Water resources: what future?
Interview with João Nascimento of Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon
Interview with João Nascimento of Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon
Water resources are essential to life and are quickly disappearing. To know more about this topic, we interviewed João Nascimento, engineer and expert of Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, who stressed that "the distribution of rainfall in time and space will be different worldwide; the same will happen with the availability of water resources."
Jornal "O Gilinho" (JG) – How important is water saving for climate change?
João Nascimento (JN) – It is anticipated that, with climate change, both the availability and the amount of water may be affected. Thus, it is important to start thinking of measures for drought or loss of water quality scenarios. Therefore, all measures are important to protect the future of water resources, as potential users.
JG – Which are the most important strategies to save water?
JN – It depends. In Portugal, we have essentially four types of users: the water we use for human consumption, for agriculture, for industrial use and also the preservation of water for ecosystems depending on water resources. In this way, we can take action in these four sections, except the latter, which always requires water with quality. Starting with the largest user that is agriculture, we can save a percentage, since agriculture consumes more than 80% of water resources, making it the most interesting user in terms of water saving capacity and the most effective because 1% of water saved in agriculture, is much higher than a 1% saving in human consumption. Obviously, water saving for human consumption is very important. We are talking about treated water. In agriculture the water used in raw, for human consumption it is treated. Hence the importance of saving.
JG – How will the lack of water affect the planet?
JN – If there are areas that will be affected by water shortage, there are others in which its availability will increase. What is happening with climate change is not a global drought, but a variation and redistribution of natural resources. Even in terms of climate, the issue of rainfall for example, does not mean that it will rain less everywhere, it means it will rain less in some regions and more in others. What is happening is that the distribution of rainfall in time and space will be different worldwide; the same will happen with the availability of water resources. In our case, in Portugal, rainfall is expected to decrease in the south but increase in the north, which means that precipitation will be more concentrated in winter countries, leading to a lower ability to regulate water resources.
JG – In your opinion, will water be sold as a scarce commodity in the future?
JN – I shouldn´t be, everyone should have access to the use of water resources. But that seems to be the trend. I had not thought of that, but yes. However, the EU, in its water framework policy, refers that, if you check the first paragraph, water is not a commodity like any other.
JG – How do water purification structures work? And what is their importance for worldwide consumption?
JN – Water treatment depends on two main things: the origin, so the quality of raw water, and the purpose, what it is intended for. In the case of agriculture, water is not prone to be treated, or it would be very expensive. For human consumption, where quality requirements are more demanding, it always depends on the water that needs treatment. For instance, in some parts of the world where seawater is extracted, salt is removed using desalination, for consumption. In Portugal, such is not the case. We have holes, since we have underground water that in 90% of the cases, simply requires small chlorination with chlorine to assure existing harmful bacteria are eradicated.
Work by: Helena Amorim; Rita Costa e Leonor Rigaud
7th Grade
Escola Básica Augusto Gil (Middle School)
This work was carried out under the Flash Seminar held on the 15th and 22nd of April and the 20th of May 2015 at Escola Básica Augusto Gil (Middle School), in Oporto. Students developed media content based on interviews with experts in various fields related to climate change and research on the subject.
7th Grade
Escola Básica Augusto Gil (Middle School)
This work was carried out under the Flash Seminar held on the 15th and 22nd of April and the 20th of May 2015 at Escola Básica Augusto Gil (Middle School), in Oporto. Students developed media content based on interviews with experts in various fields related to climate change and research on the subject.