Public sentiment regarding the global water crisis is characterized by significant concern and frustration. Common themes include the perceived ineffectiveness of corporations and governments in addressing the crisis, a strong emphasis on the need for systemic change in water management, and a call for urgent collective action to protect vulnerable populations. Many commenters feel powerless and hopeless, with a notable skepticism towards individual conservation efforts compared to the impact of corporate actions.

Governments

Corporations

World Economic Forum

Yes, do all this. But also, the amount of water that homes use is a fraction of what humans in general use. We can only reduce our home's water usage to a certain point. For the long term we need more sources of water.

1200multistrada

Cutting to the chase, do you want to win the battle or the war? Cutting your individual water consumption down is good, the biggest bang for the buck is lawn irrigation. However, even if we cut ALL residential/municipal water usage, at best we are talking about only 20% of the water use. Agriculture and farming consumes 70% of all fresh water consumption. If you want the best return, start with the highest consumer.

Silly_Primary_3393

Honestly, residential use is a drop in the bucket. Conserving at home will give us the warm fuzzies, but isn’t going to move the needle

Mathchick99

Man this really sounds like some AI generated corporate water company BS. Household water use is such a small fraction of where our freshwater goes. Agriculture and livestock are huge, and then you have industry. Golf courses don't help. Your decision to take shorter showers makes absolutely zero difference in the long run.

mtbguy1981

Great tips! Start by fixing leaks, switching to efficient fixtures, watering plants smartly, and cutting food waste small changes at home add up to big water savings worldwide.

LeatherBeautiful5963

Stop wasting water on ethanol.  Find ways for farmers to reduce water.  One Water.  There needs to be a lot more direct potable reuse.

The_Roaring_Fork

NefariousnessSlow298

sfdsquid

We just need to keep removing reservoirs and say it’s climate change.  Who needs to improve water infrastructure with a growing population?

Sea-Louse

Lets not forget another area which uses 30% of the interior consumption. 

Flush toilets. 

We used to handle that as a solid waste and for the most part it worked, well. Now we all pay higher and higher rates to clean 10x the water trying to dispose of it and to standards which some metros are now concluding will be easy to recycle - right back into the fresh water system. 

Yes, the are going to go Space Shuttle. Its not up there with a long hose attached, but they could send it back - burn it up on reentry. There are even propane toilets now which burn that waste. 

Grey water recycles pretty easy, we need to rethink things about the solid waste.

SetNo8186

Stop growing water hungry plants in the desert. Like alfalfa in California.

Or hay. Stuff that can be grown anywhere.

knowitallz

First, there's no "global" water crisis, but a number of local ones. Fixing one local one won't fix one elsewhere. 

Second, the only thing you said that's globally relevant is "virtual water" but if you eat less beef than someone elsewhere might eat more. Not solved.

Third, mostly nothing will work in terms of personal behavior, unless there's a collective change in behavior. 

(I've been working on this topic for 20+ years...)

davidzet

Crisis? It rains like every couple days? PNW

zamaike

Water is not used up. Unless it is  dumped in the ocean it goes back into the water table...

Fair_Art_8459

We have the same amount of water on earth as we have always had. Its immutable

seanocaster40k

Reduce the number of unnecessary humans carrying water in their bodies. Stop bottling water.

Available_Face7618

Stop using AI for every little question or email. Googles water consumption has risen 48% in the last five years because they have been using to it to cool AI processing systems.

  
It's not linear, AI is integrated into every part of the western life but simple questions that can be Ecosia searched, found in a book or spend the extra 30 seconds to recall it definitely helps.

juliemay_lingerie

There’s a global water crisis ? I hadn’t heard anything about that … propaganda?

UnitRelative7321

You saving water at home while cities in deserts drain aquifers and megacorps fill bottles from city supplies to sell back to you is about as helpful as paper straws while politicians fly private to climate summits.

Owenleejoeking

Reduced water supply is a direct impact of global warming.  The amount of water on planet earth has not been reduced, only the atmosphere being warmer holds more water than it did previously.  That additional water has been evaporated from surface water supplies.  With continued warming of the atmosphere the amount of water sitting in rivers, lakes and ponds will continue to be reduced.

TrueSpirt

Thanks for your suggestions, very helpful.

SnooCakes5350

Going vegan saves way more water than everything else you could do combined.

Spare_Schedule_839

Stop the biggest water thieves from thieving

The_Stereoskopian

The issue is multibillion dollar companies wasting millions of gallons every day. There’s nothing the average person can do to offset that.

[deleted]

parrotia78

If you really wanna get rid of half of the problem, go Vegan

No_Adhesiveness9727

Learn from Australia

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duvkkGCqvUE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duvkkGCqvUE)

MidorriMeltdown

Start with the data centers. Then write letters with a pencil.

LuckytoastSebastian

Efficient_Problem250

I stopped watering or fertilizing the lawn a dozen years ago. We now have a lovely mix of tough survivor grass and volunteer plants, many edible. The yard is a flowery meadow between mowings.

Mule_Wagon_777

Easy fix to housing costs, climate change, water crisis...Thanos half the human population.

CountryMonkeyAZ

bassoonwoman

Find a way to remove billionaires from the equation 

R34AntiHero

like_shae_buttah

What's laughable, and I'm sorry I feel this way, is individuals thinking they can make an impact, while corporations are pumping trillions of gallons out of the water table to put in plastic bottles made from oil byproducts, and pumping CO2 into the atmosphere at a rate that is turning much of the world into a desert.

It's not on us to do individual work. It's on us to vote for a government that can do something about the above. Not encourage and amplify it like the current administration is doing.

We need to demand change, every day, from out governments.

2730Ceramics

Individually? Nothing significant.


Corporations? They’ll ignore it.


Find a nice hole to hangout and die of dehydration while nestle drains the last lake. 

SudoCheese

Who cares we will be already dead. Next generations will face urgent problems to avoid extinction of mankind. 

fpeterHUN

I shower twice a week. We also have a special low-water soap to wash the car.

NoAdministration8006

The solution is desalination on a large scale, big projects.  This should be on the same funding as energy projects,  however to do it right you need nuclear power.

TheNozzler

Emergency_Prize_1005

Go vegan. Eating animals and their secretions requires way more water than eating direct plant sources. Check out Cowspiracy documentary. Raising animals requires way more water than AI and other answers here. Though I don’t support AI either.

SoftsummerINFP

Definitelymostlikely

What global water crisis?  The globe has the same amount of water it has always had.  The great thing about water is after you use it, it is still water.  It's always water at some point in the water cycle.  There are many resources that get destroyed when you use them.  Water is not one of them.

No-Carry4971

Mathematician answer: Don't wash yourself, your food, your house. Do not raise or use anything that requires any water whatsoever. Do not drink, eat and just die - this way you save the most. 

As you can see this is not very useful, but serves to illustrate an important point. Purpose of your life is NOT to save water no matter what. You (and all the water you consume) are needed for much more important things. Do these instead. If more water usage means you can do more of these important things or do them better then this is probably worth it. 

Same goes for energy too. Even for money - the best way to save money is to just earn more of it. Best way to save water/energy - produce more of it. 

Ultimately Kardashev Scale is the answer to all problems - including anything ecological. With enough energy used we can easily transform barren wastelands to Gaia paradises.

nila247

With more and more people, and inadequate investment in water infrastructure, it’s no wonder many places are in a water crisis, especially places that rely on unpredictable rain events and reservoirs to store the water from such events.  One of the biggest wasters of water, at least in dry parts of the US, are real estate firms, who commonly overwater lawns so that there’s constantly mud.  Also HOAs that require a person to keep a lawn, and golf courses in the desert.  What YOU can do pales in comparison to what THEY should be doing.  Just don’t use water stupidly, I guess.  Avoid running mostly empty dishwashers is a good example.  Corporations with money do not care in the slightest, yet somehow expect you to sacrifice.  Environmentalists don’t like reservoirs either, advocate tearing them down, and then claim climate change when there is a water shortage.

Protest wasteful uses of water. Like datacenters. Most use open loop cooling systens

AegorBlake

Let CO2 increase to 1,000ppm. At that level plants would use 30% less water than they do now.

DBCooper211

the more water we save, the more we pay in fees for not using water, utility companies are smart, they now charge a base fee, so what's the point in water conservation, when u have to pay for nothing?

Conscious_Chapter672

Plus_Gap_8654

If it’s brown flush it down, if it’s yellow let it mellow.

starman57575757

All we have is dirt in the desert. These idiots will not stop with the data centers, warehouses and car washes. Ffs.,

ObscureObesity

"We won't be able to solve climate change without adapting and changing the way we produce food and what we eat." - Hannah Ritchie, time 12:21

cindyx7102

Fun historical fact that I didn't see mentioned in the video: the water of the Colorado River Basin was appropriated to the surrounding region based on a set of VERY wet years that were considered abnormal even at the time. Basically, more water was allotted for use than what is normally available. You can guess why this might be a problem.   

Combine the effects of climate change with a stubborn refusal to slow down development...well, the west is in for a very rough future unless we can find a solution. 

(Another fun fact: the Trump administration has frozen a federal project dedicated to finding solutions to this very problem).

AlphaGoldblum

and this year its only gonna get worse because someone wasted water

sZeroes

Just store the excess water from the east and move it to the area with the excess dryness.

That will be one million dollars please.

sixtyonesymbols

I wonder when they'll come for PBS. It'll happen, I'm just not sure when.


Edit: they fucking fired Elmo

FgtBruceCockstar2008

Let me guess: While annual droughts are problematic, and inefficient use of rivers is wasteful, the aquifers many people rely on to fill in the gaps and have no controls as to use or sustainability are nearly dry and will take hundreds or thousands of years to replenish?

SophiaKittyKat

The Colorado River Basin has had its entirety of its flow diverted to farms and cities for the last 26 years. It flowed to the ocean twice. That’s 12 million acre-feet of water each year.

California, on an average year, has an outflow to the ocean of about 40 million acre-feet, about half of which is diverted to farms and cities. Alfalfa, the primary crop to feed livestock, consumes over 4 million acre-feet per year, most of which ends up getting shipped to Japan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

California actually does a remarkably good job at water management, but as winters get warmer and drier, less of that water falls as snowpack, which gets much harder to capture, as the state reservoirs only hold about 15 million acre-feet.

Stiggalicious

This is one of the reasons we aren't convinced that Trump's talk of annexation is a joke, here in Canada. It's not practical to pipe water that far south from here, but he's too stupid to listen when people tell him things like that.

lastSKPirate

And now we arrive at the real, underlying reason Trump wants Canada as the 51st state: it's the world's fourth* largest fresh water reservoir.

reflythis

I love this channel, very informative and compelling.

AuxiliaryPatchy

To fight climate change, you need there to NOT BE NAZIS in the white house and oligarchs in charge of everything around you.

1leggeddog

Good thing Trump emptied the reservoirs in California the other day, for no reason.

your_fathers_beard

Thank God the Great Lake States and Canada signed the water compact back in the 2000s.

The desert states will not be siphoning and depleting Great Lakes water.

Not now. Not ever.

megacide84

That's actually such a cool fact about the atmosphere being able to hold more water when it gets warmer. This is why we get dew too; when the temperature drops after dusk, the air can't hold as much water in suspension, and so the water in the air literally starts to just fall out after a certain point.

OW_FUCK

Great time to dismantle FEMA and fire climate scientists

irisfailsafe

Kills_Alone

This came out 2 hours ago and blew my mind, so I wanted to share.

James_Fortis

Using groundwater for industrial tier agriculture is one of those things it's stupid to be surprised we still were doing, but still...

MumrikDK

cool footage but couldn't get to the fucking point

SeasonGeneral777

Sr_DingDong

Just move the water from the wetter area to the dryer area DUH. I’ll be awaiting my Nobel peace prize 🧠

GyattLuvr69

California and the central valley have had issues with water for decades. The demand has always exceeded the supply. We've pumped ground water faster than it can be replenished, and many places, particularly the San Joaquin Valley, are experiencing subsidence and sinkholes as a result.

BaseofMxk

That's okay. They have Trump in charge. He'll solve it by taxing fish not to consume it so much, threaten mexicans not to make beer and order canadians to piss more since he thinks map is vertical and water goes from up to down.

MeanEYE

the first thing that has to go are monculture lawns

veeas

I've seen lots of Maiya's videos - always informative and easy to understand.

Jay-Dee-British

So all we need to do is pump the water from the melting polar ice down to the western US.  Get two birds stoned!  /s

konzy27

It's a really minor point, but she's mispronouncing Tulare.

liarandathief

katsukare

For at least half a decade I have drunkenly rambled to my friends about the water wars. Sure do hope I am proven wrong.

Iracus

Look into something called Primary Water.

SalamanderOk4402

My wife and I live in Utah, and we love it. But we'll be heading back to the Midwest within the next 5 years for two reasons.

1. My wife wants to be near her family.

2. The water situation here. If it gets bad, say goodbye to all your home values. Whole regions will be cratered. I want to get out before that happens. I also remember how vicious Americans were about masks during COVID. It will be ten times worse when it comes to water conservation or rationing. And EVERYONE has guns out here...

MountainMan17

I once read a book in the early 2000s that claimed there would be a world-wide water crisis in 50 or so years. Half way there.

FeelTheWrath79

The work on refilling aquifers by using the flood waters is pretty incredible. 

Granted there’s a long way to go but the better our understanding of soil types and the more efficient we can become at capturing/redirecting flood water, the better off we’ll be.

redyellowblue5031

Reminder that Canada has more freshwater lakes than the rest of the world *combined*. 

Wonder if that has anything to do with "Rah rah 51st state we're idiots rah rah we have no human value rah rah"

US water crisis it seems from the video, not "our".

FalconX88

The water crisis wouldn't be a crisis if water cost as much as oil. We'd just run a pipeline to california. Water just isn't worth spending a lot of money on apparently.

Cartossin

I stopped this as soon as she said "Tulare lake was once the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi" I stopped this.

Tulare's disappearance was the result of human flood control. Its return was due to some of these flood control measures failing.  In 1983 we had more rain.

[Average Precipitation in California by Year](https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/states/california/average-precipitation-by-year)

The largest lake in California was lake Cocoran, which is a rabbit hole to read up on.  Essentially the entire central valley was one huge lake that used to drain out the Salinas River.  After one large earthquake, it weakened the area near the Carquinez Strait and allowed the lake to drain out there.

[Was the California Central Valley once a lake? - Geographic Pedia](https://www.ncesc.com/geographic-pedia/was-the-california-central-valley-once-a-lake/)

I'm typing this from California, as we're getting nailed by an atmospheric river right now.  It is very wet.

toqer

If you want a well researched, thought out, and explained book on the water issue in America read Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner.

Adubya76

DocJawbone

Jaggoff81

Huh, I thought it was even worse than the video says. Fucking liar.

jwd1066

Good luck to everyone's children. Mine will be chillin in the void

tinydickslanger69

The problem with these videos is that the EPA [literally says the opposite is happening](https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-heavy-precipitation#:~:text=Climate%20change%20can%20affect%20the%20intensity%20and,precipitation%E2%80%94for%20example%2C%20heavier%20rain%20and%20snow%20storms.):

&gt;Climate change can affect the intensity and frequency of precipitation. Warmer oceans increase the amount of water that evaporates into the air. When more moisture-laden air moves over land or converges into a storm system, it can produce more intense precipitation—for example, heavier rain and snow storms.1 The potential impacts of heavy precipitation include crop damage, soil erosion, and an increase in flood risk due to heavy rains

MileHigh_FlyGuy

The global water crisis worsens due to climate change, affecting billions and leading to increased food insecurity and humanitarian challenges.

Global Water Crisis

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