Intel Sucks Up Water Amid Drought In China

An anonymous reader sends along a Bloomberg piece on Intel and the coming water wars. "Intel is going head-to-head with businesses like Coca-Cola to swallow up scarce water resources in the developing world. According a 2009 report ... 2.4 billion of the world's population lives in 'water-stressed' countries such as China and India. Chip fabrication plants in those countries, as well factories such as the soft drink giant's bottling plants, are swallowing up scarce resources needed by the 1.6 billion people who rely on water for farming. ... Li Haifeng, vice president of sewage treatment company Beijing Enterprises Water Group, told Bloomberg, 'Wars may start over the scarcity of water.' China's 1.33 billion citizens each have 2,117 cubic meters of water available to them per year.... In the US, consumers can count on as much as 9,943 cubic meters."

Comments

Re:2,117 cu meters/yr is a lot of water

[Solandri]

There's a lot of indirect water use associated with modern life. The food you eat comes from crops and animals which need water irrigation and feed. The computer you're using has parts in it which were smelted and refined in processes which used lots of water. The electricity you're using comes from a plant which uses water as part of its cooling system. etc.

Re:People, people everywhere

[sznupi]

And in the process you're nearly the most wasteful place on Earth, claiming almost 3 times more resources per capita than the most "lean" places with comparable standard of living.

Re:People, people everywhere

[rolfwind]

It's not interesting, it's stupid.

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/gwdepletion.html

I think in Phoenix, Arizona they banned any further homes from having a grass turf and going instead with native vegetation which is what they ought to be doing.

Golf courses are a major culprit:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91363837