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Name: Grant
Status: student
Age:  13
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: 2000-2001
Question:
If we continue our current water consumption rate how long will it take for the world to run out of accesable fresh water?

Replies:
Dear Grant-

We should never completely run out of fresh water, as long as itcontinues to rain and snow. Precipitation continually replenishes the water supply.

If we continue to use fresh water faster than it is replenished by precipitation, we may have to augment the supply, or reduce usage to match the natural repenishment rate. Augmentation could be accomplished by several methods, such as sea water desalinization, or melting of the polar ice caps. These methods would be very expensive by today's standards, and transporting the fresh water to where it is needed would increase the expense.

Wendell Bechtold, Meteorologist
Forecaster, National Weather Service
Weather Forecast Office, St. Louis, MO

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