Facing the Freshwater Crisis
- As demand for freshwater soars, planetary supplies are becoming unpredictable. Existing technologies could avert a global water crisis, but they must be implemented soon
- Global freshwater resources are threatened by rising demands from many quarters. Growing populations need ever more water for drinking, hygiene, sanitation, food production and industry. Climate change, meanwhile, is expected to contribute to droughts
- Policymakers need to figure out how to supply water without degrading the natural ecosystems that provide it
- Existing low-tech approaches can help prevent scarcity, as can ways to boost supplies, such as improved methods to desalinate water
- But governments at all levels need to star t setting policies and making investments in infrastructure for water conservation now
- Wise use of such power will become increasingly important as the years go by because the world’s demand for freshwater is currently overtaking its ready supply in many places
- Today one out of six people, more than a billion, suffer inadequate access to safe freshwater
- By 2025, according to data released by the United Nations, the freshwater resources of more than half the countries across the globe will undergo either stress for example, when people increasingly demand more water than is available or safe for use or out right shortages
- Scientists expect water scarcity to become more common in large part because the world’s population is rising and many people are getting richer (thus expanding demand) and because global climate change is exacerbating aridity and reducing supply in many regions
- Many water sources are threatened by faulty waste disposal, releases of industrial pollutants, fertilizer runoff and coastal influxes of saltwater into aquifers as groundwater is depleted
- Because lack of access to water can lead to starvation, disease, political instability and even armed conflict, failure to take action can have broad and grave consequences
- What is needed now is action. Governments and authorities at every level have to formulate and execute concrete plans for implementing the political, economic and technological measures that can ensure water security now and in the coming decades
- Solving the world’s water problems requires, as a start, an understanding of how much freshwater each person requires, along with knowledge of the factors that impede supply and increase demand in different parts of the world
- Providing adequate water is especially challenging in drier, underdeveloped and developing nations with large populations, because demand in those areas is high and supply is low
- Shortages of freshwater are meanwhile growing more common in developed countries as well
- Such arrangements often leave poor people and nonhuman consumers of water the flora and fauna of the adjacent ecosystems with insufficient allocations
- Not only does demand rise with population size and growth rate, it also tends to go up with income level: richer groups generally consume more water, especially in urban and industrial areas
- In addition to income levels, water prices help to set the extent of demand
- Raising prices can in addition convince municipalities and others to reduce water losses by improving maintenance of water-delivery systems
- When the goal is to save water, another key strategy should be to focus on the largest consumers
- Conserving irrigation flows would conserve dramatically more freshwater
- An additional approach to saving irrigation water involves channeling water that is eventually intended for crop fields to underground storage in the nongrowing season
- Keeping the demand for irrigation water in arid and semiarid areas down while still meeting the world’s future food requirements can be supported by supplying “virtual water” to those places
- The ever expanding demand for urban, water-based sanitation services can be reduced by adopting dry, or low-water-use, devices such as dry composting toilets with urine separation systems
- Some 3 percent of all the water on the earth is fresh; all the rest is salty
- Energy-efficient desalination technology—membrane reverse-osmosis systems can secure new sources of potable water
- Not surprisingly, staving off future water shortages means spending money-a lot of it
- It is crucial that wealthier nations provide more funds to assist the effort to help others who lack access to adequate water
- We do not have to invent new technologies; we must simply accelerate the adoption of existing techniques to conserve and enhance the water supply
As demand for freshwater soars, planetary supplies are becoming unpredictable. Existing technologies could avert a global water crisis, but they must be implemented soon. Global freshwater resources are threatened by rising demands from many quarters. Growing populations need ever more water for drinking, hygiene, sanitation, food production and industry. Climate change, meanwhile, is expected to contribute to droughts. Policymakers need to figure out how to supply water without degrading the natural ecosystems that provide it. Existing low-tech approaches can help prevent scarcity, as can ways to boost supplies, such as improved methods to desalinate water. But governments at all levels need to star t setting policies and making investments in infrastructure for water conservation now. Today one out of six people, more than a billion, suffer inadequate access to safe freshwater. By 2025, according to data released by the United Nations, the freshwater resources of more than half the countries across the globe will undergo either stress for example, when people increasingly demand more water than is available or safe for use or out right shortages. Many water sources are threatened by faulty waste disposal, releases of industrial pollutants, fertilizer runoff and coastal influxes of saltwater into aquifers as groundwater is depleted. Because lack of access to water can lead to starvation, disease, political instability and even armed conflict, failure to take action can have broad and grave consequences. What is needed now is action. Governments and authorities at every level have to formulate and execute concrete plans for implementing the political, economic and technological measures that can ensure water security now and in the coming decades. Solving the world’s water problems requires, as a start, an understanding of how much freshwater each person requires, along with knowledge of the factors that impede supply and increase demand in different parts of the world. Water can be saved if implements such as raising water prices to increase incentives for conservation, reducing the intensity of irrigation, applying the virtual water method, using dry composting toilets with urine separation systems, and desalination technology like the reverse-osmosis systems. In addition, wealthier nations like India and China can help out those in need by giving funds and extra support to places like Africa. Simple things like these can be achieved if we put our minds to it. The fate of the world's water supply and as for the future lies in our hands. The time is now.
Water is extremely important because it is one of the basic things that all living things need in order to survive. Without this component, life would not be possible. The nature out in the wilderness and humans alike need water. Water is something we all use in everyday life. It is almost everywhere and in everything we do. Food needs water. Clothes needs water. Even our own bodies need water. After thinking about it, water is too valuable to say that it is cheap because it really isn't. Water shouldn't be exploited and we have the knowledge and technology to do so in order to prevent that. Therefore, the water crisis can be solved no matter what regardless of the circumstances and that even if 3% are freshwater and 97% of them are all salty.