Will Water Become The Chief Commodity Of The 21st Century Summary

The scarcity of water

Growing scarcity in nearby water resources is the issue addressed in “Will Water Become the Chief Commodity of the 21st Century?” by Christa Marshall. The thesis of this essay is will water become the chief commodity of the 21st century? The author’s main claim is the world faces a growing number of challenges surrounding water and her sub claim is these examples underscore the many options available to alleviate a growing global water crisis. The author argues where water demand will exceed available supplies could rise forty percent. Her conclusion is businesses need to gain a better sense of how much water they are actually using.

Before reading this article, I never would have thought scarcity of water was becoming an issue. I have found that there are numerous ways the world can help

cease water depletion.

From businesses changing from water cooled equipment to air cooled equipment, to local governments using cloud computing within their regions. Due to the increase of water usage in water systems there needs to be a way to manage water supplies. “Energy use—such as use for cooling down power plants during hot summers—accounts for forty nine percent of U.S. water demand.” (Marshall, 1). I agree that businesses should use air cooling equipment, which could lower the reliability of water. The demand of water from power plants and other industries is increasing every year. The estimated increase is forty percent by 2030 if it isn’t changed. The cloud computing system is a great way to manage and store data electronically. The system helps city officials learn and figure out ways to save millions of gallons of water. The use of natural resources is another way to lower the scarcity of water. Natural resources will keep runoff and flooding

low, which will help prevent water waste. There is also a water trading system, which could help those with too much water trade those with less amounts of water for resources they have plenty of. Other improvements are finding workers in a younger generation. I believe that if my generation was more aware of the rising problems surrounding water scarcity someone would stand up and make others aware of the problems. Others would probably be willing to make sacrifices to personal lives to help save some water. Some might even be willing to work in water utility facilities. While I do agree with some points in Marshalls article. I do have my disagreements as well.
As I was doing my research on the topic of water becoming the chief commodity of the 21st century, I came across an article written by multiple authors. But one comment stuck out to me the most, “Water is a renewable global resource of which there is more than enough to meet both current and projected human needs.” (Water markets, 2). Which made me realize that, yes, all of the unnecessary usage of water in businesses and factories is essential to water depletion. But, water is a renewable resource. No matter what, we will always have water. Not only is water a renewable resource, it is recyclable. There are companies just for recycling water. Instead of using freshwater in the factories, why not use recycled water? Use flood waters that have too much pollution to be cleaned for drinking water to cool down power plants. There are so many ways to work around this issue. But, in my research, I am seeing that there isn’t enough people who want to look for and make changes towards a brighter future in making water plentiful.