Water availability and drought is a huge global problem, especially in arid and dry regions, that humans have battled for decades. This issue had only been specific to a few locations around the world in Earth’s early stages. However, as human civilization began to grow and water usage slowly overtook the rate at which it could be replenished, the number of droughts per year increased and became more common in more places around the world (Brown, “Regions”). This also made it harder for people to access fresh, clean water. During the 20th and 21st century, scientists had conducted enough research that established water was no longer sustainable because it was being used faster than it could be replenishable (Onda, “Water Facts”). Society’s …show more content…
If there had been more action for preventing this disaster rather than debate, then there would have been an extremely different result and countries would not be losing people due to starvation. Members of the Environmental Protection agency such as scott Pruitt and Mike Flynn had enough power to try and make these changes (“Causes, Effects and Solutions of Water Scarcity”). These are the people and groups responsible for why people now are limited to even less water than what they should have been given due to irresponsible usage in the past and the incapability to accept scientific data representing the significant change within the last few …show more content…
The proposal had a focus on protecting and ensuring access for women because of special circumstances, and overall to improve water quality. They planned to do so by “reducing pollution” and “increasing water-use efficiency,” but their regulations were not strict enough to successfully achieve such goals (Onda, “Water Facts”). That is why by 2050 and until today, there has been a strong enforcement of water-use efficiency and no water pollution without consequences. In fact, rivers and streams have reduced pollution in the last 25 years by 215% because each country spends roughly five million dollars on these
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.
For about five years California has experienced above average temperatures and a lack of rain. This lack of rain and snowfall has caused California to become increasingly dry, starting arguments over whose right to water is more important and who needs to be more mindful with their use of water. Farming in California truly began during the gold rush when water was redirected to land where food was grown for those looking for gold (Siegler, 2015). The farmers that have stayed on that land now have senior water rights (“Water wars”, 2015). Farmers that settled their land before 1914 are those with senior water rights (Terrell, 2015). Governor Jerry Brown has called for a cut in water use by one-quarter percent to people living
The another devastating abiotic stress which is considered to be highly responsible worldwide for decreasing yield and quality of crop productivity is drought (Lambers et al. 2008 ; Moghadam et al .,2011; Mohsen Pourgholam et al.,2013 ; M. Farooq et al., 2012; Abolhasani and Saeidi, 2004 ; Monjezi et al., 2013).It harms plant growth and development and reduces crop growth rate and also affects biomass accumulation. Generally, in crop plants drought severely affects the cell division and expansion, elongation of root, leaf size, proliferation of root and inhibition of shoot growth (Sharp & Davies 1989; Spollen et al.,1993;Yamaguchi et al.,2010). Furthermore ,it also badly hampers all kinds of plant functions and physiological and biochemical traits such as mineral elements, carbohydrates, free radicals, ions, hormones, lipids, and nucleic acids (HongBo et al., 2005; Yasar et al., ; Moghadam et al .,2011,Mohsen Pourgholam et al,2013) .The transportation of nutrients from the roots to the stem severely get affected by drought as the rate of transpiration is reduced and damage of active transport and membrane permeability take place (Viets, 1972; Alam, 1999; Yasar et al ). Simultaneously, due to decrease in soil moisture, problem occurs with the low distribution of absorbed nutrients by the plant roots in the soil (Alam, 1999; Yasar et al ). More importantly, drought leads to rise in generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to energy accumulation in stress condition of plants (Smirnoff 1993; Asada 2006; Waraich et al.,2011).Drought diminishes photosynthetic carbon fixation primarily through restraining the entrance of CO2 into the leaf or by reducing metabolism (Smirnoff 1993; Loggini et al., 1999; Ap...
Drought is no stranger to the state of California especially is the southern part of the state. California has been a technological creation since the first American settlers starting migrating from the east. It naturally has a semi-arid climate. It was inevitable that prolonged severe drought would occur in such a climatic region from time to time. California has depended on redirecting natural waterways and investing an incredible amount of money into pumping water to Southern California. This is not only a California debacle but a global one as well. According to the World health Organization, 1 billion people do not have access to clean, piped water. A world Resources Institute analysis adds that 2.3 billion people, 41% of Earth’s population, live in water-stressed areas, a number expected to climb to 3.5 billion by 2025. To make matters worse, global population is rising by 80 million a year, and with it the demand for new sources of fresh water (7 pg. 1). Water affects everyone and everything including the economies of both developing and industrialized nations. “The current situation has heightened the need for reliable sources of water, especially in these type of times when there is rationing across the state, “said Paul Shoenberger, assistant general manager with the West Basin Municipal Water District in Carson and chair of a desalination subcommittee for the Association of California Water Agencies. “ Desalination is more available and isn’t linked to rain or snow pack.” The only methods to increase water supply beyond what is available from the hydrological cycle are desalination and water reuse (8).
. Some cities, like San Francisco, had already been conserving water, which means it wasn’t much of a change for them. Other cities, like Beverly Hills, will be facing consequences if they don’t make the effort to save water. Water regulators are now able to fine people up to $500 if they take long showers, use a non-shutoff nozzle hose to wash their cars and sidewalk. After making changes like that, the state decided to focus on the smaller issues. For example, if you go to a restaurant, servers can’t bring you water unless you request. As you can see, many changes have been in made in the state of California to minimize the drought. There is a clear problem that California’s drought was caused at first by nature with “La Niña” but only
Climate change. The two letter word so feared by scientists, so ignored by the average human being. What is it that makes scientists fear this phrase so much? For the concept of “climate change” has been seen throughout the history of the earths existence. For centuries, our climate has fluctuated through increasing and decreasing amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide and climatic cycles. So what is the big deal? The problem, and the reason why this concept instills fear directly into the core of scientists is the rate at which over the past 1,300 years atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have risen. This unnatural increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, due to the immense amount of anthropogenic burning of oil and coal, affects the transfer
Water is essential for humanity’s survival, and even though the world is largely covered by water, only a small percentage is only usable for human consumption. Approximately, on average, 120,000 gallons of water are used annually for a single-family household (Galbraith). This alarming number could be reduced dramatically for the efforts of water conserving and lower water bill prices for families and subsequently saving money that could be used for other expenses. Thus, conserving water would prove beneficial and advantageous to not just Texas, but for everyone else as well. Although environmental policies have been not as popular with Congress and the state legislature, it is still an important problem to consider since there are only a limited amount of resources for public use, such as water.
People don’t appreciated the many advantages that comes with having clean potable water to use, taking it for granted. A lot of clean useful water is wasted by humans all the time that people don’t care about saving water because they have easy access to it. Clean and safe drinkable water resources are getting scarce as the population grows. The world is facing many problems, but the most important needed to survive, is water. Water is getting low in many countries, therefore habitants are suffering the misfortune of not having the reliable source of clean water. Today many countries are having water shortages; meaning rivers, lakes, streams and groundwater are not enough to rely on for supplying water demands. For example, California is facing a drastic water shortage, the natural water resources are not enough to fulfill their water demands. Water shortage affects the agricultural sector, so as a consequence the price for production
My parents grew up in small town in Mexico. There was a little river that went through part of the town when they were growing up. Every weekend or so they would go out and would go swimming with their families, it almost became a tradition to go swimming there until they noticed that the river 's water level was becoming smaller and smaller. Today there is no river anymore, instead it 's a road that travels through the town. Every time I visit my family in Mexico it would alway be nice and warm up until this year when I went in December. I remember waking up and getting ready to go to my aunt 's house in clothes for warm weather. As I open the door, the cold air punch me and I saw snowflakes falling down. It 's not supposed to snow in that
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.
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.
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 the lifeblood of this planet. Every time a good is bought or sold there is a virtual exchange of water. Every time we interact with water, we change it, redirect it, or otherwise alter its state. We have never learned how to efficiently manage water.”(Cluckie, 2009) Ian Cluckie, Professor of Hydrology and Water Management, emphasizes the fact that humans can’t survive without water. Although water is a renewable resource that can replenish under hydrological cycles, our intervention has interrupted its natural cycle causing its supply to decrease.(Cluckie, 2009)