Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Scarcity and conservation of water
Scarcity and conservation of water
Water scarcity and conservation report
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Scarcity and conservation of water
Water is thought as a renewable resource, because it is replenished by rainfall (PIMENTEL – water resources – agricultural and environmental issues). Notwithstanding, its amount varies over different regions at different times of the year. Human water necessity is almost the same throughout the year; therefore human communities try to control its availability through the construction of dams in some major rivers and pumping of groundwater.
At least 1.2 billion people live in areas of physical water scarcity and another 1.6 billion people confront economical water shortage, that is when the countries do not have the infrastructure to take water from rivers and aquifers (UN http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml) as shown in figure 1. Besides the scarcity in drinkable water supply, there are other problems such as water pollution (harming biodiversity of rivers and lakes, and transmitting diseases) and other water usages such as food production, management of human wastes and dilution of pollutants.
In the entire world, there are signs of decline in water availability. This can be exemplified by the reduction in the area occupied by Africa’s Lake Chad and by the Aral Sea (PLAN B 2.0 PAGE 50). Besides a lot of countries such as China, United States, India, Mexico, Jordan, Syria, Pakistan and South Korea are overpumping their aquifers and watching as their water tables fall (Shah et al. 2007 cited in Fraiture & Berndes, 2009). Most of the groundwater available is located in fossil aquifers where depletion brings pumping to an end (PLAN B 2.0 pages 41, 42, 43). Another sign of decline is the fact that some rivers do not reach the ocean anymore, between them are the Colorado and the Yellow river, and some other major ri...
... middle of paper ...
...l production from food crops is not economically viable, thus the biofuel production from lignocellulosic plants is less likely to be. There are uncertainties regarding if the lignocellulosic crops are really going to decrease the water consumption of ethanol production. And finally, biofuel production can cause food insecurity within the producer countries and sometimes it can be expanded to the rest of the world due to the increase of prices.
Therefore, with the current previsions of growth in world and urban population, meat consumption and biofuel production, it seems impossible to meet all the demands. The water supply is facing major problems in different locations of the world and the climate change is also affecting the availability of water. Thus society will have to change its overall behaviour to confront the upcoming water, land, energy and food issues
Water shortage in arid and semi-arid regions and declining its availability to a crisis ...
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.
As brackish water lapped against the shoreline, a wooden fort towered shielding the sick and the dead. Natives lurk in the shadows waiting to strike and relations amongst the colonist was stressful. What is happening? In 1606, Jamestown, Virginia 104 men sailed up the chesapeake bay in search of land and gold. But in this new land these men were not ready to face the challenges ahead.
In our generation of new technologies and high civilization it is hard to believe that our World is in Water crisis. This crisis is affecting not only low-developed parts of the world but also it affects high-developed countries, about one third of the humanity suffers from the scarcity of water (Molden 2010). One of the main causes of it is overpopulation. In increasing water demand water sources which we have now are not able to renew themselves. Another factor of water scarcity is not economized water consumption. Nowadays most of countries are beginning to realize that solving the problem of scarcity of water is very crucial. One of them is Mexico where water shortage is the national problem.
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...
Mexico is the country where water is the serious problem and it is still deteriorating (UNESCO, 2006). In the last two decades, as the population of the country has been growing intensively, the demand for water has also dramatically increased. The number of people who suffer from water shortage is about 11 million; almost 11% of Mexico’s total population (Castro and Heller, 2009). There are lots of problems connected with water shortage. One of the main problems is that in the situation with water scarcity the government decided to pump water from aquifers. For example, Mexico City is provided with water by six aquifers (UNESCO, 2006). The consequences of pumping groundwater resources are quite negative: aquifers are overexploited and they are drying, and ground is sinking for 40 cm every year (UNESCO, 2006). It is obvious that water shortage is a serious problem and effective measures must be taken in order to prevent water crisis.
Over the last 25 years, these differences and the importance of water has grown to occupy national and international agendas. Many international organizations, such as the United Nations, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Association, and the Stockholm International Water Institute, hold conferences related to water issues. Awareness among scientists, political leaders and citizens of the connections between climate change, the hydrologic cycle, food production, environmental services, infrastructure needs, and sustainable water resource management increases every year. The message highlighted by all these efforts is that water is an increasingly scarce resource and that it is important to recognize and accept that there is a finite supply of water. Competition among agriculture, industry, and cities for limited water supplies is already constraini...
One child dies every 90 seconds somewhere in the world due to no water or contaminated water. I was shocked to hear this statistic and decided to research the reasons why water, the main fuel for life on Earth is in short supply. Seventy percent of the world’s water is in the ocean. Out of the remaining water only 3% is drinkable and 1% is available for drinking. As Brazil has more water than any other country in the world. Amazing, despite having considerable water reserves, Brazil is experiencing water shortages. I have selected Afghanistan as a country that has the world’s worst water supply, mainly due to ongoing war that has destroyed the countries infrastructure for fresh water and sanitation. It is predicted that by 2050 there will not be adequate water supplies for the world population.
Description/ History: Water scarcity is both a natural and a human-made phenomenon. There is enough freshwater on the planet for seven billion people but it is distributed unevenly and too much of it is wasted, polluted and unsustainably managed. (United Nations). To reiterate water scarcity or water shortages have always been a problem but in the resent years more of them have been appearing in certain locations and the water shortages have gotten worse. Populations that live in deserts such as the in habitants of the Sahara and the Mojave are facing the worst droughts ever recorded. It isn’t just the people who are living in the desert that are feeling water stress but just about anywhere that has a large population. The Great Plains in the United States is about to face a crisis because the Ogallala aquifer it being used up at an alarming rate. Within twenty five years, if it is continued to be used at the current rate, it will gone which will devastate the six state...
Water is a natural resource which is precious and scarce. Along with the depleting levels of fossil fuel we need to worry about the fast exhaustion of the fresh water available for human consumption. According to geologists, only three percent of water is available as fresh water- meaning non-saline water. This water is present in the form of glacial ice, rivers, ground water and fresh water lake. Water needs to be used wisely and economically as the reduced water level is posing a great threat for the future generations. To conserve water we need to access the amount of water consumed by us on daily basis. This is known as water foot printing. Water that we consume is either direct i.e. in the form of drinking water, bathing and for
Freshwater in the world makes up only a small portion of the water on the planet. While the percentage of water in the world is nearly 70%, only 2.5% is consumable. Even further, only 1% is easily accessible to basic human needs. According to National Geographic, “by 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change.” With this current trend, water will become more immersed in environmental, economic, political, and social changes.
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.
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 is something that every person on the planet needs, but most people do not realize the importance of. Clean water is needed for every living thing on earth to survive, including and especially human and animal survival. Apart from survival, water is needed for other basic wants, such as cooking, washing oneself and one’s clothes, recreation, and keeping plants alive in gardens and parks. Clean water has so many uses that are often taken for granted by ordinary people because of such easy access. Although the planet has a freshwater supply that is continually recycled and should consequently be sustainable, humans alter the water cycle with pollutants and overdrawing water supplies faster than natural processes can replenish them; it
Rogers, Peter. 2008. "Facing the Freshwater CRISIS. (Cover story)." Scientific American 299, no. 2: 46-53. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2010).