1 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:07,280 Speaker 1: Get in test with technology with text stuff from how 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 1: stuff dot com. Hey there, every one, welcome to text Stuff. 3 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:19,000 Speaker 1: I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren voc Obama, and today's 4 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: episode comes to you courtesy of a little listener mail 5 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: that's going old school, Lauren, and we don't have the 6 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 1: clacks and necessarily, unless Noel decides to get super creative 7 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: with this one, I'm looking over. He's giving me nothing 8 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: back put in a very quiet clack, maybe a gentle 9 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:40,960 Speaker 1: Long time listeners know what I'm talking about. You guys 10 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:44,559 Speaker 1: who joined fairly recently, let's just say we spared you. 11 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,160 Speaker 1: But anyway, this listener mail actually came from Valerie, who 12 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 1: sent us an email and said, I would like to 13 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: suggest an episode on city water systems. I think how 14 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: different countries are creating a fish and water systems, and 15 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:58,120 Speaker 1: also the system that's used in Las Vegas could be 16 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: interesting for a podcast. So many both so little potable water, 17 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:05,040 Speaker 1: what is in our future? And we agree this would 18 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:08,040 Speaker 1: be an awesome episode. So we suggested it to other people, 19 00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:12,040 Speaker 1: but they said we should do it. Yeah weird, Actually, 20 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: I I guess we we We have talked about this 21 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: a tiny bit over on forward thinking, which is a 22 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 1: thing that I think we've been saying a lot lately 23 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:22,320 Speaker 1: on the show. Yeah. Yeah, And the Forward Thinking episodes 24 00:01:22,480 --> 00:01:26,399 Speaker 1: are in a lot of ways very closely related to 25 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 1: tech stuff because we're looking into the future now. Not 26 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:32,319 Speaker 1: all of Forward Thinking's topics are technology topics. Some of 27 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: them are social or cultural or have our more science 28 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:40,320 Speaker 1: oriented than tech oriented. But if you enjoy the show, 29 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:43,000 Speaker 1: chances are you to enjoy that show too, especially since 30 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,400 Speaker 1: two of the three hosts of that show are this show. 31 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: So just saying well, well, we'll let you do the 32 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: math on that one. Um. But yeah, So, so we 33 00:01:51,440 --> 00:01:55,400 Speaker 1: wanted to do this episode on the infrastructure systems that 34 00:01:55,480 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: exist today and historically and some of the things that 35 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,960 Speaker 1: we are thinking about for that incredible and slightly terrifying future. Right, So, 36 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:08,080 Speaker 1: first of all, let's talk about why is it challenging 37 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: to get clean water? Um? Lots of reasons, Lots lots 38 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:15,760 Speaker 1: of reasons. Rain doesn't fall everywhere all the time that 39 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:20,600 Speaker 1: people want to live. Um. Rivers don't flow everywhere all 40 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,200 Speaker 1: the time people want to live. Sometimes river courses can 41 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 1: change over time. Yeah, Um, the climate is kind of changing. 42 00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:32,000 Speaker 1: That's that's a thing. That's happening. Um. And basically, even 43 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:37,240 Speaker 1: though it's really expensive to create an upgrade infrastructure, UM, 44 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:41,560 Speaker 1: it's way more expensive to repair damage caused by failed 45 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:45,440 Speaker 1: infrastructure and or to just not let people have water. Um. 46 00:02:45,480 --> 00:02:47,880 Speaker 1: We don't last all that long without that stuff. So 47 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:50,080 Speaker 1: when we get a little further into this episode, you're 48 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: going to realize, like, you know, some of the some 49 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: of the systems out there are a little little on 50 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: the elderly side. Yeah, and really, not not upgrading your 51 00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:03,520 Speaker 1: infrast structure is like playing chicken with entropy, because systems 52 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:07,679 Speaker 1: break down, they do. And if you yeah, yeah, exactly, 53 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 1: and some of these systems look like it's, you know, 54 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:12,920 Speaker 1: just a true mishmash because you know, as we know, 55 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: cities grow over time, some of them don't, some of 56 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 1: them decrease in size, but in general you see population 57 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: growth the change exactly. So and even if they do decrease, 58 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: that's another thing that you have to you have to 59 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:26,679 Speaker 1: adjust for. Yeah, So you get you get all these 60 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 1: different types of add ons to existing infrastructure. That means 61 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 1: that not everything is the same. You might have, uh, 62 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: you know, four or five different generations of pipes in 63 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: one city's infrastructure, and you know, the more complexity you add, 64 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 1: the more likely something somewhere along the line is not 65 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:49,280 Speaker 1: going to work the way you had anticipated. In other words, 66 00:03:49,400 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 1: stuff's gonna break and then you gotta fix it. But 67 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: let's let's take a look back, way back. Yeah, because 68 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 1: a lot of the basic principles upon which we have 69 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:02,080 Speaker 1: based in our most modern systems on go back to 70 00:04:02,560 --> 00:04:06,760 Speaker 1: how far Roman times really? Yeah, so the Romans. You 71 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,600 Speaker 1: may have heard about the Roman aqueducts and you might think, uh, 72 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:14,560 Speaker 1: is that a hockey team. No, it's not that hockey team. Yeah, 73 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: I would too, centurions on on skates would be awesome. 74 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: But uh so the aqueducts were a system of channels 75 00:04:23,400 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: waterways that would bring water from distant places to Rome 76 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:30,920 Speaker 1: because Rome was a city that was growing much too 77 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:34,720 Speaker 1: large to be supplied by the local water sources. And 78 00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:38,599 Speaker 1: mostly the most famous aqueducts are the ones that you see. 79 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: They look like bridges from a distance. They're elevated. They're 80 00:04:41,440 --> 00:04:45,160 Speaker 1: built on these these stone columns, but they are not 81 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:49,359 Speaker 1: bridges for road travel. They're actually water bridges. They allow 82 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:51,719 Speaker 1: water to flow, and the reason why they're elevated is 83 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:53,720 Speaker 1: because in order to make a pathway from the water 84 00:04:53,800 --> 00:04:57,600 Speaker 1: source the reservoirs that the Romans were using. It sometimes 85 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:00,280 Speaker 1: meant that they had to cross things like valleys. Well, 86 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: it's really easy to go down a valley if you've 87 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:04,720 Speaker 1: got water. It's hard to make the water go back 88 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: up the other side of the valley, right. It would 89 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:08,440 Speaker 1: have to be going pretty fast because the way that 90 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:11,480 Speaker 1: gravity works, and most most of the time things want 91 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: to go downwards and not upward. You would just have 92 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: created a river in that valley as opposed to making 93 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:21,360 Speaker 1: the water go across. So by doing this aqueduct, if 94 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: you could have a kind of continuous grade so that 95 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 1: it was always going a little lower in elevation than 96 00:05:29,680 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 1: the earlier sections, you could induce water to flow. You're 97 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:37,480 Speaker 1: letting gravity do the work for you. So the Roman 98 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,280 Speaker 1: system had all these aqueducts, and most of them were 99 00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: actually channels that were cut underneath the ground. Uh there 100 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:46,680 Speaker 1: there are quite a few aqueducts that you can see 101 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:49,919 Speaker 1: that are built up in their amazing feats of engineering. 102 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,640 Speaker 1: But I think even more amazing to me anyway, as 103 00:05:53,640 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 1: the thought of all these under yeah, these channels that 104 00:05:56,160 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: have been cut into the living rock so that water 105 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 1: can flow through it. Um, and so the water would 106 00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: flow all the way toward Rome, and then they would 107 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:10,480 Speaker 1: direct it into giant cisterns, which are just enormous containers, right, 108 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:13,120 Speaker 1: a big old container that can hold water. And these 109 00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 1: cisterns would be in the tallest areas around Rome where 110 00:06:17,680 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: the water could still flow into, right, and then a 111 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 1: network of I believe they were using lead pipes at 112 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:25,480 Speaker 1: the time, which was turned out to be problematic. They 113 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:27,760 Speaker 1: were a little blind to the problems at the time. 114 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:32,279 Speaker 1: Um when I would direct the water from from those 115 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: cisterns into into homes and fountains and other buildings, yep, 116 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:39,680 Speaker 1: they would they would run these pipes down through the 117 00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:42,600 Speaker 1: various parts of Rome so that you could get access 118 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:46,560 Speaker 1: to clean water easily, so you wouldn't have to trek 119 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: far like you know, because before this kind of system, 120 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,159 Speaker 1: the basic way you got water was you walked to 121 00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 1: the closest source of water, took you and you went 122 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,359 Speaker 1: to some water yep, whether that was a river or 123 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,479 Speaker 1: a lake or a well know, something like that, and 124 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:03,360 Speaker 1: then you would bring that back and when you were 125 00:07:03,360 --> 00:07:05,479 Speaker 1: out you had to go back out again. This was 126 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: trying to make that much more accessible now. In total, 127 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 1: they're about two hundred sixty miles worth of aqueducts around 128 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:17,280 Speaker 1: the city of Rome, which is pretty phenomenal. Bad for 129 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,920 Speaker 1: a few thousand years ago. Yeah, and uh, they know 130 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: it was a pretty effective system. They let the gravity 131 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: do the work for them. They didn't have to build 132 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:29,560 Speaker 1: uh lots of pumping stations, although they did have some, 133 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:32,600 Speaker 1: but they didn't have to have as many as you 134 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 1: would think they'd need because they were latying. Gravity do 135 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:37,680 Speaker 1: most of the work for them. Uh. And in fact, 136 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:41,560 Speaker 1: that basic idea of letting gravity do a lot of 137 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: the work for you still applies today. Oh yeah, I've 138 00:07:45,120 --> 00:07:47,360 Speaker 1: been in buildings in New York where that's basically how 139 00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: the water pressure works. They've got a water tower on 140 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:52,880 Speaker 1: top of the building, and depending on on what level 141 00:07:52,920 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: you're on, you get better pressure because of how far 142 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: it's falling. My favorite is when you use the sinks 143 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,840 Speaker 1: in this building and occasionally you get the sputtering noise 144 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:07,080 Speaker 1: where it sounds like a a giant ball of cobras 145 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,960 Speaker 1: is just on the other side of the faucet. Um. 146 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:12,080 Speaker 1: You must use the specialist think I don't actually get 147 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: I'd show you, but you can't go into that room. 148 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:20,360 Speaker 1: So let's talk about a couple of other pre industrial 149 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:23,320 Speaker 1: civilizations besides the Romans, because you'd think, well, were they 150 00:08:23,400 --> 00:08:25,840 Speaker 1: the only ones who came up with this idea, And 151 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: the answer to that is no, No. Other other civilizations 152 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 1: knew that gravity worked. Yeah. Yeah, they didn't necessarily know 153 00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:34,320 Speaker 1: the mechanism of it or what it was, but they 154 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:36,839 Speaker 1: knew that, hey, if you drop something, it falls, and 155 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: that if you if you look at water, it runs downhill, 156 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:44,319 Speaker 1: not uphill. So you know, drawing those conclusions, you figure 157 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: out that you need to get water to this place 158 00:08:46,280 --> 00:08:48,000 Speaker 1: where a lot of people live, because it turns out 159 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:51,559 Speaker 1: we need water. London was one of these places. London 160 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:55,960 Speaker 1: built what is called the Great Conduit, which was another 161 00:08:56,200 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: massive channel that uh that brought water in to London, 162 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:03,480 Speaker 1: actually to cheapside, two cisterns and cheapside that were then 163 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:06,640 Speaker 1: hooked up to other cisterns around the city. And if 164 00:09:06,679 --> 00:09:10,720 Speaker 1: you were rich, you could afford to pay to have 165 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 1: pipes brought into your home so that you would have 166 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:17,840 Speaker 1: running water in your home. If you weren't rich, sometimes 167 00:09:17,880 --> 00:09:21,360 Speaker 1: you would try and tap into a neighbor's pipes, which 168 00:09:21,400 --> 00:09:25,640 Speaker 1: could get you arrested or stealing water. Yeah, I imagine 169 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: that that also must with the system in ways that 170 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: made nobody happy. Yeah, you know, nothing like having an 171 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,720 Speaker 1: enormous leak appearing where you did not expect one to um. 172 00:09:35,760 --> 00:09:38,680 Speaker 1: But yeah, that this was something that London started working 173 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:41,400 Speaker 1: on in the in the thirteenth century. In the mid 174 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:46,040 Speaker 1: twelve hundreds, I heard that Constantinople, Constantinople not stand bull. 175 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: Why they changed it, I can't say, but Constantinople also yeah, 176 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 1: they created a man made river, so again kind of 177 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:58,320 Speaker 1: like the aqueduct system of Rome, but more of a 178 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:02,240 Speaker 1: river than an aqueduct um. And it was allowed to 179 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:05,720 Speaker 1: carry water both above and below ground. They had sections 180 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:09,080 Speaker 1: where again it was they had cut channels into the 181 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:13,080 Speaker 1: ground and the water would flow through there, and it 182 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:18,080 Speaker 1: was carrying water from about two fifty kilometers away from 183 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:20,520 Speaker 1: the city. Like the water source for the city was 184 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:25,319 Speaker 1: two kilometers away. Now, when you look at this, like 185 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:28,319 Speaker 1: when you look at most cities, like you look at 186 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:31,840 Speaker 1: the if you look at a map of ancient civilizations, 187 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 1: for example, and you look at where the cities are located, 188 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:37,000 Speaker 1: they're usually right around water sources, fresh water sources. Because 189 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: that was the most effective way of doing it. Yeah, so, uh, 190 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:43,760 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's only fairly recently that we've gotten 191 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:46,840 Speaker 1: to a point where if you live really far away 192 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: from fresh water sources, you can build a large city. 193 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:56,040 Speaker 1: We've had smaller you know, smaller uh, towns and villages 194 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:59,679 Speaker 1: and populations, nomadic tribes, things like that, that we're able 195 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:03,760 Speaker 1: to exist on smaller sources of fresh water. But obviously, 196 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: if you if you want to have a city of 197 00:11:05,400 --> 00:11:08,079 Speaker 1: any size, you need access to a lot of water, 198 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:09,920 Speaker 1: all right, And this can this can be a very 199 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 1: large problem. For for example, Singapore up until very recently 200 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:16,680 Speaker 1: had to basically import all of their water from Malaysia. 201 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:21,640 Speaker 1: And uh yeah, it's it's ended up springing up a 202 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:23,319 Speaker 1: whole industry that I'm going to talk about in another 203 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:26,720 Speaker 1: few minutes here. But um so it's so okay, um 204 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:30,199 Speaker 1: in terms of in terms of our modern water infrastructure, 205 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:32,240 Speaker 1: if you want to, you want to talk about that 206 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:34,560 Speaker 1: a little bit. You're you're tired of the ancient world. 207 00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:37,240 Speaker 1: I understand, Lauren. I understand you don't want to dwell 208 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:40,720 Speaker 1: in the past. I couldn't agree more, mostly because my 209 00:11:40,800 --> 00:11:43,160 Speaker 1: notes are out. I'm done with all the ancient stuff. 210 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 1: I don't have any other cities that can talk about, Lauren. 211 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:47,080 Speaker 1: So I am ready to move into the future with 212 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:51,360 Speaker 1: you boldly, yes and forcibly, where no man has gone before. 213 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: No one. Sorry, sorry forgot about the next generation an 214 00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:58,240 Speaker 1: old school. A lot lots of people are in the 215 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:01,480 Speaker 1: these are modern times. That's not not like no one 216 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:04,000 Speaker 1: has ever been here. We're here, that's true. Okay, So 217 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:07,600 Speaker 1: let's talk about your your basic modern water system. It's 218 00:12:07,720 --> 00:12:10,959 Speaker 1: not that different in the sense that most of them 219 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,920 Speaker 1: tend to still rely heavily on gravity. Note pun intended. 220 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:17,880 Speaker 1: I didn't realize I was making one until I was done. 221 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:21,280 Speaker 1: Uh not, not all of them do. Some water systems 222 00:12:21,400 --> 00:12:25,640 Speaker 1: use uh electric pumps and will just pump the water 223 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,560 Speaker 1: to maintain the right kind of water pressure for their populations. 224 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:30,959 Speaker 1: But more frequently than not, you're gonna see water towers, 225 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,960 Speaker 1: particularly things like small towns. You'll you'll usually see as 226 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:36,480 Speaker 1: you're going around the outskirts, you see that enormous tower 227 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 1: and you think, wow, you know, what is the point 228 00:12:40,360 --> 00:12:43,280 Speaker 1: of that? Why do you have this big tower just 229 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:46,080 Speaker 1: holding water there? And if you're in a city, like 230 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:49,240 Speaker 1: you said, Lauren, you might see on the rooftops, different 231 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:54,199 Speaker 1: individual water towers. Yeah, so what is going on here, Well, 232 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 1: it's the same principle. You put the water at an 233 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:01,520 Speaker 1: elevated location, and by that elevate location, the weight of 234 00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: the water is providing the pressure you need to provide 235 00:13:05,440 --> 00:13:09,319 Speaker 1: the However, many households that water tower serves or businesses 236 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:12,080 Speaker 1: or whatever, um with the right amount of water pressure 237 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 1: so that when you turn on the faucet water comes out. Now. Um, 238 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:20,920 Speaker 1: your basic water tower is able to hold somewhere between 239 00:13:21,000 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 1: I don't know, twoe or fifty thousand gallons of water 240 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:26,520 Speaker 1: to maybe five hundred thousand or more gallons of water 241 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:30,800 Speaker 1: at it at a time, so big capacity. Can keep 242 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 1: in mind that your average swimming pool holds fifteen to 243 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:36,600 Speaker 1: twenty thousand gallons of water, so working more water than 244 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,600 Speaker 1: pretty big, not small, big lots of water and um 245 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:45,199 Speaker 1: usually they are attached to some sort of well always 246 00:13:45,240 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 1: are attached to some sort of pumping station which can 247 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:51,240 Speaker 1: pump water back up into the tower as well as 248 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:55,080 Speaker 1: usually provide direct pressure to the community. So the way 249 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:57,720 Speaker 1: this tends to work is one of two ways. You 250 00:13:57,760 --> 00:13:59,960 Speaker 1: can either pump all the water up into the water 251 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:02,480 Speaker 1: tower until it reaches a certain level and then you 252 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:04,720 Speaker 1: just stop. You turn the pump off. That way, you 253 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 1: can serve energy. That way, the gravity will pull the 254 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: water down, and for every foot that that water is elevated, 255 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:16,080 Speaker 1: you get point four three pounds per square inch of pressure. 256 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: Most cities have between fifty and a hundred p s I. 257 00:14:20,120 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 1: So your water tower's height is going to determine what 258 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,360 Speaker 1: that water pressure is. So you've got the pump turned 259 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 1: off the waters in the tower. When you, Lauren, decide 260 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:30,320 Speaker 1: you want to have a tasty drink of water and 261 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:33,200 Speaker 1: you turn on the faucet, then that allows the water 262 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:35,960 Speaker 1: from that water tower to come down a little bit. 263 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 1: It's pushing all the water through the pipes. You get 264 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 1: water through your faucet. Everyone's happy, yea, assuming that all 265 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: the infrastructure is working properly, right, yes, So that is 266 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: that is the general assumption if the water comes on. Now, Lauren, 267 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,320 Speaker 1: let's say that you decide you want a glass of 268 00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:54,680 Speaker 1: water at the same time as everyone else in town 269 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 1: has decided to take showers, flush the toilet, you know, 270 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 1: turn the faucet on outside for no reason whatsoeb or 271 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:04,120 Speaker 1: water the lawn, wash, the car, et cetera. It's enough 272 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:07,120 Speaker 1: so that the water in the water tower has gone 273 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:09,440 Speaker 1: down to a level where it is no longer able 274 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,720 Speaker 1: to supply that pressure. That's where the pump kicks in. 275 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:16,240 Speaker 1: The pump is able to continuously supply more water, so 276 00:15:16,320 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: it's reaching the right pressure. It also, when people start 277 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:21,360 Speaker 1: to calm down and decide they're not going to waste 278 00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:24,280 Speaker 1: so much water anymore, or drink it or whatever, it 279 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:26,960 Speaker 1: can start to refill that water tower until it reaches 280 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,120 Speaker 1: the optimum level. Again. Now, there are other systems where 281 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:33,200 Speaker 1: the water tower is essentially a reserve unit. So the 282 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: water pump is taking water from a reservoir. Could be 283 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:37,840 Speaker 1: a lake, it could be a river, it could just 284 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: be an artificial reservoir. It's taking water from that reservoir 285 00:15:42,360 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 1: and pumping it directly to the homes. And then any 286 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:49,520 Speaker 1: time that the demand outstrips the capacity of the water pump, 287 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:53,880 Speaker 1: the water tower is activated and supplements it. So either 288 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:56,600 Speaker 1: way you have kind of the symbiotic relationship between the 289 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: pump and the tower. Now with the tower, the nice 290 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 1: thing is, because of gravity, you don't have to add 291 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:03,560 Speaker 1: extra energy into the system to get the water to 292 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:04,800 Speaker 1: where it needs to go. You don't have to have 293 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: all these pumping stations along the lines to keep the 294 00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:10,440 Speaker 1: pressure at the right level. So, you know, we think 295 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: about that for things like telephone lines. When we talked 296 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 1: about the telephone system, how they had to have relay 297 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:17,920 Speaker 1: stations so that they could boost the signal throughout. The 298 00:16:18,040 --> 00:16:20,560 Speaker 1: same sort of thing with water pressure. Right if eventually, 299 00:16:20,600 --> 00:16:24,280 Speaker 1: if you're talking about it long enough, uh pathway that 300 00:16:24,320 --> 00:16:28,640 Speaker 1: pressure starts, you're going to lose motion resistance along the 301 00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:30,760 Speaker 1: path and you've got yeah, and you've just got too 302 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:35,000 Speaker 1: much space to fill. So um, these are ways of 303 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:38,960 Speaker 1: getting around that. So and with the gravity working for you, 304 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 1: you have to spend less energy overall. Pumping the water 305 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:46,040 Speaker 1: up into the tower is more energy efficient because you're 306 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: just filling it up to where it needs to be 307 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:51,520 Speaker 1: and then you stop, as opposed to consistently pumping water 308 00:16:51,640 --> 00:16:55,080 Speaker 1: to the entire population. So in general, that's how your 309 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: basic water tower works. Uh, it's pretty neat stuff. Actually, 310 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 1: I mean, I know it's it's a really simple system, 311 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:07,280 Speaker 1: but I mean, but that's why it's so elegant. Of course, 312 00:17:07,320 --> 00:17:10,160 Speaker 1: that's not how everyone gets their water, bob. Right, When 313 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:13,280 Speaker 1: you're further out from cities, you you're gonna either need 314 00:17:13,320 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 1: your own well or um which you are probably going 315 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:19,399 Speaker 1: to need to use a pump in order to access. Yeah, yeah, exactly. 316 00:17:19,480 --> 00:17:22,000 Speaker 1: So I mean, granted, you could think about the well 317 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 1: pumps there are, you know, the old style pump handle 318 00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:31,920 Speaker 1: where you're literally pumping, but more frequently we have electronic pumps. Now. Yeah. 319 00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:35,440 Speaker 1: Here in the U. S Alone, we've got some sixteen 320 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:38,560 Speaker 1: million private wells, and we drill another five hundred thousand 321 00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:42,320 Speaker 1: every year. Yeah. And uh so if you live outside 322 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: of the city, um, which I used to. You know, 323 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,960 Speaker 1: I used to live out pretty far out there, then 324 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:51,640 Speaker 1: you may be using here in Atlanta, living like five 325 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:54,680 Speaker 1: miles from downtown is considered a little bit outside the city. 326 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,160 Speaker 1: But I'm sure I live in the city now, I'm 327 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:01,199 Speaker 1: within the city limits. So yeah, no, no, you know, 328 00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:03,760 Speaker 1: actually outside where you can see the stars and stuff 329 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:07,480 Speaker 1: like that, and cols and and bison occasionally, um, which 330 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:10,919 Speaker 1: we're totally domesticated. We don't have wild bison in Georgia 331 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:14,120 Speaker 1: as far as I know. Anyway, if you live out 332 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:17,440 Speaker 1: in the in the sticks, as I would say, which 333 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: I used to, then you might have your own well, 334 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:23,280 Speaker 1: or you might have a communal well of some sort. 335 00:18:23,359 --> 00:18:25,680 Speaker 1: But the way this works is you end up digging down. 336 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:29,320 Speaker 1: See there's this thing called the water table that exists 337 00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:34,480 Speaker 1: underground and it's pretty much everywhere more or less. But 338 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:37,040 Speaker 1: you have to dig at different depths depending upon where 339 00:18:37,080 --> 00:18:40,600 Speaker 1: you are right, depending on on how much rainfall a 340 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:44,119 Speaker 1: location gets, and um the other runoff that kind of stuff, 341 00:18:44,160 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 1: and you know, lots of things will determine exactly how 342 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:48,199 Speaker 1: far down you would need to go, and also the 343 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,080 Speaker 1: quality of the water. We'll talk about that in a 344 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: second too. But if you happen to live someplace that 345 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 1: has good aquifers, like freshwater aquifers that are at the 346 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:59,840 Speaker 1: you can access at the water table, you can dig 347 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:02,520 Speaker 1: a hole and then eventually you know you should hit water. 348 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:07,600 Speaker 1: And so for example, a shallow well might be or 349 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:11,400 Speaker 1: or less down and with that you could use what's 350 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:14,120 Speaker 1: called a jet pump. What is it jet pump too? 351 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:17,240 Speaker 1: So jet pump, Well, it does is it pumps water? 352 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:21,280 Speaker 1: But the way it does is kind of cool. You're welcome, Yeah, 353 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:24,120 Speaker 1: So yeah, it uses electricity and it uses a little 354 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:26,960 Speaker 1: bit of water that you already put into the pump. 355 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:30,480 Speaker 1: It's called to prime the primate. It's drive water is 356 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,440 Speaker 1: what's called. So it's got a little jet, a little 357 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:35,280 Speaker 1: think of it like a nozzle that you would put 358 00:19:35,280 --> 00:19:37,639 Speaker 1: on the end of a hose. And you know, by 359 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:41,040 Speaker 1: reducing the size of the pathway that the water can 360 00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:43,960 Speaker 1: go through, you also increase the pressure. You put a 361 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:46,600 Speaker 1: little water in it to primate. You turn it on, 362 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:49,359 Speaker 1: it starts to emit this water at high pressure. It 363 00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:52,880 Speaker 1: starts to create a vacuum, right due to the jet 364 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:55,760 Speaker 1: of water flowing out, it creating suction inside the tube, right, 365 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:58,399 Speaker 1: and the tube goes down into the well until it 366 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:01,480 Speaker 1: hits where the water is actually goes further down than 367 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:04,199 Speaker 1: that obviously, but then the water gets drawn up the 368 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: tube through that vacuum, yep, and then it gets sent 369 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:12,560 Speaker 1: into a holding tank of some sort. So this isn't 370 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: you know. The wells that are being used are not 371 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:16,920 Speaker 1: something that you know. When you turn on the faucet, 372 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:18,720 Speaker 1: the well kicks in and then you have to wait 373 00:20:18,760 --> 00:20:22,800 Speaker 1: a while and the water comes out. The pump continues 374 00:20:22,800 --> 00:20:25,480 Speaker 1: to work until the water tank reaches its optimum level 375 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:27,040 Speaker 1: and it turns off and then we'll come back on 376 00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:29,520 Speaker 1: when it when the water is depleted a certain amount, 377 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:31,440 Speaker 1: so that you've kind of got your own little personal 378 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:35,119 Speaker 1: mini water tower. Yeah. And since since you're not necessarily 379 00:20:35,200 --> 00:20:38,080 Speaker 1: using gravity, I mean you probably don't have your water 380 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:42,840 Speaker 1: tank forty feet above your house. Probably not, Yeah, So 381 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:45,720 Speaker 1: since you probably don't have that one, it uses instead 382 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:47,760 Speaker 1: in order to create the right amount of pressure that 383 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:51,280 Speaker 1: you're gonna need for your water. Um. They have uh 384 00:20:51,320 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 1: an air bladder that's inside the water tank, so it's 385 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,280 Speaker 1: inflated and as you put water in, it compresses that bladder, 386 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:01,440 Speaker 1: the bladders pushing against the wall water. Um. And then 387 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:03,239 Speaker 1: once the water has hit the right level, and when 388 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:05,600 Speaker 1: you turn on the faucet, the bladder is pressing against 389 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,200 Speaker 1: the water, the water comes out the right pressure until 390 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:10,959 Speaker 1: the bladder has you know, extended about as far as 391 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:12,920 Speaker 1: it can. Then the water tank needs to be refilled 392 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:15,879 Speaker 1: by the pump. So that that's your basic system, although 393 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:18,199 Speaker 1: there are other ones too. If you have a if 394 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:20,920 Speaker 1: the water table is deeper than a jet pump may 395 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:23,440 Speaker 1: not be strong enough to create the vacuum necessary to 396 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:26,840 Speaker 1: pull the water up that height. Because the higher you go, 397 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:29,560 Speaker 1: the heavier that you know, the more the more energy need, 398 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:32,640 Speaker 1: the more more exactly, the more work you have to do, 399 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:36,359 Speaker 1: and so you might have something called a double drop 400 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,160 Speaker 1: jet pump or even a submersible pump, where the pump 401 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:42,679 Speaker 1: itself is under the water as opposed to at the 402 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:46,120 Speaker 1: top of the well. And in this case you would 403 00:21:46,119 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 1: just have another kind of approach to drawing water up 404 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,160 Speaker 1: this very long tube and again filling up a tank, 405 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:57,119 Speaker 1: just as you would with the jet pump. So those 406 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:00,560 Speaker 1: are the other ways of getting water, uh, you know, 407 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:04,040 Speaker 1: the basic ways that you would see in today's world, 408 00:22:04,119 --> 00:22:07,920 Speaker 1: at least in the United States, right right, And well, 409 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:10,080 Speaker 1: you know, a lot of this technology and a lot 410 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:13,440 Speaker 1: of our infrastructure really has has been in place for 411 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:16,280 Speaker 1: for over a hundred years. UM. A lot of our 412 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:20,960 Speaker 1: water towers, UM distribution lines, sewer lines, storage facilities, and 413 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:24,680 Speaker 1: stuff like that were built, uh, basically immediately following World 414 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:27,280 Speaker 1: War Two. So I mean, so all of this is 415 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:29,880 Speaker 1: is pretty simple. I mean, personal pumps have have developed 416 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:31,639 Speaker 1: a little bit and changed a little bit in the 417 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:37,119 Speaker 1: following decades, but but this technology has has not changed 418 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:39,880 Speaker 1: in a long time. And what we're saying, and yet 419 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: we've added lots of stuff to it. So this is 420 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:45,119 Speaker 1: where I'm talking about. How you know, the pipes that 421 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:48,720 Speaker 1: were used forty years ago are made of different stuff 422 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:50,800 Speaker 1: and are of different sizes, and the pipes that were 423 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:53,200 Speaker 1: used thirty years ago which are different from twenty, which 424 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:55,200 Speaker 1: are different from ten, which are different from today. So 425 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:58,280 Speaker 1: you've got this system where nothing is homogeneous at all, 426 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:00,520 Speaker 1: and and there, and the lifespans of all of these 427 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:04,120 Speaker 1: different products can can depend a lot on the materials 428 00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:06,800 Speaker 1: that they were made from and how how carefully they 429 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: were installed. Not to mention the environment itself. If you 430 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:13,040 Speaker 1: are in a place like uh, the Great White North 431 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:16,920 Speaker 1: shout out to all of our Canadian fans, a uh, 432 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:19,879 Speaker 1: then you know they have to withstand much colder temperatures 433 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 1: than say, down here in Hot Lanta. I hate myself 434 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:27,760 Speaker 1: for saying, and I didn't even notice for half a second, 435 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:31,720 Speaker 1: which makes me hate myself more. Well, um, yeah, okay, 436 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:34,200 Speaker 1: So so in that's that's in the US and other 437 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:36,280 Speaker 1: parts of the world. I mean, we get we get 438 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:40,199 Speaker 1: not um not by global standards, a whole lot of 439 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:43,080 Speaker 1: water per capita here, but we we certainly get a 440 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:45,359 Speaker 1: lot more than many other places do. Yeah, and there 441 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:47,400 Speaker 1: are other places that have to get a lot more 442 00:23:47,440 --> 00:23:50,840 Speaker 1: creative with how they manage water, how they get water, 443 00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:54,800 Speaker 1: and how they distribute it. So for example, um, well, 444 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:57,439 Speaker 1: you know, I could talk about Abu Dhabi really quickly. 445 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:00,600 Speaker 1: So now Abu Dhabi is is a the that are 446 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,159 Speaker 1: the the area of Abu Dhabi is so large and 447 00:24:03,200 --> 00:24:07,440 Speaker 1: so populous, it could not have supported that population, uh 448 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:11,600 Speaker 1: like a century ago because the water management system just 449 00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:15,280 Speaker 1: wasn't there. The area around Abu Dhabi has only two 450 00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:20,680 Speaker 1: freshwater aquifers. All the other aquifers are salty, that's it's 451 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:24,840 Speaker 1: like seawater, and that there's no fresh water otherwise to access. 452 00:24:24,880 --> 00:24:29,240 Speaker 1: So they do have wells that they've um drilled down 453 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:31,359 Speaker 1: so that they can pull up some of the water 454 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:35,600 Speaker 1: from the freshwater aquifers, but that's almost exclusively used in agriculture. 455 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:40,320 Speaker 1: Usually almost seventy of fresh water of any given community 456 00:24:40,359 --> 00:24:42,679 Speaker 1: is going to be used for agriculture, right, So in 457 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:45,439 Speaker 1: this case, what they've decided to do in order to 458 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 1: supply the population with freshwater is built a lot of 459 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:51,639 Speaker 1: desalination plants, and we've talked about those in a previous 460 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:53,679 Speaker 1: episode of tech Stuff. Go back and search if you 461 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,719 Speaker 1: want to look at our discussion. We actually got to 462 00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:59,359 Speaker 1: speak with an expert about the salination plants and how 463 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 1: they're are different methods of removing salt from seawater so 464 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,159 Speaker 1: you can make it drinkable. Um So that was a 465 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 1: creative way that they have used to meet the needs 466 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:12,159 Speaker 1: of their population. Right. And you know, most of the 467 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:16,280 Speaker 1: United States uh water infrastructure was was built up in 468 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:19,080 Speaker 1: the midst of the industrial era, when everyone is starting 469 00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:21,840 Speaker 1: to move from urban areas or move i'm sorry, from 470 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,399 Speaker 1: from rural areas to urban areas. And those kind of 471 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,040 Speaker 1: population shifts that we saw in the early to mid 472 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:30,320 Speaker 1: twentieth century are just happening now in a lot of 473 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:34,760 Speaker 1: developing countries. So the Third World Center, for for example, 474 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:37,720 Speaker 1: estimates that there's two billion people without access to safe 475 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 1: drinking water in Asia alone. That's yeah, it really just 476 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: just depends on on your your rainfall, your river, access, 477 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:49,600 Speaker 1: your groundwater, all all of those natural resources. Um and 478 00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:53,960 Speaker 1: and for for another example, um Iceland. Okay, let's let's 479 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:56,440 Speaker 1: if you're talking about the cubic meters of fresh water 480 00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:59,680 Speaker 1: per capita, per per per person in a country. Um 481 00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:04,440 Speaker 1: Iland has about five three thousand cubic meters of water 482 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:12,119 Speaker 1: freshwater per capita. Okay, Bow rain for example, has three disparity, 483 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:16,560 Speaker 1: not three thousand, just just three. That's Yeah, so obviously 484 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,119 Speaker 1: you have to get creative with the way that you 485 00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 1: are able to access and distribute water, right. And then 486 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 1: after you have accessed and distributed that water, Um, you know, 487 00:26:27,880 --> 00:26:30,239 Speaker 1: most people use water to do some stuff and then 488 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:32,159 Speaker 1: they want it to sort of go away, right, So 489 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,639 Speaker 1: we need to talk about how to reclaim that water 490 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,040 Speaker 1: and what you do with that water once you've used it. 491 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:38,960 Speaker 1: You know what, I got a great idea. Yeah, let's 492 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:40,880 Speaker 1: take a quick break to thank our sponsor and we'll 493 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 1: come back and talk about that. Excellent alright, So just 494 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:46,159 Speaker 1: before the break, lawn, you brought up a great point. 495 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:49,040 Speaker 1: You know, we don't just use water to drink. Obviously, 496 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: we use it for all these other sorts of things, 497 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:53,840 Speaker 1: whether it's taking a shower or washing dishes or in 498 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,199 Speaker 1: the toilets. There are a lot of different ways we 499 00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:58,480 Speaker 1: use it. We might use it to water our lawns. 500 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:02,240 Speaker 1: And then once we use it, what do we What 501 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:04,680 Speaker 1: happens then? I mean, it goes down the drain for 502 00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:06,639 Speaker 1: most of these cases, apart from the water in the 503 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:09,200 Speaker 1: lawn example, but you know it goes down the drain. 504 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,960 Speaker 1: What happens then? Well? Okay, so so following this entire 505 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:17,760 Speaker 1: gravity model. Um, most of the time waste water waste 506 00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:20,000 Speaker 1: facilities are going to be located in some kind of 507 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:23,040 Speaker 1: low lying area. Yeah yeah, and it makes sense again 508 00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:25,600 Speaker 1: because that means you let the gravity pull the water 509 00:27:25,680 --> 00:27:27,359 Speaker 1: where it needs to go, so you don't have to 510 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:31,520 Speaker 1: have pumping stations to keep wastewater going, because then you're 511 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:35,120 Speaker 1: spending energy just to get rid of wastewater. So yeah, 512 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:37,760 Speaker 1: you've got you know, the drain systems, whether they're on 513 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:40,359 Speaker 1: the roads or whether they're in the uh there in 514 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:45,000 Speaker 1: your house whatever, These all kind of lead to a 515 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:49,320 Speaker 1: water treatment facility. You've got pipes, you've got sewer tunnels, 516 00:27:49,680 --> 00:27:52,159 Speaker 1: all that fun stuff. You've got the manholes that allow 517 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,119 Speaker 1: people to have access in case they need to to 518 00:27:55,240 --> 00:27:58,159 Speaker 1: do maintenance on any of this system. And it's really good, 519 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:00,399 Speaker 1: by the way, to have these treatment facilities instead of 520 00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 1: just dumping waste water into into natural rivers, for example, 521 00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:08,159 Speaker 1: because that will therefore, um, you know, allow you to 522 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:13,120 Speaker 1: not totally pollute your natural rivers, right, and also not 523 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:17,240 Speaker 1: give a terrible statement to anyone who lives down river 524 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:22,520 Speaker 1: of you, right exactly have fun drinking stupid. Yeah, that's 525 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,200 Speaker 1: not a great message. Okay, So so the basic the 526 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 1: basic format of a water treatment facility. All right, so 527 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:32,600 Speaker 1: um this all right, guys, you know I'm going to 528 00:28:32,640 --> 00:28:36,159 Speaker 1: give you the straight poop on this. There's gonna be 529 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 1: some potty talk here and uh, you know it's something 530 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:41,240 Speaker 1: that we need to know about. All right. First, you 531 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:43,160 Speaker 1: got a screen. Okay, Once you get to the water 532 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:46,400 Speaker 1: treatment facility, you have you have different levels of water 533 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:50,479 Speaker 1: purification depending upon the sophistication of the facility. Sure that 534 00:28:50,520 --> 00:28:52,400 Speaker 1: this will occur in several steps. The first is a 535 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:56,560 Speaker 1: physical step where where you are just just literally screens 536 00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:59,560 Speaker 1: to take solid waste out of your water as much 537 00:28:59,600 --> 00:29:01,520 Speaker 1: of the solid wastes as you can. Now, these screens 538 00:29:01,560 --> 00:29:04,560 Speaker 1: aren't aren't incredibly fine so that they take out all 539 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:06,760 Speaker 1: particulate matter, but they get a lot of it, a 540 00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:10,200 Speaker 1: lot of the larger solids. Uh. Now, the water that 541 00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:15,320 Speaker 1: is left from that first screening process moves into ponds 542 00:29:15,480 --> 00:29:17,560 Speaker 1: or pools, and then it's allowed to sit there for 543 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: a while so that sediments in the waters start to 544 00:29:20,040 --> 00:29:24,120 Speaker 1: settle into the bottom of that pool. You then end 545 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 1: up removing that waste that tends to be about half 546 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 1: of all the waste that's in that water at that moment, 547 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:32,840 Speaker 1: So it's still there's still quite a bit suspended within 548 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:34,960 Speaker 1: the water itself. But to get rid of about half 549 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:37,760 Speaker 1: of it that way, Uh, that's waste you will then 550 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:40,400 Speaker 1: dispose of either by putting in a landfill or maybe 551 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:44,720 Speaker 1: in an incinerator. I keep hoping for these plasma generators 552 00:29:44,720 --> 00:29:47,200 Speaker 1: so that you could use it because any organic matter 553 00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:50,520 Speaker 1: you could turn into sin gas, which synthetic gas that 554 00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:53,280 Speaker 1: would actually be a fuel. But mr mr fusion make 555 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:56,080 Speaker 1: it go. We're still not there yet. So uh, so 556 00:29:56,360 --> 00:29:58,280 Speaker 1: you've gotten rid of about fifty of the waste, that 557 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:01,480 Speaker 1: means you still got fifty percent left in the water. Uh. 558 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:06,719 Speaker 1: You then allow that water to be treated with various chemicals, 559 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,040 Speaker 1: mainly chlorine, which is used to kill off a lot 560 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: of harmful bacteria. All right, for your for your very 561 00:30:11,200 --> 00:30:13,520 Speaker 1: basic water treatment, you can then treat it with chemicals 562 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,080 Speaker 1: to get rid of um, anything really nasty that's still 563 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:18,440 Speaker 1: living in there. Yeah, you might use a little bacteria 564 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:20,760 Speaker 1: first to eat up any organic matter, and then use 565 00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:23,040 Speaker 1: the chlorine to kill off everything. But then at that 566 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:27,120 Speaker 1: point you essentially discharge it. Assuming that it's a simple 567 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:30,120 Speaker 1: water treatment plant. But there are more sophisty ones that 568 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:31,880 Speaker 1: have more steps. Would you like to know about the 569 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 1: other steps? Sure? I think that they involve more bacteria, 570 00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:38,160 Speaker 1: don't they do? You start off with some errated tanks 571 00:30:38,200 --> 00:30:40,760 Speaker 1: that hold the water and the bacteria, and that those 572 00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:44,880 Speaker 1: bacteria end up consuming almost all of the waste inside 573 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,160 Speaker 1: that water in fact around it. And that's that's it's 574 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:50,240 Speaker 1: really cool to me that they that they use gross 575 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:52,800 Speaker 1: stuff to eat the gross stuff they don't want. And 576 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,040 Speaker 1: then um, but but but but then you need to 577 00:30:55,080 --> 00:30:58,080 Speaker 1: get rid of that first gross stuff, right, Yeah, You 578 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: move the water over into settling tanks, and then you 579 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:03,960 Speaker 1: remove that bacteria. You can treat the water again with 580 00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: chemicals to do that, uh, And by this time you 581 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,840 Speaker 1: are down to just uh, like of all the waste 582 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:12,800 Speaker 1: that you had had in that water to start with. 583 00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:15,560 Speaker 1: Then you can treat it with other chemicals or remove 584 00:31:15,640 --> 00:31:18,320 Speaker 1: stuff like nitrogen and phosphorus which tend to build up, 585 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:21,440 Speaker 1: use the chlorine to kill off any of the remaining bacteria, 586 00:31:21,520 --> 00:31:24,960 Speaker 1: and then you discharge the water into whatever. You know. 587 00:31:25,120 --> 00:31:27,600 Speaker 1: Usually it ends up going through some canal systems and 588 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:31,360 Speaker 1: into another river eventually, but at this point it's, uh, 589 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:34,160 Speaker 1: it's you know, clean water. I don't know that you 590 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:35,800 Speaker 1: would necessarily want to stand at the end of it 591 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:39,280 Speaker 1: with a glass and say yum yum. But maybe maybe not. 592 00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:41,280 Speaker 1: But but it's at least, you know, okay for being 593 00:31:41,320 --> 00:31:44,680 Speaker 1: released into the environment relatively as waste water goes. And 594 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:46,760 Speaker 1: and to be fair, I mean, there's I want to 595 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:48,680 Speaker 1: address this because it's just one of those things that 596 00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:51,040 Speaker 1: occurred to me. I don't mean to suggest that water 597 00:31:51,080 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 1: it can hold on to certain attributes just because it 598 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:56,880 Speaker 1: came into contact with something, because that's not the case. 599 00:31:57,640 --> 00:31:59,960 Speaker 1: I mean really, technically, we're all we're all running around 600 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:04,480 Speaker 1: drinking dino blood, right. Yeah, So that's your basic approach 601 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: is essentially going through this multi step process to remove waste. 602 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,520 Speaker 1: And and by basic, we mean this is actually very complex, 603 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:14,160 Speaker 1: very expensive to build these facilities and uh and the 604 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:18,800 Speaker 1: result of of decades of research. There's filtering technique. There's 605 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:22,640 Speaker 1: actually if you want to see a more detailed approach 606 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,920 Speaker 1: to how this is done in a real system, there's 607 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:31,120 Speaker 1: a fun little documentary that's on YouTube. It's before Fawcett, 608 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:33,400 Speaker 1: after flush I believe his West. Yeah, yeah, you were 609 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:36,080 Speaker 1: talking about that. It's about the Chicago water system, which 610 00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:38,640 Speaker 1: is phenomenal. They have like, at least at the time 611 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:41,240 Speaker 1: of the documentary, they had the world's largest water treatment 612 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:44,520 Speaker 1: facility and they get their their water from the Great 613 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:48,160 Speaker 1: Lake and uh, it's interesting. They have all these tunnels 614 00:32:48,160 --> 00:32:50,600 Speaker 1: that are underneath the lake that allow lake water to 615 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:54,320 Speaker 1: go through. And it's a really cool documentary. It's like 616 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:57,480 Speaker 1: seven minutes long. So we'll link to it because, um 617 00:32:57,640 --> 00:32:59,640 Speaker 1: if you want to see more of a step by 618 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,240 Speaker 1: step process and kind of see animations of what is 619 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:05,200 Speaker 1: going on the stuff that I just described, it has 620 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:08,040 Speaker 1: all of that. It's really good. But but yeah, you know, 621 00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:11,320 Speaker 1: so not not everywhere in the world has these these 622 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:15,040 Speaker 1: wonderful treatment facilities and um and it can be a 623 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:19,600 Speaker 1: huge problem for the spread of diseases. Um Uh. Like 624 00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:22,160 Speaker 1: remember how I said there's estimates of two billion people 625 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:25,520 Speaker 1: in Asia without safe drinking water. There's an estimated additional 626 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:29,920 Speaker 1: three billion there without safe sanitation and water waste management. Right, So, 627 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:32,120 Speaker 1: on top of the fact that there are billions of 628 00:33:32,160 --> 00:33:34,960 Speaker 1: people who don't have access to an adequate water or 629 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:40,320 Speaker 1: waste management system, there's an environmental concern with any type 630 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:43,960 Speaker 1: of water system, right. Well, anytime that you're moving around 631 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:46,840 Speaker 1: a large natural resource like water, you're you're gonna be 632 00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:49,719 Speaker 1: You're gonna be screwing with the natural system of things, right, 633 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:51,760 Speaker 1: I mean, which which is on purpose and which is 634 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:55,600 Speaker 1: good because it lets people um survive, but bad and 635 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:57,840 Speaker 1: that you can really mess with the ecology of a 636 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:00,959 Speaker 1: local area. Yeah, you need to take in to consideration 637 00:34:01,000 --> 00:34:04,120 Speaker 1: everything from the water that you're taking, Like wherever the 638 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:06,760 Speaker 1: reservoir happens to be, whether it's a lake or a 639 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:10,040 Speaker 1: river or even an artificial reservoir, where is that water 640 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 1: coming from, how is it affecting the ecosystem of the 641 00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:17,359 Speaker 1: area from which you are taking, And then everything from 642 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:21,480 Speaker 1: the amount of water that people are using, because water 643 00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:23,640 Speaker 1: is not you know, you may have seen things on 644 00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:26,960 Speaker 1: television or you know a little reminders in school about 645 00:34:27,000 --> 00:34:29,839 Speaker 1: don't waste water. A lot of that has to do 646 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:34,200 Speaker 1: with not just the fact that there's you know, there's uh, 647 00:34:34,239 --> 00:34:36,880 Speaker 1: it's a renewable resource, but there's only so much of 648 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:40,239 Speaker 1: it any particular region has at any particular time. It's 649 00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,759 Speaker 1: also an energy concern because it takes a lot of 650 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:46,279 Speaker 1: energy to gather this water from the source, and even 651 00:34:46,440 --> 00:34:50,000 Speaker 1: using gravity, we're still talking about having pumping stations things 652 00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:52,120 Speaker 1: like that. So the more water you use, the more 653 00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:56,960 Speaker 1: energy has to be uh consumed in order to continue 654 00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:59,520 Speaker 1: that that supply of water. Right here in the US, 655 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:02,760 Speaker 1: I think that the e p A reported that, um, 656 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:07,440 Speaker 1: we use three or four percent of our countrywide energy 657 00:35:07,719 --> 00:35:10,719 Speaker 1: getting water where it needs to go. And and that's 658 00:35:10,800 --> 00:35:13,279 Speaker 1: that's on a national level, and that's only because most 659 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:15,879 Speaker 1: of that is dealt with by municipal systems, where water 660 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:19,560 Speaker 1: treatment is usually the largest consumer of energy without any 661 00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:23,239 Speaker 1: given community. Right So, I mean, clearly there are a 662 00:35:23,239 --> 00:35:25,920 Speaker 1: lot of concerns for using water wisely, and then of 663 00:35:25,960 --> 00:35:29,560 Speaker 1: course the whole treatment process and how that water once 664 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:32,719 Speaker 1: treated as then introduced back into the environment. All of 665 00:35:32,719 --> 00:35:34,920 Speaker 1: these things have an impact. And if the if the 666 00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:39,400 Speaker 1: treatment facility isn't truly sophisticated, or if it's not adequate, 667 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:43,719 Speaker 1: then you could be making a catastrophic effect on your environment, 668 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:48,000 Speaker 1: which in turn can either directly affect the population that's 669 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,839 Speaker 1: getting the water in the first place or other populations 670 00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:53,759 Speaker 1: that are downstream or nearby. Right. Yeah, this this can 671 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:57,239 Speaker 1: also get really political. Um yeah, in fact, even within 672 00:35:57,280 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: the United States, it can get political. I know that 673 00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:02,560 Speaker 1: sounds of crazy, especially to people who may live outside 674 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:04,760 Speaker 1: of the US and they think of it as a nation, 675 00:36:05,239 --> 00:36:08,959 Speaker 1: but we're divided up into states obviously. And uh, here's 676 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,760 Speaker 1: a perfect example, Lauren and I. We live in Georgia. 677 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:15,160 Speaker 1: We have two states that border US that use very 678 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:18,359 Speaker 1: similar sources of water, the same source of water at 679 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:21,920 Speaker 1: least for certain regions, Alabama and Florida. They all are 680 00:36:22,000 --> 00:36:24,960 Speaker 1: using water that is coming from come downstream from US. Yeah, 681 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:29,920 Speaker 1: from the Chattahoochee actually, and Alabama and Florida often are 682 00:36:30,040 --> 00:36:33,439 Speaker 1: um competing for those resources along with Georgia. So if 683 00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:37,120 Speaker 1: Georgia decides to do something on a state level that's 684 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:41,080 Speaker 1: going to affect that water source, it impacts these other states, 685 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:43,799 Speaker 1: and you get this kind of tension. This is within 686 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:47,879 Speaker 1: one country where yeah, yeah, and internationally it can get 687 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:50,840 Speaker 1: pretty messy. I just just for example, most of Iraq's 688 00:36:50,880 --> 00:36:53,920 Speaker 1: water supply originates and rivers in Turkey, which means that 689 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:55,799 Speaker 1: for for Iraq to get the water that it needs, 690 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,280 Speaker 1: conservation efforts have to begin in a whole other country 691 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:00,239 Speaker 1: that they might not be agreeing with very much at 692 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:02,520 Speaker 1: the time. Right. So if you have one country that says, 693 00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:05,319 Speaker 1: you know, well, we'll conserve as much as we need 694 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:08,000 Speaker 1: to for our needs, but why should we be considered, 695 00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:10,759 Speaker 1: and why should we worry about your needs you're you 696 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:14,160 Speaker 1: don't you're not part of our country. That's sticky, that's 697 00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:17,080 Speaker 1: that's you know. I mean obviously it raises up very 698 00:37:17,080 --> 00:37:20,680 Speaker 1: tricky ethical questions, and you know, you may not be 699 00:37:20,760 --> 00:37:24,400 Speaker 1: at all uh able to affect those the answers to 700 00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:27,000 Speaker 1: those questions if you aren't in that particular country. So 701 00:37:27,640 --> 00:37:32,799 Speaker 1: you know, it does get pretty sticky. I will say, Yeah, 702 00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,640 Speaker 1: there's there's a whole bunch of different problems that that 703 00:37:35,719 --> 00:37:39,799 Speaker 1: really go on with uh, with with water and how 704 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:44,080 Speaker 1: we're going to kind of bring these old methods of 705 00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:46,960 Speaker 1: getting it places and treating it into the future because 706 00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:50,319 Speaker 1: you know, we're the population is growing. We're certainly not 707 00:37:50,360 --> 00:37:53,520 Speaker 1: going to have less need for water anytime soon. Yeah, 708 00:37:53,640 --> 00:37:56,000 Speaker 1: so some things that we can look into or things 709 00:37:56,040 --> 00:38:00,000 Speaker 1: like using uh different approaches for agriculture, which would obviously 710 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,000 Speaker 1: put less of a demand on our water use. If 711 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:07,040 Speaker 1: we're using fresh water for agriculture, and we can come 712 00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:09,880 Speaker 1: up with plants that either need less water, or we 713 00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:13,600 Speaker 1: come up with farming techniques that don't use as much water. 714 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:16,600 Speaker 1: Because I mean, there there are other byproducts to this too, Right, 715 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:20,120 Speaker 1: If you have an enormous field that is treated with 716 00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:23,440 Speaker 1: various types of herbicides, pesticides, that kind of thing, and 717 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:27,160 Speaker 1: you're using massive amounts of water to distribute those you 718 00:38:27,200 --> 00:38:29,879 Speaker 1: get run off of all those chemicals that can then 719 00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:32,160 Speaker 1: enter the local water table and that can be a 720 00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:34,520 Speaker 1: big problem. So, I mean you can see that this 721 00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:39,640 Speaker 1: is not a simple system. It's very complex. Absolutely. And 722 00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:43,759 Speaker 1: and also according to the e P, a um of 723 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:47,319 Speaker 1: water treated by water systems is lost to leaks um 724 00:38:47,520 --> 00:38:49,200 Speaker 1: in some systems that can be as much as six 725 00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:53,480 Speaker 1: The worldwide average is about twenty and and that's you know, 726 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:56,239 Speaker 1: that's a huge amount. All right, So let's talk a 727 00:38:56,280 --> 00:38:58,600 Speaker 1: little bit. And you know, we've talked about the challenges 728 00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:00,440 Speaker 1: in the state of the art as it is today, 729 00:39:00,480 --> 00:39:02,840 Speaker 1: but there are people who are working on some pretty 730 00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:08,879 Speaker 1: cool stuff that could in theory really revolutionized water systems. Right. Oh, absolutely, Um, 731 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:10,839 Speaker 1: some of some of the more some of the more 732 00:39:10,880 --> 00:39:13,920 Speaker 1: down to earth. I'll cover those first methods. Some some 733 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:18,160 Speaker 1: researchers are talking about the simple act of diverting watershed 734 00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:21,919 Speaker 1: of the physical area of land from which you would 735 00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:25,560 Speaker 1: get your water. Right because because classically your your watershed 736 00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:29,400 Speaker 1: is far away from a city, basically, um, nothing to 737 00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:31,839 Speaker 1: do with your cities. But in in these are modern times, 738 00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:33,920 Speaker 1: we've got so many more people living in urban areas 739 00:39:34,280 --> 00:39:38,600 Speaker 1: and um, so much wasted water coming down in rainfall 740 00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:41,440 Speaker 1: on these large urban areas that if we if we 741 00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:46,120 Speaker 1: look at at just increasing the system capacity of cities 742 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:49,960 Speaker 1: to deal with that water by by replacing concrete with 743 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:53,160 Speaker 1: porous pavement, by adding more plant life to cities, by 744 00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:57,000 Speaker 1: restoring wetlands, or or installing rain barrels and other building 745 00:39:57,080 --> 00:40:00,279 Speaker 1: gray water management systems, right, Yeah, gray water is one 746 00:40:00,320 --> 00:40:04,600 Speaker 1: of those things that can be incredibly useful for particular applications. 747 00:40:04,600 --> 00:40:06,960 Speaker 1: I mean, obviously it's not something that you would necessarily say, 748 00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:10,360 Speaker 1: let's hook this up to yeah, and then I'll drink 749 00:40:10,400 --> 00:40:13,760 Speaker 1: and then I'll drink, or a bubbler if you prefer. Yeah, 750 00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:18,200 Speaker 1: gray water being um, the the basically clean wastewater that 751 00:40:18,320 --> 00:40:22,200 Speaker 1: comes from mild householder or commercial applications. Right, And there's 752 00:40:22,200 --> 00:40:24,719 Speaker 1: plenty of different uses we could put that to rather 753 00:40:24,760 --> 00:40:28,319 Speaker 1: than using I mean, it really does water alan Absolutely, 754 00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:32,560 Speaker 1: it's really crazy to think that we have incredibly fresh 755 00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:35,600 Speaker 1: water in our toilets. Yeah, that's that's one of those 756 00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:39,120 Speaker 1: things that drives me completely. Just when you think that 757 00:40:39,160 --> 00:40:41,799 Speaker 1: there are two billion people in Asia who do not 758 00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:44,359 Speaker 1: have access to clean water, and we're using drinking water 759 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:46,840 Speaker 1: in our toilets. Yeah, so see, using gray water in 760 00:40:46,880 --> 00:40:49,560 Speaker 1: a system like that could end up meaning that that 761 00:40:49,640 --> 00:40:54,080 Speaker 1: water could be used in other applications. Obviously, the big 762 00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:56,319 Speaker 1: problem with the two billion people in Asia is that 763 00:40:56,520 --> 00:40:59,440 Speaker 1: they don't have the systems in place or the resources 764 00:40:59,520 --> 00:41:02,600 Speaker 1: available to them. It's not just that the Earth has 765 00:41:02,719 --> 00:41:05,920 Speaker 1: an x amount of fresh water that's evenly distributed across 766 00:41:05,960 --> 00:41:08,279 Speaker 1: the entire planet, like we're saying, yeah, and you know, 767 00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:09,840 Speaker 1: it's it's not the kind of thing where you know, 768 00:41:09,840 --> 00:41:12,040 Speaker 1: if if you if you avoid flushing your toilet, that's 769 00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:14,520 Speaker 1: not going to give water to the poor kids in China, 770 00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:16,719 Speaker 1: like like it's yeah, it's like we said, it's a 771 00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:19,879 Speaker 1: little more complicated than that. Okay, so that makes sense. Yeah, 772 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:22,080 Speaker 1: And in some communities are already doing a whole lot 773 00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:25,200 Speaker 1: for that. We mentioned in in that in that listener 774 00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:28,080 Speaker 1: mail from Valerie, she she had mentioned Las Vegas systems 775 00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:30,680 Speaker 1: and they are using a lot of water reclamation in 776 00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:33,880 Speaker 1: order to to to stretch the water as far as 777 00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:36,239 Speaker 1: it will go because they're kind of in a desert. Yeah, 778 00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:38,759 Speaker 1: not one of those areas where they've got, you know, 779 00:41:39,040 --> 00:41:43,840 Speaker 1: huge reservoirs that are naturally occurring nearby. It's a little 780 00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:46,120 Speaker 1: tricky and I don't know if you know this, but 781 00:41:46,239 --> 00:41:48,719 Speaker 1: Las Vegas is kind of a big city. It's got 782 00:41:48,719 --> 00:41:50,800 Speaker 1: a few people, a few people in it. I'll be 783 00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:54,719 Speaker 1: there soon enough for ce. Yes, that's right, that's coming up. 784 00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:59,280 Speaker 1: It's kind of exciting. Also, currently happening lots of new 785 00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:04,120 Speaker 1: technology in recycling, purification, and desalination. Yeah, we we've seen 786 00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:09,120 Speaker 1: things like the water reclamation technology that NASA has pioneered 787 00:42:09,120 --> 00:42:11,600 Speaker 1: has been amazing. Like if you look at the stuff 788 00:42:11,640 --> 00:42:14,120 Speaker 1: they have on the International Space Station. And it's not 789 00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:19,120 Speaker 1: just NASA, obviously, there are other space organizations, European space organizations, uh, 790 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:22,759 Speaker 1: Russian space organizations that have all contributed to this kind 791 00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:26,759 Speaker 1: of body of science and technology. But they really make 792 00:42:26,800 --> 00:42:29,920 Speaker 1: water go as far as it possibly can with the 793 00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:33,920 Speaker 1: cost of what dollars for a pound of stuff to 794 00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:37,239 Speaker 1: send into space, right, you know, every every ounce counts. Yeah, 795 00:42:37,239 --> 00:42:40,200 Speaker 1: you don't wanna, you don't want to be constantly they're 796 00:42:40,239 --> 00:42:43,280 Speaker 1: thirsty again, gotta lug up another hundred pounds of water 797 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:47,239 Speaker 1: go to the bank. No, it's it's you know, they 798 00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:51,160 Speaker 1: have systems that recapture water from everything from the water 799 00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:55,640 Speaker 1: vapor and their breath, the sweat, urine, things like that. 800 00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:58,279 Speaker 1: You know, not all this water necessarily goes right back 801 00:42:58,280 --> 00:43:01,520 Speaker 1: into drinking water either, but it's necessary for the system. 802 00:43:01,600 --> 00:43:04,239 Speaker 1: So we can learn from that and use those same 803 00:43:04,280 --> 00:43:07,680 Speaker 1: sort of technologies and various applications here on Earth, not 804 00:43:07,719 --> 00:43:10,239 Speaker 1: all of them. Obviously. We're not gonna have giant water 805 00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:15,600 Speaker 1: vapor uh condensers out there capturing everyone's breath, but probably 806 00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:19,840 Speaker 1: probably not in most buildings. Um but I would I 807 00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:22,440 Speaker 1: don't know, we might get one in here someday, but 808 00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:24,680 Speaker 1: if we could, that would be that would be terrible 809 00:43:24,680 --> 00:43:27,880 Speaker 1: and lovely. I feel like Robert would love a love 810 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,160 Speaker 1: an art project about that. Um but but yeah, there's 811 00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:34,320 Speaker 1: there's lots of really interesting materials and membrane sciences, different 812 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:37,680 Speaker 1: electrical properties of different things. We talked about that a 813 00:43:37,719 --> 00:43:41,160 Speaker 1: bunch in our forward thinking episode of desalination, which is 814 00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:44,600 Speaker 1: of course, and I mean that is a nice solution 815 00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:47,800 Speaker 1: to getting drinking water when you don't have any fresh 816 00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:50,719 Speaker 1: water in your Yeah, and there we've also seen some 817 00:43:50,760 --> 00:43:54,760 Speaker 1: cool filtration systems that can be used to purify water. 818 00:43:55,680 --> 00:43:58,160 Speaker 1: If you have access to water but it's not pure, 819 00:43:58,719 --> 00:44:01,480 Speaker 1: you can run it through these things. Dean Cayman worked 820 00:44:01,480 --> 00:44:05,160 Speaker 1: on one. I know that Bill Gates is really behind 821 00:44:05,440 --> 00:44:09,759 Speaker 1: technologies that are being developed for developing nations that may 822 00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:14,640 Speaker 1: have problems getting clean water, and you just you pour 823 00:44:14,760 --> 00:44:18,320 Speaker 1: this stuff in on one end and again gravity pulls 824 00:44:18,360 --> 00:44:21,120 Speaker 1: the water through the various systems until at the end 825 00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:23,120 Speaker 1: of it you get potable drinking water, which is pretty 826 00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:26,279 Speaker 1: phenomenal stuff. Now, these are are small, They're meant for 827 00:44:26,360 --> 00:44:28,960 Speaker 1: small communities. They're not you know, something that's going to 828 00:44:29,000 --> 00:44:32,240 Speaker 1: support an enormous city, and you might need multiple units 829 00:44:32,280 --> 00:44:35,040 Speaker 1: depending upon how large the population of that area is. 830 00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:38,719 Speaker 1: But it's really promising. But but Lauren, I want to 831 00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:41,920 Speaker 1: know about a crazy kind of science fiction e E E 832 00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:46,640 Speaker 1: approach to totally renovating the water system. Get anything for me? 833 00:44:47,000 --> 00:44:50,799 Speaker 1: I do. In fact, um, have have you heard of 834 00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:54,440 Speaker 1: four D printing? Oh? My gosh, four deep printing. I 835 00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:58,839 Speaker 1: remember seeing a devastatingly handsome bald Man talk about that 836 00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:03,160 Speaker 1: on a video not to long ago. He's kind of narcissistic, though, 837 00:45:03,160 --> 00:45:05,399 Speaker 1: I don't know. It's okay, it's okay. When you look 838 00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:09,480 Speaker 1: that good, it's completely justified. There there was an episode, 839 00:45:09,480 --> 00:45:12,440 Speaker 1: there's another separate episode of forward Thinking that was all 840 00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:14,640 Speaker 1: about forty printing and and this is kind of a 841 00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:20,000 Speaker 1: kitchy catchphrase, um, but it's we're talking about self assembly really. 842 00:45:20,120 --> 00:45:22,120 Speaker 1: Um So, So okay, M I T has a self 843 00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:25,399 Speaker 1: assembly lab that's being run by one Skylar Tippets. Great name, 844 00:45:26,320 --> 00:45:28,920 Speaker 1: it is a great name. Um he's he's an architect 845 00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:31,919 Speaker 1: and and comps I and artist kind of dude. And 846 00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:34,440 Speaker 1: um in in M I t S word, self assembly 847 00:45:34,520 --> 00:45:37,520 Speaker 1: is a process by which disordered parts build an ordered 848 00:45:37,520 --> 00:45:41,200 Speaker 1: structure through local interaction. And so what they're really interested 849 00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:44,560 Speaker 1: in here is is using material science and biological science 850 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:51,080 Speaker 1: to create mostly analog devices that can react to changing situations. Right, So, 851 00:45:51,160 --> 00:45:53,920 Speaker 1: and and usually it means that you're adding some form 852 00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:57,520 Speaker 1: of energy or introducing some new element to this material, 853 00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:02,239 Speaker 1: which will then undergo a change in shape or form. Right. 854 00:46:02,280 --> 00:46:04,600 Speaker 1: This is a really proof of concept kind of stage. 855 00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:06,960 Speaker 1: Right now, they're there at this at this very basic 856 00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:09,239 Speaker 1: like they've built a long tube that, when dropped in 857 00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:12,040 Speaker 1: water well morph to form the letters M I T. Yeah, 858 00:46:12,040 --> 00:46:15,040 Speaker 1: And they had they had one flat piece of it 859 00:46:15,080 --> 00:46:17,879 Speaker 1: looks like just plastic, but when you put water on it, 860 00:46:17,880 --> 00:46:21,520 Speaker 1: it would form itself into a cube. Um. Yes, you 861 00:46:21,560 --> 00:46:24,200 Speaker 1: know you could watch the video and then you see 862 00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:26,799 Speaker 1: that it's sped up by about eight times, and you 863 00:46:26,800 --> 00:46:31,120 Speaker 1: realize this is a gradual process. It's really slow. I 864 00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:34,200 Speaker 1: mean all of this is thanks to a multi material 865 00:46:34,280 --> 00:46:37,640 Speaker 1: form of three D printing. Um. And the four D 866 00:46:37,960 --> 00:46:40,480 Speaker 1: in in the fourth dimension and in the four D 867 00:46:40,600 --> 00:46:44,600 Speaker 1: title is time. Um. But but but so so multi 868 00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:47,840 Speaker 1: material three D printing. Since different materials can have different 869 00:46:47,880 --> 00:46:50,960 Speaker 1: water absorption properties, Um, you know you can. You can 870 00:46:51,360 --> 00:46:54,239 Speaker 1: build them so that they will squish up in different ways. Right, 871 00:46:54,280 --> 00:46:57,080 Speaker 1: You've got you've got an interesting approach where you've got 872 00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:00,320 Speaker 1: this material that can actually react to changing such a waans. 873 00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:03,239 Speaker 1: So if you engineer it so that it behaves a 874 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:06,880 Speaker 1: particular way under a particular se circumstances, there are a 875 00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:09,920 Speaker 1: lot of applications that you could put this to, including 876 00:47:10,560 --> 00:47:13,799 Speaker 1: completely revolutionizing a water system. Yeah. I mean, you know, 877 00:47:14,320 --> 00:47:16,840 Speaker 1: anything is huge as as a water system is a 878 00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:19,439 Speaker 1: really long way off from from a cute little tube 879 00:47:19,440 --> 00:47:21,600 Speaker 1: that spells out a cute little thing over of course 880 00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:24,680 Speaker 1: of several minutes. Um. But but you know, imagine a 881 00:47:24,760 --> 00:47:28,080 Speaker 1: pipe that changes shape to accommodate spikes in in in 882 00:47:28,160 --> 00:47:31,400 Speaker 1: watershed or water waste or frozen water. Right. Soe now 883 00:47:31,480 --> 00:47:34,200 Speaker 1: this would be amazing because, like we had said over 884 00:47:34,200 --> 00:47:37,440 Speaker 1: and over again, the water systems we have have formed 885 00:47:37,560 --> 00:47:41,520 Speaker 1: over several decades, and they're not uniform at all, and 886 00:47:41,840 --> 00:47:43,640 Speaker 1: they you know, some of the pipes are different sizes 887 00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:45,640 Speaker 1: than other pipes, and you know, you might have it 888 00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:49,600 Speaker 1: where certain parts of a city may have trouble meeting 889 00:47:49,680 --> 00:47:52,759 Speaker 1: the water needs of that particular part of the city 890 00:47:52,800 --> 00:47:56,200 Speaker 1: compared to others just because the infrastructure doesn't really support 891 00:47:56,239 --> 00:47:59,040 Speaker 1: it anymore. If you had pipes that could adjust to 892 00:47:59,160 --> 00:48:02,200 Speaker 1: the right to the to the level of demand, then 893 00:48:02,239 --> 00:48:05,359 Speaker 1: if the population fluctuated, if it went, you know, got 894 00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:09,680 Speaker 1: bigger or smaller, the pipes themselves, in theory, could end 895 00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:12,719 Speaker 1: up adjusting themselves to meet whatever the new demand was 896 00:48:13,000 --> 00:48:17,279 Speaker 1: to create the optimum water pressure for the amount of 897 00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:19,839 Speaker 1: people that it needed to serve um Or what about 898 00:48:19,880 --> 00:48:22,800 Speaker 1: a pipe that could shift itself to self repair damage. 899 00:48:23,040 --> 00:48:26,520 Speaker 1: And even more freaky than that, which is already amazing, 900 00:48:26,560 --> 00:48:28,319 Speaker 1: the idea of you don't have to worry so much 901 00:48:28,320 --> 00:48:31,759 Speaker 1: about maintenance because the pipes maintain themselves. They won't really 902 00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:35,160 Speaker 1: break because they can just move bits around. It's another 903 00:48:35,200 --> 00:48:37,319 Speaker 1: thing that I think is amazing is this idea of 904 00:48:37,320 --> 00:48:41,320 Speaker 1: an undulating pipe. Now this is way off into science 905 00:48:41,320 --> 00:48:44,040 Speaker 1: fiction future, right, absolutely, but but the the idea of 906 00:48:44,080 --> 00:48:46,960 Speaker 1: this is that the pipe can undulate to push water 907 00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:50,400 Speaker 1: through itself. So in other words, you don't need pumping stations. 908 00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:52,920 Speaker 1: You don't even need to worry about gravity anymore. You've 909 00:48:52,960 --> 00:48:55,960 Speaker 1: got pipes that can change their shape and propel the 910 00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:58,640 Speaker 1: water through them, providing the water pressure you need. And 911 00:48:58,680 --> 00:49:01,680 Speaker 1: it's all built into of the material itself. You don't 912 00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:05,520 Speaker 1: have any electronic parts, you don't have any generators. Yeah, 913 00:49:05,760 --> 00:49:09,160 Speaker 1: it's just doing it on its own because of the 914 00:49:09,160 --> 00:49:12,360 Speaker 1: way that it was constructed. And that's really what I 915 00:49:12,440 --> 00:49:15,719 Speaker 1: find phenomenal. It's not like there's some tiny electronic component 916 00:49:15,840 --> 00:49:21,480 Speaker 1: inside this stuff. No, it's literally the way it was built. Yeah, 917 00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:24,919 Speaker 1: and just because it was built this way, it will 918 00:49:24,960 --> 00:49:28,960 Speaker 1: react you know, in X way when why happens because 919 00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:31,799 Speaker 1: in some cases it's things like kinetic energy, right, Like 920 00:49:31,840 --> 00:49:34,000 Speaker 1: if you know, you might have a sheet of this 921 00:49:34,080 --> 00:49:36,040 Speaker 1: stuff and if you throw it on the ground, it 922 00:49:36,080 --> 00:49:39,360 Speaker 1: turns into a chair over the course of like minutes. 923 00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:42,319 Speaker 1: But anyway, I think the connect ones are a little 924 00:49:42,320 --> 00:49:45,279 Speaker 1: bit quicker. Yeah they can be. Yeah, but that would 925 00:49:45,280 --> 00:49:46,919 Speaker 1: be you know, that's the kind of stuff we're talking 926 00:49:46,960 --> 00:49:50,320 Speaker 1: about now. Granted again this is sci fi science stuff. 927 00:49:51,280 --> 00:49:53,640 Speaker 1: Does have a really great Ted talk that will link to. 928 00:49:53,719 --> 00:49:56,720 Speaker 1: But but you'll see in this Ted talk he presents 929 00:49:56,760 --> 00:49:59,000 Speaker 1: a couple examples of what they're doing right at this 930 00:49:59,120 --> 00:50:01,440 Speaker 1: very moment, and it is much less impressive than we've 931 00:50:01,480 --> 00:50:06,480 Speaker 1: just made it sound, um, but the potential assuming that 932 00:50:06,520 --> 00:50:08,480 Speaker 1: we can get it to work. So I'm really looking 933 00:50:08,520 --> 00:50:11,480 Speaker 1: forward to seeing what what what people wind up doing 934 00:50:11,480 --> 00:50:14,640 Speaker 1: with that. Yeah, I'm sure we're only you know, thirty 935 00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:18,080 Speaker 1: to fifty years away, right right around the same time 936 00:50:18,080 --> 00:50:19,839 Speaker 1: that we hit the singularity and right around the time 937 00:50:19,960 --> 00:50:23,120 Speaker 1: you know, singularity robot uprising and undulating pipes. They're all 938 00:50:23,120 --> 00:50:26,160 Speaker 1: going to come on a Tuesday, So we'll be recording 939 00:50:26,160 --> 00:50:28,560 Speaker 1: forward thinking, assuming we're all still around at that point. 940 00:50:28,600 --> 00:50:31,440 Speaker 1: I mean, I got no plans. So anyway, this was 941 00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:33,480 Speaker 1: one of those topics I thought was really interesting. You know, 942 00:50:33,520 --> 00:50:35,919 Speaker 1: it had a historical element to it that was fun 943 00:50:35,960 --> 00:50:39,320 Speaker 1: to talk about. It has a real impact on us today, 944 00:50:39,440 --> 00:50:42,920 Speaker 1: right now, and the promise of technology in the future 945 00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:46,160 Speaker 1: has at least the potential to make it a phenomenally 946 00:50:46,360 --> 00:50:49,759 Speaker 1: interesting uh system that we could see, you know, in 947 00:50:49,800 --> 00:50:53,919 Speaker 1: a few decades. Assuming that that this is everything's working out. 948 00:50:53,920 --> 00:50:56,359 Speaker 1: Obviously it's a lot of work that we're talking about here, 949 00:50:56,400 --> 00:51:00,759 Speaker 1: but sure even just just just big data and monitoring techniques. Um, 950 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:04,399 Speaker 1: getting everyone to work kind of together on this problem. UM, 951 00:51:04,560 --> 00:51:08,200 Speaker 1: I think is going to be huge satellite data to 952 00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:11,400 Speaker 1: to watch stuff. I mean, satellites can can detect changes 953 00:51:11,400 --> 00:51:15,359 Speaker 1: in gravity that therefore detect changes in groundwater concentration. That's 954 00:51:15,360 --> 00:51:19,880 Speaker 1: pretty incredible. Um. I didn't detect any changes in gravity, 955 00:51:19,920 --> 00:51:21,840 Speaker 1: but I only saw the film once, so I have 956 00:51:21,880 --> 00:51:23,360 Speaker 1: to see it at least one more time before I 957 00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:25,600 Speaker 1: could tell you what it changed. So, if you guys 958 00:51:25,600 --> 00:51:27,840 Speaker 1: have anything to to say to us about this or 959 00:51:27,880 --> 00:51:30,200 Speaker 1: other topics, why don't you write to us our email 960 00:51:30,200 --> 00:51:33,239 Speaker 1: addresses tech stuff at Discovery dot com or drop us 961 00:51:33,239 --> 00:51:36,080 Speaker 1: a line on Facebook, Twitter or Tumbler. You can find 962 00:51:36,160 --> 00:51:38,680 Speaker 1: us with the handle of text Stuff H. S. W 963 00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:41,160 Speaker 1: and Lauren and I will talk to you again really 964 00:51:41,239 --> 00:51:48,000 Speaker 1: soon for more on this and thousands of other topics. 965 00:51:48,120 --> 00:51:55,200 Speaker 1: Does it has to work dot com