“At least 36 states are expected to face water shortages within the next five years, according to U.S. Government estimates,” cites David Gutierrez, a journalist for Natural News, an online journal (Gutierrez 1). This is an astounding number; another shocking statistic is that seventy-two percent of the United States geographical area will face imminent shortages of a material vital to survival. The question is no longer whether or not a water shortage is in our near future; the real question is where this catastrophe will occur, how severe its effects will be, and how society can reduce its impact.
The earth is covered by about seventy percent water, in various forms, and thirty percent land mass. Of this seventy percent water only three percent is drinkable; the rest is deemed either toxic or contaminated with saltwater (Massavar-Rahmani). This three percent of drinkable water is reduced even further to one percent when we take into consideration its accessibility. The other two percent of usable drinking water can be found in various unusable places such as, “ice, icebergs, glaciers, and snowcaps” (Walsh 1). With our natural drinking supplies already vastly limited, humans are burning through the remaining one percent seemingly without care or thought of the imminent future.
Climate shifts greatly affect water supplies around the globe. As temperatures rise in an area the evaporation rate directly increases, reducing viable drinking options. This is a natural occurrence. Another natural factor that contributes to the loss of possible drinking sources is the fact that with rising global temperatures sea levels also rise. As sea levels rise they infect fresh water near coastal areas. The ocean gradually infiltrates fr...
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Clark, Josh. “Exactly What Happens if we Run Out of Water?” How Stuff Works June 2008. HowStuffWorks, 1998. Web. 23 Feb. 2012.
Gutierrez, David. “Thirty-Six States to Face Water Shortages in the Next Five Years.” NaturalNews.com, 32 Mar. 2008. Web. 26 Feb. 2012.
Massavar-Rahmani, Nicki. “Global Effects of Water Shortages.” Arbitrage Magazine. 13 Nov. 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2012.
Pennington, Tess. “The Ripple Effect: Water Shortages Likely In Most Populated Cities.” Ready Nutrition. August 2011. Web. 23 Feb. 2012.
Walsh, Bryan. “Why the World May Be Running Out of Clean Water.” Time Health, 18 Oct. 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2012.
“Water Shortage!”Theeconomiccollapseblog.com. Bytes For All, 22 July 2012. Web. 23 Feb. 2012.
Xinhua. “Climate Change May Increase Risk of Water Shortage in U.S. by 2050: Study.” English.news.cn 15 Feb. 2012. Web. 26 Feb. 2012.
Texas, with its abundances of natural resources, is facing a new demon, one that doesn’t even seem possible, a shortage of water. Water, without it nothing can survive. Texas is the second largest state for landmass in the nation and ninth for water square miles. Within the borders of Texas are more than 100 lakes, 14 major rivers, and 23 aquifers, so why has water become such an important issue for the state? Politicians and conservationists all agree that without a new working water plan, the state could be facing one of the most damaging environmental disasters they have ever seen. The issues that shape the states positions are population growth, current drought conditions, and who actually owns the water.
“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 shortage is a growing problem for most countries in the world. For China, which has 20% of world’s population and only 7% of available water resources, this problem may become catastrophic (Hofstedt 2010, 72). Therefore some actions and measures should be performed to avoid or at least to weaken future water crisis in China. In this work the following three solutions will be proposed and analyzed in terms of efficiency and applicability: water usage efficiency improvement; adopting the local agencies on controlling water resources; reasonable water pricing.
Humans need water. In a world that is overpopulated, we use a lot of water and other natural resources. Currently, in our world, clean water is getting scarce. Recently, for example, Flint, Michigan, had a water crisis. In early 2016, the water was discovered to be tainted with lead and other toxins. Long before that, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and Governor Rick Snyder along with his council, knew about the lead, but to save money for the city of Flint in early 2014 Snyder had changed the city’s water source to the Flint River which had corroded pipes, causing people of all ages to be sick from the high amounts of lead
Over the past fifty years, the U.S. population has doubled in size. During this time, total water usage per person has almost tripled. Since the end of World War II, there has been a steady increase of people moving out of rural areas and into cities. As a result, the domestic self-supplied population has greatly decreased and the need for public-water supply systems has intensified. These factors, in conjunction with certain economic trends, precipitation, and global climate changes, pose difficult challenges in the years to come.
“Don’t waste that water! Kids in Africa don’t even have water to drink!” Almost every American has heard this saying before. We have heard this because there are water shortages in third world countries like Africa, as seen in the movie “Blue Gold”. But why have we developed this notion that there are only water shortages in third world countries? When in reality, there is a shortage of water right here in our home country. The Colorado River’s water is high in demand as it serves millions of people, powers industries, and is home to all different kinds of wildlife. The Colorado River will not be able to keep up with the increasing demand of water and soon enough the river will go dry. Organizations like the Colorado River Water Users Association are trying to change the way that the water is used and adjust how it is managed. The Colorado River is drying up and the western states are running out of water, however, public policy is trying to regulate and preserve the Colorado River to make it more sustainable in the future.
Two fundamental and closely related problems confront our present ecosystems: overpopulation and the destruction or exhaustion of natural resources.Some natural resources are so abundant that they still seem infinite, such as the planet’s stock of air and water.“At this stage of our technological development, we are learning that our powers extend to such heights and depths that we can even destroy the near-infinite resources” (Al Gore). Scientists predicted in the end of last century, that fresh water would be the “new oil” — the global strategic resource for the twenty-first century. This means that control over sources of fresh water will be one of, if not the, most important sources of conflict in the future. The last few years many books have been written about this issue, with titles like “Water Wars, Blue Gold, Last Oasis, Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource, and Thirsty Planet” (Maude Barlow, Tony Clarke)(1), as well as in press articles with the same alarmist titles. In this essay i will use this book, statistics, press articles and examples to discuss this issue. How come Population density, economy and politics affect water pollution?
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.
Pollution comes in many forms. In the ocean we dump a variety of substances, including human wastes, chemicals from fertilizers, oil, and trash such as plastic which all contribute to the growing issue of our ocean pollution. In addition to, our usable waters are finite. More than 97.5 percent of the water on this planet is undrinkable salt water; the remaining 2.5 percent has two-thirds of the usable fresh water locked up in glaciers, snow, and permafrost. Of the one-third of freshwater that is available for human use, 20 percent is used for industrial use. (“Water Pollution”) “In effect, water pollution reduces the volume of water available for use by human and other populations.” (Robin Clarke, Jannet King) Knowing that there are approximately 7.2 billion people and growing on this planet with only 0.83 percent of available for our use wouldn’t you want to do everything possible to help put an end to water pollution? (worldometers)
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.
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.
Water is on of the most precious natural resources that exist on our planet. “It is delivered from the atmosphere in the form of rain, snow, hail, fog, and condensation and returns to the atmosphere by evaporation and transpiration” (Hannigan 1969). Although many of us love activities that have to do with water, we disregard it and pollute out rivers, lakes and oceans. Slowly but surely we are going to harm out planet till no return. Protecting and conserving nature will secure a better future. 71% of earth is covered with oceans. Sounds like a lot right? Imagine ...
70% of this demand derives from agriculture which shows the influence of water on food supply globally as well as 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 a UN report, recent estimates suggest that climate change will account for about 20 percent of the increase in global water scarcity in coming decades. One of the main causes of water scarcity is water mismanagement worldwide.
Freshwater in the world makes up only a small portion of 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. Many of these in later years shall need to be addressed as tension rises: