An immerging issue is the one that has appeared in the past few years. Water shortage is not something most people in developed countries think about. People in developed countries use thousands of gallons of water every day and do not even stop to think about it. This is because it is cheap and readily available. This is a completely different story in developing countries where the people there have to walk miles on end to get a pale of water. The people in these unfortunate countries use very little water every day because to them water is sacred. The truth is not having enough clean freshwater is one of those issues that has now become a real problem not just in developing countries but super powers, such as the United States of America.
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...
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Hadhazy, A. (2013). How Claifornia's New Water Loaws Inform the Coming National Crisis. Retrieved 12 19, 2013, from popularmechanics.com: http://www.popularmechanics.com/_mobile/science/environment/water/4335060
United Nations. (n.d.). International Decade fo Action 'Water for Life' 2005-2015. Retrieved 12 3, 2013, from un.org: www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/crcarcity.shtml
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“Last Call at the Oasis” is a documentary about our world’s water crisis. The film discusses how many large cities in America are getting closer to use up their available water, how many areas across the globe do not have access to drinking water and are forced to drink contaminated water, how water shortages are causing acts of violence and are causing stress to agricultural communities, and a possible solution of using recycle water to stop us from wasting so much water. The film goes around the globe to talk to scientists who are studying contaminated water, people who have become very sick due to this water, and to the agricultural community in Australia where, unfortunately, some farmers have take their own lives due to water shortages.
Water is the foundational basis of life on Earth. Ecosystems, society and humans are completely dependent on it, and as the world population continues to grow, there will be more mouths to feed, and those people will need water to continue their daily lives. However, shortages and poor management leads to the destruction of natural habitats and human suffering. Desertification of land in China is ever-increasing, turning green, lush land into desert. However, this is due mainly in part, because of human activity, and global warming (Wang, Yang, Dong, & Zhang, 2009). The United States could experience a crisis similarly to China’s, but for now they have averted such a catastrophe, because of heavy regulation of water. Though there are water shortages in many parts of the world, it is unwise to export water from the Great Lakes to those regions. Two major reasons why diverting the Great Lakes is a terrible idea, one: it allows for waters wars to start on the basis of who is allowed to access it and for commodification purposes. Two, diverting water on such large scales could have cataclysmic effects on the local residents as well as the environment.
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.
United States. Environmental Protection Agency. How to Conserve Water and Use It Effectively. 2014. Web. 8 Nov 2014.
Grillo, I. (2009, April 11). Dry Taps in Mexico City: A Water Crisis Gets Worse. Retrieved January 2014, from Time: http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1890623,00.html
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).
In addition to these topics, people should understand where the water that is disappearing originates. The majority of states in the Southwest region rely on the Colorado River. It provides water to seven states and over 40 million people, but parts of the river have dried up to muddy trickles. “The most immediate cause is 14 years of drought unrivaled in 1,250 years” (Weaver). It is very apparent that climate change is a chief reason for the water shortages. Some other causes of this problem comes from low snowpack at the river’s origin, high summer temperatures due to climate change, depleted reservoirs, and over demand due to overpopulation. Other experts believe that pollution and illegal pumping add to the causes for depletion of the Colorado
An estimated 1.6 billion people around the world live in regions of economic water scarcity, with 780 million of these people living in areas with no basic water facilities. Economic water scarcity means that investments in water resources and relevant human labour forces are not substantial enough to meet water demands in an area where the population does not have the financial means to make use of an adequate water source on their own. Economic water scarcity is about an unequal distribution of resources for many reasons, including political and cultural conflict. Symptoms of economic water scarcity include lack of infrastructure development, causing people to have trouble getting enough water for agriculture or even basic sanitation and
Due to geography and population growth, the Middle East nations are faced with a growing demand for a shrinking water supply. Throughout most of the Middle East region rainfall is irregular and the rainy season is very short. The World Bank reports that this area (including North Africa) has 5% of the world’s population, but only 1% of the world’s water. Droughts have been occurring more frequently and lasting longer, warning of a bleaker future.
One of the biggest challenges facing the world is availability of fresh water. Only about one third of a percent is of the fresh water available on earth is found in surface and ground water for human consumption. Globally these sources of fresh water have been dwindling away and becoming scarcer every year as water demand grows. This problem is true throughout the world and is especially prevalent in the arid regions of the world such as the Southwest United States. Since I am a student here at the University of Arizona and a resident of the state now, these growing water issues not only affect me but all of the residents of Tucson, Arizona. This makes water sustainably critical to the entire region and me.
The water crisis is mainly affecting women and children in places like South Africa that don’t have good drinking water. The reason the water crisis affects the women and children a lot more is because they are the ones that have to go and get the water, and if they get sick or something happens where they can’t get water they won’t have water that day. One in ten people don 't have access to safe drinking water, that 's 663 million people in the world. Two times the population of the United States of America live without being able to get clean drinking water. Since January of 2015 the global water crisis has been the number one risk to society. Even though the water crisis is prevalent mainly in women in children it is still affecting people all over the world. Because most of the children spend most of their day getting water they don’t have time to go to school. About 160 million children get sick every year because they don’t have clean drinking water. Every ninety seconds a child dies because they didn’t have clean water? There is about one trillion dollars needed to fix the water crisis and there is only about 8 billion dollars a year donated for this cause. In the world about two billion people depend on wells for their clean drinking water. Almost all women and children spend at least 6 hours a day getting water for their families. One out of every ten people don’t have clean water. Some people in third world countries walk about three to four miles to get clean water to drink. The global water crisis is the number one cause of death in world. One out of three schools in the world do not have safe water and good sanitation. It has been proven that the farther the children have to walk to get water the less they will be educated. 160 million children in the world suffer from a water related disease like diarrhea, stunting, and chronic malnutrition. If people could fix the global water crisis then
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...
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.
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.
Rogers, Peter. 2008. "Facing the Freshwater CRISIS. (Cover story)." Scientific American 299, no. 2: 46-53. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2010).