VOA标准英语2012--Wastewater Key to Sustaining Life
时间:2019-01-13 作者:英语课 分类:VOA标准英语2012年(八月)
Wastewater Key to Sustaining Life
The world population is growing rapidly and is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050. While efforts are underway to ensure there’s enough food, one scientist is warning there may not be enough water.
Professor Stanley Grant said billions of people don’t have adequate water supplies. That number will only get bigger, he says, unless something is done immediately.
“There are drought conditions across the U.S. and in many parts of the world. So as our planet gets warmer we need more fresh water and as populations grow we also end up using more fresh water. So that’s kind of the big picture backdrop,” he said.
Grant is a professor of environmental engineering at the University of California at Irvine. He’s the author of a new study called Taking the Waste out of Wastewater for Human Water Security and Ecosystem 1 Sustainability.
“The focus of this particular paper is really on moving toward a paradigm 2 shift away from where we really have been for years, which is just simply trying to get more sources of water all the time. And that’s kind of a flawed approach. Eventually you run out of new sources of water. You can’t tap into rivers that are already dry. You have to come up with a new approach. And the new approach really is focused around improving the productivity of the water that you already have. And that means basically getting more value out of that water,” he said.
Water is essential for life, which is why it’s at the heart of tensions in many regions. For example, many countries draw water from the Nile River and there’s often disagreement over how much each should get.
“The Nile is an interesting example. It’s one of a number of examples. Colorado River in the United States, the Yellow River in China would be other examples. These major rivers have been tapped out so much that basically they’re dry by the time they get to their deltas,” he said.
Grant said important ecosystems 3 that rely on those and other rivers could be destroyed and people downstream won’t have enough water.
He added limited fresh water supplies make recycling wastewater and sewage effluent necessary.
“That can involve using highly treated wastewater for activities where you don’t need really high quality water, like landscape irrigation, for example. Or it can involve using super advanced methods to treat the water to sometimes better than potable standards and actually drinking it,” he said.
It’s already being done in some places.
“Israel is kind of leading the world in terms of using recycled wastewater for agricultural purposes. In Singapore, for example, wastewater recycling is being used to provide water for industrial applications. In the U.S. we have a couple of wastewater reclamation 4 facilities. For example, the Orange County water District in Orange County near where I live is recycling wastewater using very advanced techniques. And then essentially 5 infiltrating 6 it into the groundwater basin here and that groundwater eventually is extracted and put back in the potable water supplies,” he said.
Residents of Melbourne, Australia have also begun to conserve 7 and recycle water as a result of a prolonged drought. Stanley says much of the world should be doing the same.
“If the trajectories 8 for global climate change continue as they appear to be headed, we could see in our lifetime some really tragic 9 situations where, for example, megacities essentially run out of water and have to be abandoned. That almost happened in Chennai, India a couple of years ago where there was a prolonged drought and at some point water wasn’t coming out of taps and there was no ground water to be had. And the city planners had to begin think about drawing up plans for evacuating 10 the city,” he said.
The University of California professor added that megacities that are expected to emerge in coming years, in Africa for example, could face similar problems. Grant says the technology exists to recycle and treat wastewater. However, the big hurdle 11 will be to convince Western nations that such water can taste good.
- This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
- We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。
- He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
- Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外,本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。
- There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样,从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句
- We should encourage reclamation and recycling.我们应当鼓励废物的回收和利用。
- The area is needed for a land reclamation project.一个土地开垦项目要在这一地区进行。
- Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
- She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。
- Be vigilant against the danger of enemy agents infiltrating the government and boring from within. 要警惕敌特渗入政府内部进行暗中破坏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
- The metastatic melanoma is seen here to be infiltrating into the myocardium. 图示转移性黑色素瘤浸润到心肌。 来自互联网
- He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
- Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力,你会用得着的!
- To answer this question, we need to plot trajectories of principal stresses. 为了回答这个问题,我们尚须画出主应力迹线图。 来自辞典例句
- In the space program the theory is used to determine spaceship trajectories. 在空间计划中,这个理论用于确定飞船的轨道。 来自辞典例句
- The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
- Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。
- The solution is degassed by alternately freezing, evacuating and thawing. 通过交替的冻结、抽空和溶化来使溶液除气。
- Are we evacuating these potential targets? 能够在这些目标地域内进行疏散吗?