Omega produces improved ecosystem conditions, renewable biofuels, and clean water through the use of waste products and non-invasive algae

Water Wars Advantage

1AC Water Wars Advantage

There’s a global water crisis now---shortages will only get worse

William Wheeler, DECEMBER 2, 2012 Global water crisis: too little, too much, or lack of a plan? The Christian science monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2012/1202/Global-water-crisis-too-little-too-much-or-lack-of-a-plan. Accessed 7/15/14 Contributor

Water is a part of everything we do: It feeds crops, powers cities, cools computer servers, and is key to the manufacturing of everything from clothes to cars. The billion more people expected on the planet by 2025 will increase water demand for all of those functions. And just to feed those people, water withdrawals for agriculture are expected to increase by about half. But it's not only about the additional mouths to feed; it's also the growth of new appetites. Much of the growth in demand will emerge from the swelling sprawl of bustling, slum-pocked metropolises across the developing world. For the first time in history, the share of the global population living in cities recently surpassed 50 percent – on its way to 75 percent expected by 2050. With each step up the economic ladder, people demand more water for sanitation, industry, hydroelectric power, and water-intensive diets – such as preferring beef to wheat, a shift that requires 10 times as much water per kilogram to produce. Urban-rural competition for water has already pushed countries to import grains – "virtual water" – or, in the case of wealthier countries like China, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia, to lease land in developing countries. By 2030, the Water Resources Group forecasts, global water requirements may outstrip sustainable use by 40 percent. And almost half the world's people will be living under severe water stress, predicts the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Already, water stress – where the reliable water supply is being used up more quickly than it can be replenished – is widespread and is expected to increase significantly in the years ahead, particularly in North Africa, theMiddle East, and Asia. By 2050, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, 1 in 5 developing countries will face water shortages.

Algae is key to effective desal

Algae Biodiesel An Interactive Qualifying Project Report submitted to the Faculty of WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science Submitted by: Lauren D’Elia, Andrew Keyser, Craig Young, Date: October 14, 2010

https://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-101610-134209/unrestricted/AlgaeIQP10-11-2010[all][final].pdf accessed 7/14/14

Algenol Biofuels uses technology that produces fuel from algae without killing or harvesting the creatures which allows for a shorter turnaround time to make fuel. They claim that they have the potential to produce 1 billion gallons of ethanol per year by 2012 with a gallon costing about 85 cents [18] . According to a corporate presentation on the company’s website, their method, know as Direct to EthanolTM Technology, uses photosynthesis to initiate the natural enzymes found in blue-green algae that convert sugars directly to ethanol (Figure 3) [19] . The method involves a marine strain of algae and therefore can use seawater, recycles CO2 from industrial plants, and can be built on non-arable land that cannot be used for anything else needed for the US economy. Plus, for every 2 gallons of seawater consumed through the process, 1 gallon of fuel is produced along with 1 gallon of freshwater which could in effect help the global clean water crisis though distillation of the ethanol from water would be an added expense for the new company.

Desalination provides virtually inexhaustible sources of water

Suzanne Taylor MuzzinAugust 4, 2011Better Desalination Technology Would Help Solve World's Water Shortage Yale News. http://news.yale.edu/2011/08/04/better-desalination-technology-would-help-solve-worlds-water-shortage. Accessed 7/15/14. Yale Spokeswoman
Over one-third of the world’s population already lives in areas struggling to keep up with the demand for fresh water. By 2025, that number will nearly double. Some countries have met the challenge by tapping into natural sources of fresh water, but as many examples – such as the much-depleted Jordan River – have demonstrated, many of these practices are far from sustainable. A new Yale University study argues that seawater desalination should play an important role in helping combat worldwide fresh water shortages once conservation, reuse and other methods have been exhausted. The study also provides insights into how desalination technology can be made more affordable and energy efficient. “The globe’s oceans are a virtually inexhaustible source of water, but the process of removing its salt is expensive and energy intensive,” said Menachem Elimelech, a professor of chemical and environmental engineering at Yale and lead author of the study, which appears in the Aug. 5 issue of the journal Science. Reverse osmosis – forcing seawater through a membrane that filters out the salt – is the leading method for seawater desalination in the world today. For years, scientists have focused on increasing the membrane’s water flux using novel materials, such as carbon nanotubes, to reduce the amount of energy required to push water through it. In the new study, Elimelech and William Phillip, now at the University of Notre Dame, demonstrate that reverse osmosis requires a minimum amount of energy that cannot be overcome, and that current technology is already starting to approach that limit. Instead of higher water flux membranes, Elimelech and Phillip suggest that the real gains in efficiency can be made during the pre- and post-treatment stages of desalination. Seawater contains naturally occurring organic and particulate matter that must be filtered out before it passes through the membrane that removes the salt. Chemical agents are added to the water to clean it and help coagulate this matter for easier removal during a pre-treatment stage. But if a membrane didn’t build up organic matter on its surface, most if not all pre-treatment could be avoided, according to the scientist’s findings. In addition, Elimelech and Phillip calculate that a membrane capable of filtering out boron and chloride would result in substantial energy and cost savings. Seventy percent of the world’s water is used in agriculture, but water containing even low levels of boron and chloride – minerals that naturally occur in seawater – cannot be used for these purposes. Instead of removing them during a separate post-treatment stage, the scientists believe a membrane could be developed that would filter them more efficiently at the same time as the salt is removed. Elimelech cautions that desalination should only be considered a last resort in the effort to provide fresh water to the world’s populations and suggests that long-term research is needed to determine the impact of seawater desalination on the aquatic environment, but believes that desalination has a major role to play now and in the future. “All of this will require new materials and new chemistry, but we believe this is where we should focus our efforts going forward,” Elimelech said. “The problem of water shortage is only going to get worse, and we need to be ready to meet the challenge with improved, sustainable technology.”

Water shortages cause global resource wars

Ramussen 11 (Erik Rasmussen is the founder of Sustainia and CEO of Monday Morning –- Scandinavia’s leading independent think tank. “Prepare for the Next Conflict: Water Wars” 04/12/11 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erik-rasmussen/water-wars_b_844101.html)

We are terrifyingly fast consuming one of the most important and perishable resources of the planet -- our water. Global water use has tripled over the last 50 years. The World Bank reports that 80 countries now have water shortages with more than 2.8 billion people living in areas of high water stress. This is expected to rise to 3.9 billion -- more than half of the world's population -- by 2030 in a 'business as usual'-scenario. The status as of today is sobering: the planet is facing a 'water bankruptcy' and we are facing a gloomy future where the fight for the 'blue gold' is king .For years experts have set out warnings of how the earth will be affected by the water crises, with millions dying and increasing conflicts over dwindling resources. They have proclaimed -- in line with the report from the US Senate -- that the water scarcity is a security issue, and that it will yield political stress with a risk of international water wars. This has been reflected in the oft-repeated observation that water will likely replace oil as a future cause of war between nations.¶ Today the first glimpses of the coming water wars are emerging. Many countries in the Middle East, Africa, Central and South Asia -- e.g. Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Kenya, Egypt, and India -- are already feeling the direct consequences of the water scarcity -- with the competition for water leading to social unrest, conflict and migration. This month the escalating concerns about the possibility of water wars triggered calls by Zafar Adeel, chair of UN-Water, for the UN to promote "hydro-diplomacy" in the Middle East and North Africa in order to avoid or at least manage emerging tensions over access to water.¶ The gloomy outlook of our global fresh water resources points in the direction that the current conflicts and instability in these countries are only glimpses of the water wars expected to unfold in the future. Thus we need to address the water crisis that can quickly escalate and become a great humanitarian crisis and also a global safety problem.