Level 4 Reading 11A

Reading 11A

阅读11A

SAVING WATER In the Castilla-La Mancha region of Spain, Julio Escudero, a 74-year-old former fisherman, recalls an area on the Guadiana River called Los Ojos—"the eyes." Large underground springs bubbled up into the river, where Escudero and his community fished for carp and crayfish. "I would sit in my boat six or seven meters away and just watch the water coming up," Escudero says. "Now it looks like the moon." Los Ojos doesn't exist anymore—that stretch of the river dried up in 1984. Additionally, 186 square kilometers of surrounding wetlands have disappeared. As farming in the region has increased, La Mancha has witnessed an explosion of well digging in the past 40 years that has lowered the water table and diverted water from rivers. The number of wells has grown from 1,500 in 1960 to an official count of 21,000 today. Some experts say the real number, which includes illegal wells, could surpass 50,000. A Global Problem La Mancha is just one of many places facing water shortages. This century, many countries will face the same dilemma that has confronted the people of Spain: How do you balance human needs with the requirements of natural systems that are vital for sustaining life on Earth? The United Nations recently outlined the extent of the water crisis. Due to water scarcity, 5 billion people will face severe water shortages by 2050 if consumption continues at current rates. Today, lack of access to clean water means that an estimated 2.1 billion people drink water that is unsafe. More than 3 million people die each year from diseases related to unclean water. All over the world, humans are pumping water out of the ground faster than it can be replenished. To address this issue, water conservationists, such as Rajendra Singh in India and Neil Macleod in South Africa, are searching for innovative ways to improve their local water situations.

节约用水 在西班牙的卡斯蒂利亚-拉曼恰地区， 74岁的Julio Escudero曾是一名渔民，他回忆起瓜迪亚纳河上一个名为Los Ojos的地区——“眼睛” 大型地下泉水涌入河中，埃斯库德罗和他的社区在那里捕捞鲤鱼和小龙虾。 埃斯库德罗说：“我会坐在六七米外的船上，看着水上涨。”。 “现在它看起来像月亮。” Los Ojos已经不存在了——这段河在1984年干涸了。 此外，周围186平方公里的湿地已经消失。 随着该地区农业的增加，拉曼恰在过去40年里见证了挖井的爆炸式增长 这降低了地下水位，并从河流中引水。 井的数量从1960年的1500口增加到今天的21000口。 一些专家表示，包括非法钻井在内的实际数字可能超过5万口。 一个全球性问题 拉曼恰只是众多面临水资源短缺的地方之一。 本世纪，许多国家将面临西班牙人民面临的同样困境： 你如何平衡人类需求与对维持地球生命至关重要的自然系统的要求？ 联合国最近概述了水危机的程度。 由于水资源短缺，如果消费继续以目前的速度发展，到2050年，50亿人将面临严重的水资源短缺。 如今，缺乏清洁用水意味着估计有21亿人饮用不安全的水。 每年有300多万人死于与不洁水有关的疾病。 在世界各地，人类从地下抽水的速度比补充水的速度快。 为了解决这个问题，印度的拉金德拉·辛格和南非的尼尔·麦克劳德等水资源保护主义者， 正在寻找创新的方法来改善当地的水资源状况。

A Hero in a Thirsty Land On arriving at the Indian village of Goratalai, Rajendra Singh was greeted by a group of about 50 people. He smiled and addressed the villagers: "How many households do you have?" "Eighty." "It's been four years without much rain," said a woman. " And we don't have a proper dam to catch the water." "Do you have any spots where a dam could go?" asked Singh. "Yes, two spots." "I would like to help you," Singh told them, "but the work has to be done by you. You will have to provide one-third of the project through your labor, and the remaining two-thirds I will arrange." The villagers clapped, the women started to sing, and the group hiked to a place in the nearby rocky hills. Singh examined the area and, after a few minutes, declared it an ideal site. His organization would provide the engineering advice and materials; the villagers would supply the work. The nine-meter-high earthen dam—known as a johad— could be finished in three months, before the start of the rainy season. If the rains were plentiful, the dam would not only provide water for drinking and agriculture, but would also replenish dry wells. "You will not see the results immediately. But soon the dam will begin to raise the water level in your wells," Singh told the villagers. In recent years, Singh's johads have sprung up all over Rajasthan— an estimated 4,500 dams in about 1,000 villages, all built using local labor and native materials. His movement has caught on, he says, because it puts control over water in the hands of villagers. "If they feel a johad is their own, they will maintain it," said Singh. "This is a very sustainable, self-reliant system. I can say confidently that if we can manage rain in India in traditional ways, there will be sufficient water for our growing population." Waste Not, Want Not In 1992, Neil Macleod took over as head of Durban Metro Water Services in South Africa. The situation he found was a catastrophe. Durban had one million people living in the city and another 1.5 million people who lived in poverty just outside it. Macleod and his engineers found that the entire city suffered from broken water pipes, leaky toilets, and faulty plumbing, whereby 42 percent of the region's water was simply being wasted. "We inherited 700 reported leaks and bursts. The water literally just ran down the streets. Demand for water was growing 4 percent a year, and we thought we'd have to build another dam by 2000," recalls Macleod. Macleod's crew began repairing and replacing water pipes. They put water meters on homes, replaced eight-liter toilets with four-liter models, and changed wasteful showers and faucets. To ensure that the poor would receive a basic supply of water, Macleod installed tanks in homes to provide 190 liters of water a day free to each household. Water consumption in Durban is now less than it was in 1996, even as 800,000 more people have received service. Through sensible water use, Durban's conservation measures paid for themselves within a year. Macleod says no new dams will be needed in the coming decades, despite the expected addition of about 300,000 inhabitants. In Durban, Macleod has also turned to water recycling. At the water recycling plant, wastewater is turned into clean water in just 12 hours. According to Macleod, most people can't tell the difference between the usual drinking water and the treated wastewater. "Go to many areas of the world, and they're drinking far worse water than this," he says. Some people still hope that new technology, such as the desalination of seawater, will solve the world's water problems. "But the fact is, water conservation is where the big gains are to be made," says Sandra Postel, a leading authority on freshwater issues and director of the Global Water Policy Project. The dedication and resourcefulness of people like Rajendra Singh and Neil Macleod offer inspiration for implementing timely and lasting solutions to the world's water concems.

干渴之地的英雄 Rajendra Singh抵达印度Goratalai村时，受到约50人的欢迎。 他微笑着对村民们说： “你有几户人家？” “八十。” 一位女士说：“已经四年没下多少雨了。”。 “而且我们没有合适的水坝来接水。” 辛格问：“你们有大坝可以建的地方吗？”。 “是的，两个点。” “我愿意帮助你，”辛格告诉他们， “但这项工作必须由你来做。 你必须通过你的劳动提供三分之一的项目，剩下的三分之二我会安排。" 村民们鼓掌，女人们开始唱歌，一行人徒步前往附近岩石山的一个地方。 辛格检查了该地区，几分钟后宣布这是一个理想的地点。 他的组织将提供工程建议和材料； 村民们将提供这项工作。 九米高的土坝，被称为乔哈德-- 可以在雨季开始前的三个月内完成。 如果雨水充足，大坝不仅可以提供饮用水和农业用水， 但也会补充干井。 “你不会马上看到结果。 但很快大坝就会开始提高你井里的水位，”辛格告诉村民。 近年来，辛格的工作在拉贾斯坦邦如雨后春笋般涌现-- 大约1000个村庄估计有4500座水坝，全部使用当地劳动力和当地材料建造。 他说，他的运动已经流行起来，因为它将水的控制权交给了村民。 辛格说：“如果他们觉得一份工作是他们自己的，他们就会坚持下去。”。 “这是一个非常可持续、自力更生的系统。 我可以自信地说，如果我们能以传统方式管理印度的降雨， 我们不断增长的人口将有足够的水。" 勤俭节约，吃穿不缺 1992年，Neil Macleod接任南非德班地铁供水服务负责人。 他发现的情况是一场灾难。 德班有100万人居住在该市，另有150万人生活在城外的贫困中。 麦克劳德和他的工程师们发现，整个城市都存在水管破裂、厕所漏水和管道故障的问题， 该地区42%的水被浪费了。 “我们继承了700起报告的泄漏和爆炸事件。 水真的顺着街道流了下来。 麦克劳德回忆道：“对水的需求每年增长4%，我们认为我们必须在2000年之前再建一座大坝。”。 麦克劳德的船员开始修理和更换水管。 他们在家里装了水表，用四升的马桶取代了八升的马桶， 并更换了浪费的淋浴和水龙头。 为了确保穷人能够获得基本的供水， 麦克劳德在家里安装了水箱，每天为每户免费提供190升水。 德班的用水量现在比1996年少， 尽管还有80多万人接受了服务。 通过合理用水，德班的保护措施在一年内就收回了成本。 麦克劳德说，未来几十年不需要新的水坝， 尽管预计将增加约30万居民。 在德班，麦克劳德也转向了水回收。 在水回收厂，废水在短短12小时内转化为清洁水。 根据麦克劳德的说法，大多数人无法分辨普通饮用水和处理过的废水之间的区别。 他说：“去世界上的许多地区，他们喝的水比这差得多。”。 一些人仍然希望海水淡化等新技术能够解决世界的水问题。 “但事实是，节水是取得巨大收益的地方。” 淡水问题权威、全球水政策项目主任桑德拉·波斯特尔说。 拉金德拉·辛格和尼尔·麦克劳德等人的奉献精神和足智多谋 为及时、持久地解决世界水资源问题提供灵感。

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