Just when I was getting the hang of it....
We were not able to get in the water today. It seems San Salvador is having some very atypical weather. A storm has moved through and has really been kicking up the winds. The water is very choppy and since alot of the studying is at the surface, the waves tend to beat you up when you're swimming. It is also very difficult to stay steady and count the corals and fish.
But out of life's greatest disappointments come new opportunities to learn. We took a kind of historical, archealogical expedition on land today. This island has history going back to Christopher Columbus. (It is between this island and another that claim to be the spot where he landed). We visited a church from the 1750's. I have pictures of the altar and the walls that remain. We also visited an old plantation. The building is in the most beautiful location. It is on top of a hill where you can see the ocean down below. It is amazing that there is not anybody living there today.
Well actually it is not that amazing. The whole issue with this island is that is no natural fresh water anywhere. There are many inland lake but they are all hypersaline. That means SUPER SALTY. There is water water everywhere but not a drop to drink. This island does have remarkable history.
For your journal- The church and plantation I saw today had crumbled. You could see where at first small plants moved in and started growing and then after a while small trees took over. What is the name of this process.
For the blog- How would you get fresh water if you lived on an island like San Salvador?
I will blog you tomorrow and see you Thursday
Mr. Grisanti
posted by Mr. Griz @ 9:30 PM
16 Comments:
Hey Mr. Grisanti
The place that you went to today sounds awesome, despite the fact that there is no fresh water. One way to get freshwater for a small population of people on the island would be to dig large holes, creating a basin to catch rainwater. Obviously, this would not support a large population of people, but it would be a simple way to get freshwater for a small group of people.
~Olivia 6E
MR.G you could get fresh water there by bringing it in jugs on a plane. you could also build some pipes and wells from another island that does have freshwater.
Sam-3
You could possibly get them from other near by countries and have it shipped to you.
-TJ3
You would have to buy it.
Mike3
To get fresh water on an island you could use a barrel to collect rainwater, get water from plants, or bring water in by boat.
Hey Mr. Grisanti! I'm sorry you could not go snorkeling today. On the forcast that I saw for San Salvador Island, Bahamas it said it's supposed to rain this week until Friday, and on Saturday it should clear up.
To your question, you could always set up a rain barrel to collect rain water throughout the year because of the high level of average rain fall on San Salvador Island. You could also harvest water-storing trees or plants to drain the water out of and eat for food.
Hope you have a great time this week. I'm going to the teleconference on Thursday.
(P.S. My comments did not work due to the "Loading" icon when the blog asks me to verify a word.)
~Josh 3
There are a couple of ways to get fresh water on the island. To start you can collect rainwater in something and drink that. You could also probably get some from certain plants. Another way would be to have the water shipped there from somewhere else. You could also build like a factory or something that purifies the water and gets all the salt out of it. I'm not sure how feasible these things are but they're just suggestions.
Good eating,
Lewis 3
I would have bottled water shipped to me because bottled water is considered fresh water
In order to get fresh water, you would have bring fresh water to the island.
~Amelia2
from interior lakes and streams
Austin 3
There are several ways of doing this, but all are relatively expensive in time, labour, and/or money.
If the island gets a lot of rain year-round, you could collect the rain. Benefits: environmentally-sound, inexpensive, virtually labour-free (as long as your water-collecting apparatus is sound, strong and efficient). Drawbacks: If the island doesn't get enough rain, or does not rain consistently, it would be hard to use this method efficiently.
One could always take the easy way out and have water imported from elsewhere. Benefits: no effort on your own part. Drawbacks: If the ship/flight is delayed, you could be dying of thirst or something, and this is expensive in the long run.
Also available is the process of distillation. When you distil water, you boil out the salt. The water turns into a gaseous water vapour, and the salt remains. When the water vapour condenses and is collected, you have clean drinking water. This is labour-taxing, however, for the most part since the more saturated the water is with salt, the more often you have to clean your water distilling apparatus and the less clean water you get from the salt water. Benefits: less expensive money-wise, and is less taxing on the environment since you don't have all the pollution from frequent aeroplane trips and the possibility of introducing invasive species as you do with the frequent boat trips (the planes and boats being necessary with the previous option, of course). Drawbacks: highly labour-taxing, as previously mentioned, you have to figure out what to do with all the salt, and may yield very little 'bang for your buck', as the cliché goes.
The coolest idea I saw from my research was this thing called 'Watercone'. It desalinates water through distillation, however, it is completely solar-powered. There is a circular tray, a funnel-like cone made out of clear, UV-resistant plastic. You get water from wherever you want (preferably from a place with safe water other than the salt), put it in the black tray and set the stoppered cone on top. The sun's rays heat the water, and the vapour is condensed into droplets on the cone. You take off the cone, flip it over, un-stopper the end and pour the water into a water bottle. On average, one Watercone can produce 1 litre of drinking water per day. Benefits: Cheaper than bottled water, eco-friendly, virtually labour-free, cheap in labour-intensive time, etc. Drawbacks: If you only have one, then ... you only have 1 litre. That may not be enough, depending on how much water you use.
Props to this site for the Watercone stuff: http://www.blog.thesietch.org/2007/08/13/watercone-ingenious-way-to-turn-salt-water-to-fresh-water/
~Kendal6E
you could get fresh water by purchsing it from other countries or possibly desalinate the ocean water
tommy 3
For water, you could either have it shipped in by sea or by air, but it would probably be very costly. The other option I have heard of, is like a purification plant or something. You could probably remove the salt from the water and make it drinkable through a complex process which also could be expensive.
Eric 2
Bear G(risanti)rillz,
You are so handy with your survival skills. For these simple people to survive upon this barren wasteland called San Salvador they must use the act of distillation. Now most people dont know how to distill because it is very complicated but i am going to tell you how to do this now: first one must know that distillation has to do with water being converted from the liquid to gaseous phase so that the salt and water particles are separated. This is called evaporation. Then they use a collecting beaker to separate the water and salt in the condenser so that the water is drinkable. This is how many aborigines learn to survive in this very harsh society because once they learned of fire they could now boil off the salt to be able to drink which is very important.
(Note: please read this is a British Bear Grillz voice, Thank You.)
Dont be frightened on the outback you shall be home soon. Remember your Bear Grillz survival skills so that the sharks do not eat you. And! Be Happy.
Lindsey 7
In order to get fresh water to the island you would have to buy it and have it shipped to you.
~TimC3
you shall purchase fresh water from somewhere or get bottled water
Allie.3
Post a Comment
<< Home