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Originally Posted by HydrogenBond
The best natural source of clean water is already setting itself up. It is called global warming. If the earth gets warmer, that means more water from the oceans will evaporate and end up in the atmosphere. This means the amount of drinking water produced by the sun will increase. The bigger storms are a good way to water down the poluted inland water so it can flow to the oceans for recycle. The water table is also replenished so the future will have a larger reservoir of good drinking water.
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It's important to note the difference between GW and climate change. Climate change allows for variability of climate locally. For example, areas that were once forests, might dry up to deserts and then flooding might occur elsewhere.
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The warmer temperatures and the higher supply of rain water, then means that the plants will see a longer growing season and will be able to cover a larger percent of the earth's land. Plants help to fix water, so it can not evaporate as easily.
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Plants do not help fix water. They do the opposite. Through a process known as transpiration (often combined with evaporation to become evapotranspiration), the plants make very efficient water producers effectively syphoning the moisture from the ground and releasing it into the air.
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An acre of corn gives off about 3,000-4,000 gallons (11,400-15,100 liters) of water each day, and a large oak tree can transpire 40,000 gallons (151,000 liters) per year.
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The Water Cycle: Evapotranspiration, from USGS Water Science for Schools
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Beside more fresh water, global warming by stimulating plant growth, will create more food. The fear of global warming is for the short term inconvenience, not the longer term benefits.
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On the global level, I think there will be far less fresh water available if we continue to see a climate shift with a warming trend (we already are). And as Erasmus pointed out, a warming trend would narrow the growing range for many crops.
