While irrigation seemed to be the key to successful agriculture, the method turns out to have severe drawbacks, such as over-exploitation of existing fresh water reservoirs. For too long, Southwest Kansas farmers have been mining aquifer water to meet the demands of agri-business without considering the consequences of continually exceeding the recharge rate. Researchers are now testing different types of precision systems, which will allow farmers to deliver irrigation directly to the plants, preventing the loss of large amounts of water to evaporation. The reduction of water consumption by crops is also practiced in Kenya, where farmers are helped by a technique known as drip irrigation. In Mexico, there is a struggle to provide cleaner, safer water to feed vast numbers of people.
Water is a key resource that is used by a spectrum of industries in a variety of ways.
After tens of years of excessive water use, it is clear that water consumption in industry can have very damaging effects on the local environment as well as on larger ecosystems. While water has always been used in steel production, the steel industry has often returned that water to the environment loaded with chemicals. But a new way of producing steel is taking hold. This episode shows how a Japanese steel company is leading the industry in its water conservation and environmental policies. In Canada, an extraordinary mill became the world's first zero-effluent pulp mill.