Water problems...

[Alexa]

Well, I live in northern Mexico, in the heart of the Sonora Desert. As you can imagine, we have almost no rain at all here; but this year appears to be more critical than ever. This summer, we are to have water in our houses only 8 hours a day!
The whole city's looking for some alternatives, which includes the possibility of de-salting sea water, but it will take a few years to even be decided upon... Since our situation is kinda desperate, I wanted to know if anyone has knowledge of some kinda technologies or something that could help us around here.

[zakt]

We could try levitating land masses to enable a kind of Swiftian floating island, and then interest the tv networks in a reality show called "Country Swap".

Transposing Mexico and Scotland would enable you to enjoy the deluge we have just had, and us to dry out (in the literal and certainly not metaphorical manner).

[Hawksun]

Er, I don't mean to be selfish here, but what would happen to Scotland?

[Zax]

I can only sympathise - here in the UK we have no real idea what it's like to face problems like this. On the odd occasion when several hot dry summers reduce water stocks to less than usual, we get bans on using hosepipes and carwashes - and people are outraged! :?

Desalination is, as I understand it, an expensive option. I've stayed on Greek islands where there's no natural fresh water, so it's actually brought in by sea in tankers. It seems as if even under those circumstances the most viable option is always to somehow bring water from somewhere else. The UK has been talking about (but still hasn't created) a national water grid for years, as presently exists for electricity, so that supplies can simply be routed to wherever they are needed. This is of course only viable in an ickle country like this one. Curious: where is the nearest territory to you where water supplies are plentiful?

[Groakes]

Some guys I know have formed the following company:

http://www.wizardpower.com.au/ which has an unfortunate name but there ya go. The big solar dish array is great for power AND desalination.

Here where I live in the national capital, we haven't had decent rain in over three years. The water catchment areas are very dry and the actual supplies are down below 15% of capacity. Other areas of the country are worse off - and we none of it is even what you would call a desert, though it is very brown at the moment. The bush fires we had here in January 2003 also devestated the catchment areas which means that a lot of the supply was polluted (dead animals etc). The filtration systems are online now so the problem has eased but we are all very "water aware".

And then you have pratts like Micheal Crichton.... :x

[L'Etranger]

The struggle for water as a resource will certainly be one of the major issues of the next decades and will be fought out with utter brutality, just wait and see.
Anyone remember the drought summer in Europe of two years ago. No idea how the British Isles fared, but here on the continent it was disastrous for the environment and industry. And in France, I recall, many people just died, often old people of dehydration. Lots of forrest fires were impossible to put out, already a constant worry in the countries adjacent to the Mediterranean.
And, just think of how much water we're using up senselessly every day!

[RitaMaria]

Re: Water problems...

Well, I live in northern Mexico, in the heart of the Sonora Desert. As you can imagine, we have almost no rain at all here; but this year appears to be more critical than ever. This summer, we are to have water in our houses only 8 hours a day!
The whole city's looking for some alternatives, which includes the possibility of de-salting sea water, but it will take a few years to even be decided upon... Since our situation is kinda desperate, I wanted to know if anyone has knowledge of some kinda technologies or something that could help us around here.

Alexa,

Try http://www.caatinga.org.br
Since you speak spanish which is very like the portuguese, you can read the texts.
Rita Maria Felix da Silva.

[xidrep]

When I lived in Yorkshire, in Lothersdale up in the hills, where people run out of their houses to watch cars going past and use phrases like 'look! Metal bird!', our water supply dried up for two months every summer. It was a spring, and we had to drive into the valley to fill jerrycans. On the return of the water-table to sufficient levels, the taps ran with a slightly tea-like fluid that tasted strongly of the cow shit that the 'new' water was being filtered through. Come September, it was back to normal. Not as drastic as survival in the Gobi, but damn! Was it irritating...

[Alexa]

Thanks for reading and, even more, for replying. Many people can't believe me when I say the temperatures we live under around here (more than 48آ° Celsius in shadow... you just try to imagine what it is like at 2:00 PM in the open). We made an experiment in my school: we cooked an egg on a car's surface; it took it some time (almost 35 minutes) to get entirely cooked, but it did.
I really appreciate all these sugestions, I've been reviewing them along with my team mates. We've been working on how to develop a cheaper desalinisation process. By now, we have water in our houses from 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM (which, guess what? is exactly when there's no one in my home; we're all at school), and purified water is already being brought here from Sinaloa, the state just below my own.
Our problem, the studies say, is that we have had no rain in the right places in the last 50 years. My State has some rains, but in some areas that provide water for the south or the eastern region, appearing to avoid our State's center. Thanks a lot for your aportations. If our team makes any progress, I'll make sure to let you know ^_~

[xidrep]

Tank crews in the North African deserts used to cook eggs on the armour-plating and dust-guards of their vehicles.
When they weren't being cooked themselves, that is. :?