Introduction
In today’s world, we are experiencing significant population growth and particularly in urban environments, which requires the growth of cities all around the globe. However as urban areas experience this inevitable growth, several obstacles emerge to hinder this growth. Two issues of particular and urgent concern in our world today across all countries are water quality and water scarcity. As a result of the challenges that we face regarding the quantity and quality of our water resources around the world, it has become more and more important to research and identify new solutions and approaches to integrated water resource management. As a result, the market for safe, available water and for the infrastructure and technologies that treat and transport water is expected to continue to grow rapidly as stakeholders look for new solutions and approaches to integrated water resource management.
Inefficiency in existing aging infrastructure hampers the ability of utilities to adequately meet the future demands of urban environments, yet despite this growing need for a change, it has been challenging for most utilities to form a compelling business case that convinces decision makers of the pressing and inclusive need to support progressive solutions that would transform an old and inefficient infrastructure. However, the facts couldn’t be more convincing. According to Growing Blue, a leading consortium of international industry professionals, a third of reporting countries are losing 40 percent of clean water flowing through their distribution network, due to leaks, before it even reaches consumers. Such staggering statistics are not only dangerous to the sustainability of our cities with such a waste of a vital urban s...
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...g utilized to cover operational costs to send water that is already scarce, to simply be lost in an infrastructure that is inadequate to preserve it. So why couldn’t these funds be used to upgrade this infrastructure so that not only can we preserve water, but also give these utilities the ability to maximize the amount of revenue they can use to meet the increasing populations, meet their operation budgets and standards, and manage an efficient and smart network?
While many utilities have identified the need for smarter infrastructure and technological investments, few have embraced an end-to-end smart water network. Smart water networks offer utilities of all varieties a tremendous opportunity to improve productivity and efficiency while enhancing customer service. Smart water networks also have incredible potential to help alleviate the impending water scarcity.
No one argues that food, which is also essential to life, should be distributed and owned by the government. If we recognize water as a human right rather than a commodity, I wouldn’t think water provided by the government would be the best alternative. The Private industry would be better suited it can carry out a service at a lower cost than the government could. If water management is a company’s central job it can affect “economies of scale, provide more capital for efficiency investments, better technology, and fewer but better trained employees.” (10) Some regulatory oversight if needed could have a say in the price of water similar to natural gas and electricity. A private company would also have fewer restrictions when it comes to making the necessary investment rather than a governmental entity would when looking at infrastructure.
What we have seen in late January has proved that the city of Phoenix needs one more water treatment facility. The tax revenue that will be lost if a water crisis every happen again will pay for the building of the new facility. The water department has known of this problem for years but has chosen not to rectify the hazard. City officials chalked up the high levels of sediment in the water to Mother Nature, but they acknowledge that a series of decisions by water officials could have worsened the problem. (Villa, Fehr-Snyder, 1) The water department knew and Frank Fairbanks knew that maintenance was required on rotating bases, on each facility and chooses to take two offline during the “winter” or “rainy months”.
In the documentary, Blue Gold: World Water Wars, it follows several people and countries world-wide in their fight for fresh water. The film exposes giant corporations as they bully poorer developing countries to privatize their own supply of fresh water. As a result of the privatization, corporations make a hefty profit while the developing countries remain poor. Blue Gold: World Water Wars also highlights the fact that Wall Street investors are going after the desalination process and mass water export schemes. This documentary also shows how people in more developed nations are treating the water with much disregard, and not taking care of our finite supply. We are polluting, damming, and simply wasting our restricted supply of fresh water at an alarming speed. The movie also recognizes that our quick overdevelopment of housing and agriculture puts a large strain on our water supply and it results in desertification throughout the entire earth. The film shows how people in more industrialized nations typically take water for granted, while others in less industrialized nations have to fight for every drop.
Caused by climate change and urbanization, water shortages are a major concern of the Mexican government at both the local and federal level. Mexico City, the third largest city in the world with more than twenty million inhabitants, struggles with water scarcity because of the potential risk it poses to the wellbeing of its citizens. Similar to the situation in other megacities, such as Jakarta and Bangkok, Mexico City’s water supplies are being depleted because of a growing urban population. (CBC News , 2009 ) Unable to sufficiently supply the increasing population size of the city, the water in the Mexico Valley aquifer is being drawn out faster than the aquifer’s recharge rate. Exacerbated by the fragmented nature of Mexico’s political culture, the exploitation of Mexico City’s water resources due to a growing urban population is detrimentally degrading the environment and creating a self-perpetuating problem that places the city and its inhabitants at risk.
Water is essential to life. By being so important it is crucial to keep it maintained and preserved. Our water supply is affected by environmental, economic, and legal issues. In Oklahoma water is very sacred to its people especially to Native Americans. Both Choctaw and Chickasaw nations are suing the state of Oklahoma for the regulatory authority over Sardis Lake and the water resources it holds. The Choctaw and Chickasaw nations deserve the rights over Sardis Lake because it is their main water supply and they own the rights through the treaty of the Dancing Rabbit Creek of 1830.
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...
Clean water is needed for good human and animal health, but as DoSomething.org states, over 1 billion people worldwide don’t have a means of getting clean drinking water, an...
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.
Have you ever had to walk miles away just to get clean drinking water, or don’t even not have access to clean drinking water? People all over the world, even in North America, don’t have access to clean drinking water or have to walk very far just to drink water. The main areas where this problem is prominent is in third world countries, and this is due to the lack of money and sanitation (Millions Lack Safe Water). Due to this lack of sanitation, water borne diseases can grow and infect people who consume it. Clean water is very important for life, and within this paper I will explain why we need it, how it can affect us, and what it will take to obtain clean water.
Despite substantial rainfall from annual monsoons and access to vast aquifers in the northern region of the Maharashtra state, Mumbai has never been able to provide piped water or sanitation for all, or even most of its residents. According to one report, the city has a notional per capita water availability exceedingly that of London, yet it fails to provide even the most affluent communities with 24 hour piped water. Relying on a crumbling, century-old system of fragile pipes that is woefully inadequate, even just for the city proper, Mumbai’s water system can be accurately characterized as in crisis. Water leakage and pipe ruptures are extremely common, some estimates suggest as must as 20% of all the City’s piped water is lost in this manner. Projects to build new reservoirs and upgrade failing infrastructure have been stymied by perpetual funding shortages and severe delays, leaving much of Mumbai’s population underserved or completely unserved.
„X Encourage household water security by making enough water of adequate quality available year-round to ensure family survival, health and productivity, without compromising the integrity of the environment.
Deployment of first-world technologies in developing countries is complicated by high cost and maintenance requirements. Therefore, the effective implementation of any engineering design in developing countries requires low maintenance and cost-effective technologies to be considered. Many communities in developing countries do not have access to a clean, potable water supply and lack an effective sanitation system. The Republic of Vanuatu is classified by the United Nations as a ‘Least Developed Country’ due to its lower socioeconomic development in areas of poverty, limited resources and economic vulnerability (UNCTAD, 2012). The University of South Australia was approached by a paramount chief from the island of Tanna in Vanuatu to design and develop a proposed ecotourism resort as part of the Port Resolution Community Project. The primary objective of the project is to provide the community with a source of income to support the education of its youth. The Port Resolution Community Project is an extensive design and community consultation project, which enables the University of South Australia to provide its assistance in supporting the lives and educations of individuals in developing countries such as Vanuatu.
One main causes of water scarcity is water mismanagement worldwide. Water mismanagement has become a crisis of governance that will impact heavily ...
Developed countries struggle with managing water consumption. Our high demand in agriculture, industry, and domestic use further complicates this issue. With increasing urbanization and extravagant changes in lifestyle, our use and wasting of water will only increase. As of this year, nearly 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water and 2.6 billion live without adequate water sanitation. The McDonald's down the street, however, will sell you a 1/3 pounder burger for only 150 gallons. Changes in lifestyle can easily reduce this number and help not only save water, but money as well. Currently, with our diminishing water supply, one of the main goals of humanitarian organizations is ensuring that everyone has t...