Cape Town, South Africa is experiencing a major drought right now. The four million residents are limited to just 13.2 gallons of water a day each. Most people take only 90 second showers, where in America, according to Home Water Works, Americans use about 17.2 gallons in 8.2 minutes, and that’s just in the shower! The causes of this drought include people with gardens and pools, high populations, climate change, and more. Without water, people will have poor hygiene which can lead to health issues, not enough to eat, no water to drink, and some will get run out of businesses and homes. Where does all this water go you might ask? Well, in an article from USA Today, Kirsty Carden says that most is going to the city’s leafy suburbs. People with gardens and swimming pools waste more water than others because they’re used to it coming out of taps. Instead of using this water for recreation we they should be using it for necessities such as cooking, showers, …show more content…
In an article from CBS News, restaurant owner, Alistair Wilson, says that he’s going to start using disposable plates, cups, silverware, etc. so that it doesn’t have to be washed. Another citizen of Cape Town, a police officer, says that he came across a lady running her sprinklers one day, which isn’t allowed. Another business owner, fined two times already, had to shut his business down after getting fined a third time. This just shows that they aren’t afraid to enforce the rules when it comes to the water. Another example in an article from CNN says that the 13.2 gallons of water each person gets is good for a 90 second shower, one toilet flush, and four liters for cooking and drinking. But, an article from Healthline says that you should drink a minimum of two liters of water everyday. This gives you no leeway when it comes to drinking water. These suggestions, only one toilet flush and a 90 second shower can lead to poor hygiene and later, health
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.
On the heart (center) of California is a flat area with miles and miles of farms and up to 230 different crops. The central valley agriculture is essential to the United States; it not only delivers almost half of the produce but also helps the economy by also giving more job opportunities (California Department of food and agriculture, 2014). Many families depend on the central valley agriculture to survive economically in the United States. It is a well-known fact that rain and snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains are a very important element in the central valley. No rain in the central valley can cause many devastating issues to occur quickly. Recently in the year of 2013 California received less rainfall than years before. The small amount of water the central valley is receiving is harming not only to the land but humans and animals as well. It’s destroying the habitats of animals with forest fires caused from the dry spells occurring. The central valley is going through a drought, so much that around this time of year the central valley usually accumulates enough rain for the necessities in the valley, agriculture for example. This year, however, has been different, the central valley hasn’t received enough water and this has caused a drought in the valley. Water is an important element in this world for not only human life, but for the environment in general, a shortage of water supply can bring issues to the environment and those living in it. The central valley holds the largest percent of class one soil, not only that, the valley grows a third of all the produce being grown in the United States, that’s more than 230 crops that are being grown in the central valley. However, this drought isn’t only affecting the resident...
Americans today tend to believe that the Colorado River drought has been a recent occurrence, although drought relief strategies have been implemented since early 1997. To summarize, in the book The Colorado River Basin Drought Planning and Organizations, Colorado is named as the original state to acquire a drought relief plan. For instance, various assume water levels are diminutive in the Colorado and blame is due to the previous ten years of drought throughout the United States. Although it is true that water levels are at a record low, initial plans in the early 1920’s to introduce manufactured structures into the water basin is the original reason Colorado’s water system began to be compromised. It follows, then the supplementary natural
Water shortage in arid and semi-arid regions and declining its availability to a crisis ...
We often hear the saying that water is the source of life so how can mankind waste this precious source that God has given us. A fine example was mentioned in the film about India’s new green agricultural system where 30 times more water is been use than the actual amount required. It is really hard to see how these farmers are spitefully wasting water when it is really needed in the neighboring communities. This goes to show that people only do things to benefit themselves not considering the needs of other people. Not only is water being wasted in developing countries but there is also water wastage in developed countries we often take our water sources for granted here in the US such as not turning off the pipes when brushing our teeth or washing our hands and the list goes on. Water conservation is the key to saving our planet because soon it will become extinct to us human beings.
In other countries all around the world their problem are different like in jamaica they have been in a drought causing all types of problem for there country. Since when a country goes through drought the people of the land can 't grow food or have enough water to survive on. Because without water no food also animals die and suffer. “...more than 18,000 small farmers have been affected by the extreme drought that has been plaguing the country for months”(brown). Said in Brown 's story there are more than 18,000 farmers that are feeling the affect of the region 's
Freshwater is essential to not only life, but also the economy and society's ability to function properly. As of January 17, 2014, and to this day, California has been in a perpetual state of emergency; the worst drought recorded in the state’s history has forced Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr to take executive action, in order to combat the extraordinary lack of water reserves. If left unregulated, the water shortage could culminate as one of the greatest calamities in California history. Not only would California’s agricultural industry collapse, a chain reaction would be set off, causing a halt of the state’s economy and eventually leaving millions of people across the state without functional access to water. In order to ensure that California
Here are two places in the World that are having big drought problems and are at risk of depleting all of their fresh water due to the excess digging into their aquifers. Waukesha, Wisconsin, USA and Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, which is located in the Middle East; both are the scarcest regions of the world. Both regions are at risk of losing all of their fresh water...
Mother Nature can be unforgiving, but perhaps the most unforgiving act of Mother Nature is her ability to rid the land and weather forecast of the most precious resource of them all, water. When the stress of a drought is causing major problems the people of the area affected, the crops and livestock, and the water sources are all hit the hardest. This essay is going to explain to you the effects on those three things in the event of a severe drought.
Although inside the house, there is clearly a heavy water usage, it is scary to learn that the majority of water wasted is in the yard. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “of the 26 billion gallons of water consumed daily in the United States, approximately 7.8 billion gallons, or 30 percent, is devoted to outdoor uses.” An average lawn will be watered with over 10,000 gallons of water per year (Erie 203). Although a lot of water is used to keep these lawns green, the sad truth is that many of these gallons will never even water the lawn due to evaporation and direct runoff.
Droughts, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center, originate from a deficiency of precipitation over an extended period of time, usually a season or more, resulting in a water shortage for some activity, group, or environmental sector (N.D.M.C, 2014). However, droughts differ depending on location and geography of the land, for example, living in California and having a dry summer wouldn’t be considered a drought because that is expected for that certain area. As we can see, droughts can be hard to define or diagnose for the reason of location because there are many factors that play a role on considering if it is a drought or not.
“For most of the history of our species we were helpless to understand how nature works. We took every storm, drought, illness and comet personally. We created myths and spirits in an attempt to explain the patterns of nature (Druyan).” According to Fox, Drought came also be seen as a slow- motion train wreck. We still have a very short time to get the people off safely before the crash. This drought is causing long dry period in regions were rain fall is usually frequent enough. From there this drought is turning to more like a famine because the area in drought is so huge and is causing much conflict for the survival of the people (2011). These areas include Somalia, southern Ethiopia, and northern Kenya.
According to CQ Researcher’s Cooper “More than a billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water and their numbers are growing”(Water Shortage). Is it fair that so many people must go without water while thousands of gallons are wasted here in the United States? Cooper in addition commented that “unlike the vast majority of natural resources water often is seen as a free commodity like the air we breathe” (Water Shortage). Without seeing water as something worth conserving, we literally pour away our most valuable resource. We can not afford this; water shortages already ravage the majority of the world: “If per-capita water consumption continues to rise at current rates, humans will take more than 90 percent of all available fresh water by 2025, leaving only 10 percent of the earth’s fresh water for all animals and plants on the planet” (Cooper, Water Shortage). Even the water that is available to humans is often not clean enough to safely drink: “Outbreaks of cholera and other waterborne diseases kill 10 million people each year” (Cooper, Water Quality). Cooper acknowledged that“1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water...
Many people around the world need water. Around 780 million people are unable to get clean water (One Billion Affected). People who do have access to clean water in their homes, have to pay a fee. The people who struggle to live obviously do not have enough money to buy water. People who are unable to have clean water have a good chance of dying either from disease or from dehydration. At least 3.4 million people die a year from water problems such as sanitation (One Billion Affected).
A drought is a lengthened dry period where there is not a sufficient amount of water for users’ standard requirement. Australia is the driest continent. The main explanation is that our country lies in a region of high atmospheric pressure and an inconsistent rate of rainfall. During a drought, streams and rivers dry up whilst plants and animals die. This is because they lack water and there tends to be less food to eat. Droughts in Australia tend to occur in areas away from the coast, but still, each state or territory is prone to droughts. South Australia is the driest state in Australia and is vulnerable to frequent droughts.