Caused by climate change and urbanization, water shortages are a major concern of the Mexican government at both the local and federal level. Mexico City, the third largest city in the world with more than twenty million inhabitants, struggles with water scarcity because of the potential risk it poses to the wellbeing of its citizens. Similar to the situation in other megacities, such as Jakarta and Bangkok, Mexico City’s water supplies are being depleted because of a growing urban population. (CBC News , 2009 ) Unable to sufficiently supply the increasing population size of the city, the water in the Mexico Valley aquifer is being drawn out faster than the aquifer’s recharge rate. Exacerbated by the fragmented nature of Mexico’s political culture, the exploitation of Mexico City’s water resources due to a growing urban population is detrimentally degrading the environment and creating a self-perpetuating problem that places the city and its inhabitants at risk.
The Mexican government has been ineffective in addressing the ecological issues associated with the water shortages in Mexico City because of its institutional fragmentation. Currently, forty-five percent of the water used in the greater Mexico City is supplied by over-exploiting the aquifer because the current water extraction rate from the aquifer is one hundred and eighty-four percent greater than the sustainable level. (Pina, 2011 ) Since Mexico City receives seventy percent of its water from the aquifer, its depletion poses a significant problem to the government of Mexico and its people. (Pina, 2011 ) In Mexico City, the federal, regional and local government levels all play a part in determining water management policies. While the local government of Mexico City sh...
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Grillo, I. (2009, April 11). Dry Taps in Mexico City: A Water Crisis Gets Worse. Retrieved January 2014, from Time: http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1890623,00.html
Pina, P. (2011 , March ). Addressing water Crisis in Mexico City. Retrieved 2014, from SYPA: http://watersecurityinitiative.seas.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Patricia%20PINA%20SYPA%20on%20Mexico%20City%20Water_0.pdf
Reig, P. (2012, December 12). Entrepreneurs in Mexico City Turn Water Risk into Opportunity. Retrieved January 2014 , from World Resources Institute : http://www.wri.org/blog/entrepreneurs-mexico-city-turn-water-risk-opportunity
Shapiro, A. D. (2013 , February 7 ). Collecting Rain in Mexico City. Retrieved January 2014 , from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/rain-mexico-city.html
Drip irrigation, xeriscape, desalination, water recycling, personal water conservation, and the change of household appliances are all techniques that would have a positive effect on California’s drought. Because of the constantly growing population, the demand for water is constantly growing. To make sure that this water crisis doesn’t become vital, Californian’s should think it is their duty to help improve the situation. These improvements can be made in farmers, landscapers, and the everyday citizen. Everyone should do their part in employing these techniques, whether they take the simple approach of shortened shower times or a costly approach, and re-design their outdoor spaces to be xeriscaped and use drip systems. California’s water is precious, and it is the duty of California Citizens implement solutions to bust the water drought.
Maude Barlow’s “Water Incorporated: The Commodification of the World’s Water” gives a voice to a very real but vastly unknown issue: the privatization of water. I refer to it as vastly unknown because it wasn’t until this article that I was even aware such a power struggle existed. Barlow first introduces startling statistics, meant to grab the attention of its reader. Once she has your attention, she introduces the “new generation of trade and investment agreements.” (306) This includes referencing many different acronyms such as, FTAA, NAFTA, GTAA and WWF. FTAA, NAFTA, and GTAA are the villains of this story. Simply put, the privatization of water would end in socioeconomic turmoil and dehydration worldwide.
In December of 1915 a huge step for the rights of Peasants in Peru was taken. Juan Pevez was born in Ica, Peru and in 1915 he lead an uprising against the Picasso family who ran the that Pevez worked on. In Water!, an excerpt from Pevez’s autobiography, a dispute over rights to water is described and how the peasants overcame . Southern Peru does not see much rain during the year, so when it does come it is an extremely valued commodity. In December 1915 a very unusual thing happened. The water came much earlier that year and to the peasant's surprise it went unnoticed by the estate owners. In that time the estate owners unlawfully kept the water from the peasants until their own fields were irrigated. The water came that year in the middle of the night so the estate owners were clueless. Unaware that they had the same rights to the water as the estate owners, the farmers were reluctant to open up the Sluice gates that allowed the water to enter their own small canals to irrigate their land. Juan Pevez, who was enrolled in the School of Agronomy informed the farmers that legally they had a right to the water. Trusting Pevez, they all opened their gates to irrigate their fields unbeknownst to the landowners. Soon, morning came and the “stolen” water was noticed and a brawl broke out between the serfs and the estate owners. After being broken up the peasants formed a delegation to make a plea to the Technical Commission to state their concern about the unfair distribution of water. The director of the commission, Ezequiel Gago, heard both sides argument. In December 1915 history was made when Gago ruled in favor of the Peasants. That was the first time in the history of the valley that a group of peasants won a case against a powerful landowner like Picasso.
What we have seen in late January has proved that the city of Phoenix needs one more water treatment facility. The tax revenue that will be lost if a water crisis every happen again will pay for the building of the new facility. The water department has known of this problem for years but has chosen not to rectify the hazard. City officials chalked up the high levels of sediment in the water to Mother Nature, but they acknowledge that a series of decisions by water officials could have worsened the problem. (Villa, Fehr-Snyder, 1) The water department knew and Frank Fairbanks knew that maintenance was required on rotating bases, on each facility and chooses to take two offline during the “winter” or “rainy months”.
Increase in water consumption is a topic usually discussed inasmuch as this problem affects many cities. Phoenix is located in the State of Arizona, with around 540 square miles. Moreover, according to official site of City of Phoenix, the city ranks as one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation with approximately 1.4 million people. The city of Phoenix, although it is being in an arid area, has a per capita consumption lower than expected. The consumption of water is essential for life; however, what have to be analyzed is the withdrawal of water; furthermore, the capacity of regeneration of water resources mainly for future generations, which is the concept of sustainability. There are many aspects that would influence the consumption of water; however, each city has its own particularities. Although, Phoenix when analyzed as totality does not have an excessive consumption; it is a peculiar city and if an analysis is done in small scale, such as neighborhood, it is possible to identify the major consumer of water. “Determinants of residential water demand reflect both indoor and outdoor use and including size of the houses, if the houses have swimming pools, lot size, and the prevalence of gardens and vegetation that require water.” (Elizabeth A. Wentz & Patricia Gober, 2007). In addition, according to Phoenix City, since 1881, when the city was officially incorporated, until today’s date, the city of Phoenix has been improving its own capacity to provide water for the population. Phoenix can reach 2.2 million people by the 2030 (Census Boreau, 2010). A challenge for the future is to find new resources to provide water for the population even in severe drought.
Cities in Texas are especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Depending on where they are located, cities vary in their vulnerability and most major cities face a decline in water resources. Coastal cities, such as from Houston to the Rio Grande, are exposed to a rise in sea level. The decline of fresh water reservoirs and the rising sea level ...
Water shortage is a growing problem for most countries in the world. For China, which has 20% of world’s population and only 7% of available water resources, this problem may become catastrophic (Hofstedt 2010, 72). Therefore some actions and measures should be performed to avoid or at least to weaken future water crisis in China. In this work the following three solutions will be proposed and analyzed in terms of efficiency and applicability: water usage efficiency improvement; adopting the local agencies on controlling water resources; reasonable water pricing.
California water war has been an great example of different cities fighting against each other since they all share the common characteristics of greed, and selfish. Back in the 1800’s, Los Angeles grew largely in populations when finally it outgr...
Conflict between residents in northern Nevada and SNWA has risen (Brean, 2015). In 2012 the U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced its support of SNWA wanting to build a pipeline from rural Nevada to Las Vegas, rural Nevada being primarily in the northern portion of the state (Larsen et al., 2015). Residents including farmers who depend on water for their crops argue that redirecting water supplies would harm the environment and wildlife that inhabit northern Nevada (Brean, 2015). There is also an issue of oversubscription, this is due to the Colorado River not only supplying water to Nevada but neighboring states which include “Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah” (Wockner, 2014). Both Arizona and California are expecting water shortages in the future as they too depend on the Colorado River (Wockner, 2014).
Tortajada, Celcilia, and Asit K. Biswas. “Water Quality: An Ignored Global Crisis.” Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 21 Mar. 2013. Web 26 Mar. 2014.
Residents of Southern or Coastal California may not realize the extensive issues that dry climate has caused on one of the state’s most profitable industries. Agriculture is not just a way of life in California’s Central Valley, it is the way of life for most, in some shape or form. For instance, the Central Valley accounts for just under two percent of the country’s cropland. However, money wise it produces nearly half of the nation’s fruit and nuts (Nijhuis 1). As a result of the drought, water given to farmers to water crops has been reduced. On the contrary, the water being taken from farmers is not going to city use but for environmental use. Water being directed for environmental use can be defined as water that is used to sustain certain ecosystems, national parks, forests, and wetlands. Up to 4.4 million acre-feet of water goes to environmental use annually, meanwhile farmers are being forced to sell dried up fields and find a new way of living. Another issue is that both the people and farms are receiving less water than the state has contracted that they would receive. The state has been truthful to environmentalists however, by providing them with the full amount of water contracted. While conditions have worsened for the agricultural aspect of California, farmers are finding relief in pumping groundwater
Moving forward to the United States of America (USA) that is not only considered a capitalist society but has fallen head first on the nail that is water privatization. Water is taken for granted in this country because water access seems limitless in most areas of the country. To think that the USA has water problem seem impossible, however ,Craig Anthony Arnold, who studied trends of water privatization in America stated, “privatization of water and public water system pose underappreciated risked to both public right and national security in the United States” (Arnold 789). For example the State of Michigan is becoming a country known to have a major water issue. The city of Flint has a serious water contamination, which has numeral players
Many scientific studies also show increases in the intensity, duration, and extent of droughts, higher atmospheric temperatures, warmer sea surface temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, and diminishing glaciers and snowpack. The bottom line is that causes of climate change, such as greenhouse gas emissions, will have to be minimized if people want to do as much as possible to solve the water crisis. Works Cited Water demand management: the case of Zaragoza, Spain Web 25 Nov. 2014. http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/swm_cities_zaragoza_2010/pdf/final_report_swm_cities.pdf.
The problem of water scarcity has increasingly spread throughout the world as of yet, The UN reports that within the next half- century up to 7 billion people in 60 countries which is more than the whole present population will face water scarcity (Sawin “Water Scarcity could Overwhelm the Next Generation”). As well the demand for freshwater has tripled over the past 50 years, and is continuing to rise as a result of population growth and economic development. 70% of this demand derives from agriculture which shows the influence of water on food supply globally as well not just drinking water (Sawin “Water Scarcity could overwhelm the Next Generation”). But increasing water use is not just a matter of the greater number of people needing it to drink and eat; it also comes from pollution and misuse of water supplies, by either dumping or runoff of bacteria or chemicals into water. This also “causes other pollutions as well such as soil and air pollution, accelerating wetland damage and human caused global warming” (Smith and Thomassey 25). According to UN report, recent estimates suggest that climate change will account for about 20 percent of the increase in global water scarcity in coming decades.
"Water Crisis & Solutions." Water Crisis & Solutions. Water For People, 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://www.waterforpeople.org/extras/crisis/water-crisis-and-solutions.html