER 5: “THE SOCIAL ASPECTS OF WATER”
CHAPTER 6: “THE AGGRESSION ON WATER”
CHAPTER 7: “WATER AS A RIGHT OR A COMMODITY?”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Water World
“Water World”
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SIMONE MALACRIDA
Simone Malacrida (1977)
Engineer and writer, has worked on research, finance, energy policy and industrial plants.
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ANALYTICAL INDEX
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INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: “WATER AND LIFE”
CHAPTER 2: “THE CHARACTERISTICS OF WATER”
CHAPTER 3: “PHENOMENOLOGY OF WATER”
CHAPTER 4: “WATER BETWEEN USES, CONSUMPTION AND TREATMENTS”
CHAPTER 5: “THE SOCIAL ASPECTS OF WATER”
CHAPTER 6: “THE AGGRESSION ON WATER”
CHAPTER 7: “WATER AS A RIGHT OR A COMMODITY?”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
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Everything flows.
One cannot immerse oneself twice in the waters of the same river.
(Heraclitus)
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During the last decade, an enormous interest in all issues related to water has emerged worldwide both in terms of discussions of an economic and geopolitical nature and in terms of the publication of articles, books, conference abstracts and writings by various genre.
A renewed ferment that rests on a solid awareness. Water, its links with other social and economic aspects, its vital implications are key topics of this historical period, at least for a good twenty years, and involve, in various ways, all the populations of the planet and social groups.
The underlying reasons for this acknowledgment will be analyzed in detail as the chapters unfold; at the beginning it is only worth remembering that there is a general problem of supplying water resources with aspects of scarcity in many countries and with a growing need to feed human activities, but at the same time there is increasingly evident news of how we are damaging the waters, whether whether sweet or marine.
The consequence of this new centrality of the "water problem" is quite clear, just do a bibliographic search or visit the numerous Internet sites that have sprung up around these topics. In recent times, reasoning and discussions around water have increased dramatically, inflating the general panorama and creating, sometimes and fortunately in rare cases, only background noise made up of questionable and contradictory statements.
Therefore, to date, various writings can be found, each with its own peculiarities. Usually, there is a tendency to emphasize a particular aspect, whether it is a purely scientific and technological one (water treatments or chemical-physical properties) or aspects more linked to society and the economy (the role of water in history or the modification of human daily life or everything related to modern privatisations). These writings - the majority of which are conceived with criteria - constitute a real heritage to draw on and some of them are presented in the bibliography.
This book, however, is not characterized by a vision of this nature; one of the topics mentioned above will not be explored in extreme detail, but rather the exact opposite.
The text presented here has the express purpose of making the "phenomenon" of water understood in its entirety, without neglecting or making any possible and imaginable link prevail. The crucial node around which attention will revolve will therefore not be the search for detail, but rather the overall vision, the totality of issues connected to water.
This belief is based on some assumptions and some general observations. In the highly specialized panorama that characterizes every modern discipline, very often the unitary vision is lacking, the general gaze that collects, in a synthetic way and free from a priori interpretations, the essential and incontrovertible facts from which to draw equally well-founded conclusions. A broad view of a general nature precisely to reflect the vastness and complexity of some modern realities (in general "resources" such as water or energy or "sciences" or, in a broader sense, "society" current).
Sometimes we prefer not to face this perspective because it is uncomfortable, difficult to explain and accept, but in doing so we risk sinking into the search for detailed mannerisms, losing sight of the general situation and the frame of reference.
As already mentioned, this book instead takes charge of a general vision and, in order to complete this operation, a characteristic structure has been given to the writing which has made it possible to contain and define, in the specific differences of each aspect, a single and global joint bond.
Seven general topics related to water will be presented below, divided into as many seven chapters. Each chapter is conceived as a single structure, in which there are analyses, conclusions and proposals, but which connects to all the others in both a sequential and global link, suggesting that the order presented is a symptom of a forma mentis of the author, rather than a real logical consequence.
The seven chapters are therefore configured as seven journeys to discover a particular aspect of the "water planet".
In a nutshell, we can outline the route of these journeys, leaving the definition of the destinations and starting points to the unfolding of the chapters.
- The indissoluble bond between water and life, from the Universe to our Planet to the biosphere and our cells.
- The chemical-physical properties of water, what they depend on and what influences they have in defining the importance of this molecule.
- Phenomena related to water such as the water cycle, geology, type of water and everything connected to the morphology of planet Earth.
- Which uses, how much consumption and which treatments are connected to water to understand the numbers, purposes and quality of the waters used.
- What are the social aspects related to water from historical, economic and political ones to all forms of artistic expression and daily life.
- How we are attacking water through various types of pollution, the problem of global warming and waste related to current society.
- The concept of water law, the scarcity of water resources with the related inequalities, the confrontation-clash between market vision and essential human rights.
From this small summary it is possible to underline both the general vision and the peculiar differences of each chapter that characterize the individual "journeys".
The beginning and the end of the book, in particular what is discussed in the first and seventh chapters, have not been taken at random, but constitute a "closure" of the circle represented by the topics covered in the text.
It is no coincidence that we begin with the links between water and life and end with the right to water, on the contrary these main themes will form the pillars of all the other chapters due to their capital importance and will appear as a general background against which define the individual specificities of each of the chosen topics.
Furthermore, a connection between beginning and end brings us back to a circular logic rather than a consequential one, more in line with the very nature of water which, changing into all forms and states and permeating the whole terrestrial biosphere, is present, almost eternally, in a continuous cycle without beginning and end, but of progressive and infinite becoming, as mentioned in the opening with the aphorism of Heraclitus which fits perfectly with the nature of water, dynamic and changeable.
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The real concept that underlies this book and that will return to every page of it is, however, very simple and, at the same time, an assumption such as to produce obvious consequences when we talk about the model in the last chapter. of development, economy, inequalities and rights.
Water is an indispensable good, a vital resource, an inalienable right for each of us.
There is no other explanation that justifies and is a foundation for the infinite variations that this molecule has in human life, from essential needs to philosophical-religious inspirations.
After all, water is itself life, an expression, a source, an origin and a consequence of the same and it should never be forgotten.
This basic concept will be the background to all the chemical, physical, morphological, scientific and social properties that will be explored in depth below, with the succession of paragraphs.
In closing this introduction, it seems almost superfluous to underline how the book itself is, in reality, a general journey to discover all the secrets of water, of this molecule so important and necessary as to be defined as "blue gold" and "source of life".
Now, as one could say paraphrasing Goethe's "Faust" about the purpose of this journey , "instead, it is necessary that we begin in the vast sea".
CHAPTER 1: “WATER AND LIFE”
CHAPTER 1
WATER AND LIFE
CHAPTER 2: “THE CHARACTERISTICS OF WATER”
How it plays
the water
and sing
(undoubtedly
she's alive!)
(“Water” by Walt Whitman)
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As already mentioned in the introduction, all issues related to water, whether it is conceived in its chemical and physical meaning, or reference is made to what is linked to literature, art and the part of human thought that is not purely rational, necessarily refer to the topic of life.
This statement has a double truth in itself. Life as we know it on this planet originated in primordial water and, thanks to water, continues to thrive. We can therefore see in this molecule, the origin and source of life on planet Earth. Indeed, we can hardly imagine an extraterrestrial life without the presence of this element. Furthermore, with an exquisitely scientific analysis, the presence of water in its three states (solid, liquid and gaseous) is one of the reasons why life developed on this planet (and not on the others in the Solar System), together with the presence of an adequate atmosphere, a strong magnetic field and a stability of the earth's axis of rotation.
It should therefore come as no surprise that the journey undertaken to understand all the many facets of this molecule starts from the essential basis: the link between water and life.
In this first chapter, attention will first be focused on the presence of water outside this planet and then going to touch the "numbers" of water that instead characterize it and slowly descending to the individual individuals and food.
A journey from the universal to the particular which will make people understand the real dimensions of the inseparable link between water and life. A vision to always keep in mind when dealing with other topics and, for this reason, presented at the beginning, as a sort of constant background to refer to.
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Water outside the Earth
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Starting this journey through the Universe, it can be said that the water molecule cannot be present in any of its forms and states on stars, such as our Sun, due to the excessively high temperature (both on the surface and inside the stella) which does not allow the stability of the molecule and of the bonds contained in it. There are no traces of water even among the most disparate celestial objects, such as black holes, neutron stars, quasars and pulsars.
However, water is present in the interstellar clouds of galaxies, as has been observed in our Milky Way, and in nebulae deriving from previous stellar activity. The relative abundance of this molecule in these celestial formations is due to the fact that the elementary components (hydrogen and oxygen) are among the most profuse in the Universe; in particular hydrogen, being the simplest element, represents more than 90% of all existing elements, while oxygen is a by-product of the nuclear reactions that take place in the terminal phase of the life of the stars. Furthermore, another factor that plays in favor of the presence of water in nebulae is the generation of shock waves which characterize star formation and which allow the genesis of stable molecules.
That said, water is massively present on planets. On these "secondary" objects, derived either from the initial phase of creation of the stars or from the terminal phase of their explosion (someone, in a very poetic way, said that the planets, including ours, are nothing but " stardust”), the water shows a considerable presence.
Life therefore should not be sought on the stars, as sometimes erroneously noted in science fiction, but on the planets, where an element such as water can abound.
The stars, with their energy and heat, are the engine of life and every other activity, while the water present in the planets becomes the ideal habitat for the proliferation of living forms.
Our solar system is made up of a series of planets which are certainly the best known and most observed celestial objects since ancient times. We can essentially distinguish the planets of the solar system into two large families. The so-called "terrestrial" ones, positioned in the part closest to the Sun, are generally rocky, while the more external ones are instead formed by gaseous masses or frozen liquids. In the first family we can include, in order of distance from our star, Mercury, Venus, la Terraand Mars, while in the second family there are all the "giants" from Jupiter onwards up to the boundaries where the solar system ends.
On rocky planets, the presence of water is determined by a series of concomitant factors such as the proximity to the Sun (which in turn influences the average irradiation and the temperature on the ground) and the size of the planet. In particular, it is precisely the size that determines both the force of gravity and the escape velocity and therefore the presence and composition of any atmosphere, a fundamental requirement for life and for the presence of liquid water.
Precisely for these reasons, on Mercury there is no presence of water in any form or state, since its extreme proximity to the Sun and its very small size do not allow for the existence of an atmosphere or the presence of liquid or solid (too high ground temperature) and not even gaseous (the water vapor would not be retained by the planet). Therefore life on Mercury is not technically possible, nor probably ever was.
Venus has a dense atmosphere, but the presence of gaseous water is negligible compared to sulfur dioxide. The ground conditions of this planet are terrible and inhospitable due to the presence of life, with a temperature of about 450°C, solar radiation almost shielded from the atmosphere, rains of sulfuric acid; all elements that indicate that life today is completely impossible on this planet. The presence of liquid water on Venus is given as a hypothesis in the past, then a devastating greenhouse effect caused these inhospitable conditions and the disappearance of liquid water on the Venusian soil. There is no agreement (because there is still no scientific evidence) on the presence of ice or underground liquid water in the subsoil of this planet.
The case of Mars is different, which appears to be the planet most similar to ours, although the greater distance from the Sun causes an irradiation and a lower average temperature and smaller dimensions, a much more rarefied atmosphere compared to ours. Water on Mars is present in the form of ice in the polar caps and, to a much lesser extent, in gaseous form in the atmosphere. It must be said that the water stored in the polar caps of Mars is relatively little if compared with that present in the terrestrial equivalents and that the presence of liquid water on the surface is impossible due to the pressure and temperature conditions of the planet. Having said this, modern scientific explorations have focused on Mars for the search for liquid or solid water in the subsoil, but above all for the possible presence, in the past, of liquid water on the surface and the possibility of life on this planet, not only as a pure science fiction idea as in Ray Bradbury's well-known book “The Martian Chronicles”. The dispute that has arisen since the time of Schiapparelli about the famous Martian "canals" could therefore find a definitive scientific answer. Of all the planets in the solar system, Mars is practically the only one where a form of colonization by terrestrial life could be conceived.
An interesting current research aims to discover the possible existence of lunar ice. In fact, our satellite, having no atmosphere, does not possess any type of liquid or gaseous water, but in some of the craters formed by the numerous impacts of asteroids, there could be some ice that was present in these asteroids and which, positioned on the bottom of these craters, does not receive the sun's radiation and therefore remains in solid form, being the shaded areas of the Moon well below 0°C.
On gaseous planets, water is abundant in the atmosphere. Solidified water vapor is found in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn and water in the form of ice in the rings and in numerous satellite planets, including Europa, Titan, Enceladus and Triton. Under the surface of Enceladus and Europa, liquid water could be found, in particular the second satellite mentioned represents a more unique than rare case in the panorama of the solar system and is attracting the attention of many astronomical studies. The presence of water is also expected on both Uranus and Neptune in the form of water vapor in the atmosphere.
We conclude this overview on the presence of water outside our planet by considering comets, celestial objects coming from an area outside the solar system (the Oort cloud) and which periodically cross their trajectories until they are close to the Sun. have been defined several times, comets are "dirty snowballs" meaning that they are rock formations united in a single conglomerate with ice. The presence of ice forms the characteristic tail of comets when they pass near the Sun and, due to the heat radiated, part of this ice melts. The presence of water in comets is far from irrelevant for life, given that one of the possible origins of terrestrial water is thought to have been precisely due to the impact of comets and asteroids in the initial phase of formation of the Earth, with subsequent melting of this ice in liquid water. However, there are still doubts about the possibility of having life directly on comets, in the form of some primordial bacteria. For this reason, space missions have been set up with the sampling by some artificial probes of material samples from comets, planning the approach steps to the predictions on the trajectory of the next celestial objects of this type.
However, life is linked to water in a very special way. The fact that there is currently no life on any other planet in the solar system should be correlated to the following fundamental observation:
- life seems to be possible only when water is present in its three states simultaneously, with an abundance of liquid water on the surface which allows the triggering of a water cycle.
This fact is, today, attributable only to planet Earth, at least in our Solar System. Outside of it, the search for life must therefore be focused on extra-solar planets, where there is the possibility of the above condition.
In astronomical jargon, we speak of a "habitable zone", a very restricted part of the orbital belt in which the radiation from the radiating star is such that, together with the conditions of pressure and temperature on the ground and the size of the planet, it allows the presence of liquid water on the surface with an atmosphere capable of creating a water cycle, an essential basis for the development and sustenance of life as we understand and know it.
For the Earth, it is estimated that this zone of habitability is only 5% of the distance from the Sun. This means that "only" eight million kilometers more or less would be enough to greatly limit the possibility of the simultaneous presence of three physical states of water with the predominance of the liquid one.
Obviously, this concept depends a lot on the type of star, its size, magnitude and state of evolution. For example, the Sun itself, in about 5 billion years, will tend to become a red giant star and therefore, if it la Terramaintains its current orbit, it will no longer be possible to have any form of life on our planet given that the irradiation and heat flux will drastically change, causing, almost certainly, the disappearance of liquid water, a much higher temperature on the ground and probably also the disappearance of the atmosphere (depending on the gravitational attraction that the "expanded" Sun will exert, the Earth itself could disappear as a planet).
In consideration of all these facts, the stars put under observation which could host a solar system with a habitable zone are mainly those of medium temperature and which have a fairly slow evolution so that possible life forms are given time to develop systems complex. For this reason, very small or very large stars or stars that burn "fast" (generally with high surface temperatures, so stars that appear blue to us) are not thought to be suitable. At present, the major searches fall on stars of spectral class F, G and also K, which represent, according to an estimate, between 5 and 10% of all the stars in our galaxy (remember that the study of stars in other galaxies is almost not feasible due to too high astronomical distances).
As already mentioned, however, life must be sought on the planets of these stars and not on the stars themselves. The "suitable" planets due to the presence of liquid water on the surface and the three simultaneous states of water, are those present in the habitable zone and with dimensions such that the surface gravity is able to retain an adequate atmosphere.
Of all these "suitable" planets, the only one of which we have a certainty about the development of life is ours. And it is always our planet, the only one to have abundant liquid water on the surface and, at the same time, all three states of this molecule, united in a single and interconnected cycle.
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Planet Water
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From any satellite image of our planet, one wonders why humanity has called this celestial object with the name of "Earth". Any extraterrestrial visitor, knowing the name of that substance that appears blue when seen from outer space, would not hesitate to define our planet with some term related to water. It can be affirmed that, in favor of the name chosen by our species, the human being is typically terrestrial and that, in antiquity, there was no knowledge of the vastness of surface waters; but, in fact, the numbers are clearly in favor of water.
Of the 510 million square kilometers of the total land surface, 361 million are occupied by oceans and seas, about 71%; after all, the continents are nothing more than immense islands in this single great ocean. Furthermore, even in that meager part of the 29% of emerged land, as many as 18 million square kilometers are covered by ice (i.e. liquid water) and 2 million square kilometers by lakes, rivers and lagoons. In total, water in its liquid and solid states occupies almost three-quarters of the entire earth's surface.
However, the distribution of water is not uniform, and we will often find these differences when it comes to the water cycle, uses and consumption. The northern hemisphere is covered "only" for 61% by oceans and seas, the southern hemisphere by 81% (and it is no coincidence that this hemisphere is the least populated). This difference has notable influences on what we are going to discuss in the following chapters and in general on the life developed on this planet.
A preliminary consideration to be immediately emphasized is that water is not only essential for life because a large part of the cell cycle develops from it and in it (or because, as we will see in the next paragraph, most living beings are made up of water), but because it interacts in a very close way with every factor connected to the dynamism of the Earth and of life, from the water cycle to the winds, from the climate to agriculture, from solar radiation to environmental catastrophes. Going to modify any factor from the outside, which could invalidate even the slightest cog in this mechanism, really means putting the possibility of life on this planet at risk.
Yet, the numbers also tell us about another reality. Water, with all its importance and all its vital load, is only the four-thousandth part of the weight of the Earth (0.025%!!) and the thousandth part of the volume of the Earth. To make a comparison, if the earth were a tennis ball, all the water present would be just a drop. Is it possible that such a low percentage of matter on this planet could determine such a radical and important effect as life?
This paradox is resolved quite immediately.
Water (liquid or solid) is a surface phenomenon, gaseous water is present in the atmosphere and in the shallow area of the planet (up to 30 km below the earth's surface).
The concept of surface is important for understanding the "dualism" of numbers. The radius of the Earth is about 6380 km, in comparison the highest mountain in the world (Everest) is "only" 8.8 km and the deepest part of the ocean (the Mariana Trench) is 11 km. This means that the weight and volume of this superficial part on which we (and other living beings) thrive is infinitesimal when compared with the numbers of this planet, but life develops right on its surface (and not inside it). inside it, the conditions are too prohibitive) and, here, on the surface , water is predominant.
Table 1 shows the distribution of terrestrial water resources.
Type of water
Volume (in cubic kilometers)
Percentage
Marine waters
1,322,000,000
97.2%
Glaciers and ice caps
25,000,000
1.83%
Soil and groundwater
13,000,000
0.95%
Lakes and rivers
250,000
0.02%
Water vapor
13,000
0.001%
Biosphere
500
0.00003%
Table 1: terrestrial water resources.
The vast majority of water on Earth is salt water which, as we will see later, is completely unsuitable for most of the purposes and uses that humanity makes of this resource. This also means, as will become clearer after the exposition of the properties of water in the next chapter, that the greatest available mine of any resource is given by the ocean.
Of all the fresh water on Earth, 66% is present in the form of ice, mainly in Antarctica and Greenland which constitute the largest fresh water reserves on the planet. Global warming with the consequent melting of the Antarctic and Arctic ice should worry more and more. When it melts, this water mixes with the salty one, becoming on the one hand directly unusable, on the other hand modifying the salinity of the oceans with repercussions on marine currents and on the planetary climate.
Of the 13 million cubic kilometers of water present in the soil and groundwater, only 8 are composed of groundwater, given that under 12 kilometers from the earth's surface, with the relative temperature and pressure conditions (375 °C and 217 atmospheres), water can only be present in the form of vapor.
Of all the fresh water in liquid form on Earth, only 0.65% is present in lakes and rivers and therefore easily accessible for human use. On the other hand, these waters are the ones most subjected to the aggressive pollution of human activities; with great stupidity, we are going to "ruin" precisely that laughable part of this asset so precious to us and to life.
At first glance, the water vapor present in the atmosphere seems insignificant when compared with the global numbers of “terrestrial” water. But this figure is decisive for the formation of clouds, the reflection of solar radiation, atmospheric precipitations (including rain and snow) and for the closure of that water cycle which carries within itself the very imprinting of life, the dynamicity.
In the same way, the water present in the whole biosphere (therefore in all living beings, animals and plants) is truly marginal but the true relationship between water and life is centered right there. In those 500 chilometricubes of water "imprisoned" in the bodies of animals and in the structures of plants, there are all the possible declinations (a number well over one billion) of the extraordinary history of life that developed on this planet.
A final mention should be made on how much water we have in relation to the uses we want and can make of it. Considering that a cubic kilometer of water corresponds to just under 1000 billion liters of water, these numbers seem reassuring. At first glance, there is a lot of water and thinking of a scarcity of this vital resource seems unrealistic. Yet, as we will see in the following chapters, for a large part of humanity, water is a very precious commodity, a "blue gold". Later, we will try to understand the causes of this scarcity, now let's focus on the numbers for a moment. It must be said that the water available for daily use cannot be that of the oceanic immensities, nor that present
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Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 18.04.2023
ISBN: 978-3-7554-3909-7
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