1.0 Introduction
Water is one very essential resource for human existence. It accounts for about two thirds of the earth surface with a volume of about 1.4 billion cubic centimeter. About 97 percent of the total earth’s water is salt water from the ocean with only a minute percentage existing as freshwater accessible for direct human consumption. Freshwater is found in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and underground sources some of which are shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. The lack of portable drinking water needs not be overemphasized as more than 1.2 billion people in the world lack access to clean drinking water (UNDP, 2006). The situation is projected to get worse as the needs for water increases due to city development and population growth with an estimate of 1.8 billion people to live in absolute water scarcity by 2025. The arid regions are the most affected with cases of droughts which may occur as a result of consistent lack of rainfall. Sudan is one country that is grossly affected by lack of rainfall with problems of available water supply for its population. This report will examine the fresh water supply issues in Sudan. Also, water supply option such as desalination and groundwater will be evaluated using cost, environmental impacts and its feasibility factor for both methods.
2.0 Background Study on Sudan
Sudan is has a total landmass area of 1,886,068 square Km with an 853 km coastline bordered by the Red Sea. It has a population of about 37.2 million people with about 1.9 million people in Khartoum the capital. Sudan is bordered by these countries; Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Chad. The Nile River runs transverse to the country dividing it into eastern an...
... middle of paper ...
...stan Times, 2012. India global leader in underground water extraction. [Online]
Available at: http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/newdelhi/india-global-leader-in-underground-water-extraction/article1-939877.aspx
[Accessed 1 April 2014].
MailOnline, 2012. Massive underground reserves of water found in some of Africa's driest areas. [Online]
Available at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2133339/Massive-underground-reserves-water-Africa.html
[Accessed 2 April 2014].
Planning Commission, 2007. Report of expert group: Groundwater Management and Ownership, New Delhi: Government of India.
UNDP, 2006. Human Development Report: Coping with water scarcity. Challenge of the twenty-first century., s.l.: UN-Water, FAO, 2007.
Yuan, Z. & Tol, R. . S. J., 2005. Evaluating the costs of desalination and water transport. WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, 41(3), pp. 1-16.
Desalination plants overall could be a huge benefit to society for its high quality of water and intuitive water treatment techniques, however the big environmental impacts and high costs to produce water at a desalination plant makes it unfavorable to most communities especially the poorer communities. Although costs for the production and upkeep for a desalination plant has been going down while the technology of it rises, the only true benefit for having a desalination plant would only come into affect when it is near a body of ocean, such as Tampa Bay Water. All in all desalination plants could soon be the face of future water treatment plants and water sources, but for the present time it is still only a niche water source.
Over the past fifty years, the U.S. population has doubled in size. During this time, total water usage per person has almost tripled. Since the end of World War II, there has been a steady increase of people moving out of rural areas and into cities. As a result, the domestic self-supplied population has greatly decreased and the need for public-water supply systems has intensified. These factors, in conjunction with certain economic trends, precipitation, and global climate changes, pose difficult challenges in the years to come.
Water shortage in arid and semi-arid regions and declining its availability to a crisis ...
Mercer, Dave. "Desal Or Not To Desal? The Desalination Debate In Australia." Geodate 21.2 (2008): 5-7. Academic Search Complete. Web. 2 Dec. 2013.
Th Ogallala Aquifer is the largest "underground sponge" in the United States. It contains more that 977 trillion gallons, or three billion acre-feet of water. (An acre-foot...
This is because only a small part of the population, particularly in developing countries, have access to water of acceptable quality. It is estimated that in some countries only 20% of the rural population has water of satisfactory quality. Based on these statistics, it is clear the urgent need for awareness about caring for water use. Almost without realizing it, we are seriously jeopardizing this essential resource, not for us but for our children's children and their generations, aware that in other parts o...
Tadesse, Debay. Post-independence South Sudan: the challenges ahead. ISPI-ISTITUTO PER GU STUDI DI POLITICA INTERNAZIONALE. February 2012.no.46.
Introduction on Water It covers 70% of our planet, makes up 75% of our body, it is necessary for survival and it is declining at a rapid rate (http://www.sscwd.org). It is water. Unfortunately, clean water is rare, almost 1 billion people in developing countries do not have access to water everyday. “Yet, we take it for granted, we waste it, and we even pay too much to drink it from little plastic bottles” (The Water Project). Use of earth’s natural resources should be seen as prosperity, although it is taken for granted, every aspect of daily life revolves around the environment, forcing water conservation to be necessary for future on this planet.
This, however, does not mean that India is solely responsible for certain deadlocks, even though its share of responsibility may be larger than other countries which have their own physical limitations and political apprehensions. As elsewhere in the world, and more particularly in the subcontinent where population explosion continues and environmental degradation worsens, water resources, like energy, are going to be much lower than the increasing demand, even if they are harnessed to the most optimum. Given the depleting resources of water, the issues of human security, and water security as its most crucial part, are going to assume astronomical proportions. The issues of water distribution and management are bringing not only countries of the region, but also states and regions within provinces into conflict since they are not being settled amicably within a grand framework of riparian statutes respecting upstream and downstream rights. What is, however, quite appreciable is that the countries of the subcontinent have made certain remarkable efforts to resolve their differences over water distribution through bilateral agreements.
Freshwater is quite scarce, but it is even scarcer than one might think: about seventy percent of all freshwater is frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland and is unavailable to humans. Most of the remainder is present as soil moisture or lies in deep underground aquifers as groundwater. It is not economically feasible to extract this waster for use as drinking water. This leaves less than one percent of the world’s fresh water that is available to humans. It includes the water found in lakes, reservoirs, groundwater that is shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. These freshwater sources are the only sources that are frequently replenished by rain and snowfall, and therefore are renewable. At the current rates of consumption, however, this supply of fresh water will not last. Pollution and contamination of freshwater sources exacerbate the problem, further reducing the amount of freshwater available for human consumption. Something must be done if humans want to even survive in the near future: the lack of clean drinking water is already the number one cause of disease in the world today. The first step is worldwide awareness of the water crisis: governments and the citizens they govern worldwide need to know about this problem and be actively involved in solving this problem.
Water scarcity is harmful to human life because when water is poorly managed throughout the world, those who need water are deprived of nutrients they truly need, causing them to die. This eventually affects the global population. Therefore, many experts have proposed several solutions such as the LifeSaver Bottle, TrojanUVPhox treatment system, and Waste Water Recycling. 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.
Water is the most priceless resource on our planet. Billions of gallons flow through our rivers and lakes. Millions of gallons are consumed by humans each day. Our world’s surface is seventy percent water. With so much water around us, how can 1.1 billion people still lack access to clean water (Cooper, Water Shortages)? People are already using fifty four percent of all the freshwater available on this planet (Cooper, Water Shortages). We cannot afford to neglect something so essential to our very survival. We must defend our most important natural resource—water.
Aquifers feed our rivers and supply much of our drinking water. Groundwater pollution is much less obvious than surface-water pollution, but is no less of a problem. As the long Mediterranean summer drags on and the promise of rain evaporates as quickly as the few fat drops that have fallen here and there, residents of the capital and its surrounding areas find themselves resorting to ad hoc private water networks as the public pipes run dry. "We had originally dug at 30 meters, but we are now digging at 70 meters," one private water supplier and well owner told The Daily Star(Unknown, 2013,page
"Water Crisis." World Water Council. 7th World Water Council, 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/library/archives/water-crisis/
Water is an integral part of not only human beings but all other creatures in the world. We use it every day for different purposes such as domestic, agricultural and industrial. Water has always been a prestigious resource. However, the majority of people do not appraise water’s worth since they do not face water scarcity; whereas, in third world countries it is one of the most serious problems. Nearly 2.4 billion people have a lack of water resources in the world, shows the investigation done by the Pacific Institute, an Oakland, California-based non-profit scientific research group. Moreover, every year this number is growing gradually and more people are suffering (Bloomberg News, 2010). There are certain causes which deteriorate current situation. The most influential reasons are global warming, pollution by human-beings and overpopulation. It is known that India is one of the countries which face water scarcity so this essay will consider the possible ways of solutions of water shortage in India.