The reasons of water scarcity can be divided into natural and human factor.
For natural factor, there is uneven distribution of water resources. Due to its large and diverse geography, China has a wide spectrum of terrains and climate zones. Water is abundant in the South but extremely scarce in the North.
In North China, there is high temperature and low rainfall. High summer temperature is due to continental climate. Also, hot dry winds occasionally blow towards Loess Plateau from Gobi Desert in the north. Summer temperature of Less Plateau is high, e.g. Xian ever reached 42.5℃. High summer temperature causes the high evaporation and lead to dryness. The precipitation reduces. Finally, it causes the expansion of dry areas and drought. Water scarcity becomes worse.
Since there is semi-arid climate, there is low and unreliable rainfall. Mean annual rainfall in North China is only 400-500mm, but mean annual evaporation reaches 1500mm in China, resulting in water deficit.
Second, long term and short term climate changes (e.g. global warming and El Nino) may lead to dryness. Global warming rises
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Due to industrial waste ,domestic wastes and agriculture wastes entering into water source, Chinese government reporting that nearly 60 percent of China’s groundwater is polluted. It also leads the decrease in water quality. A large amount of water cannot be used and thus foster the water scarcity problem in China.
Fourthly, water waste worsens water scarcity. Water is cheap in China by international standard which is much cheaper than its real cost. Industry uses 4 to 10 time more water per units of production than the average in industrialized nations. Since the price is low, people do not save the water. Also, water leakage in water distribution networks is seriously in China. The total loss of 5 × 106 m3 of water per year (Chen et al., 2008). It also leads to water
One reason for China’s water shortage is the climate change. In the past years many parts of China haven’t have enough rainfall and the sun is absorbing the sun (doc A) . Rivers are drying up according to Doc. A1. According to a 2006 report that
“Over the last three decades, China has experienced breakneck growth, changing from a poor, agricultural country to one of the leading industrial powers of the 21st century. Yet water scarcity has the potential to undermine China’s transformation.”, BGE DBQ Online 2017. Water is a very important natural resource that the United States thankfully has access to everyday. In China, however, the economy is being plagued with an extreme growing crisis of water scarcity which has major complications on daily life. Three major factors that impact and make the situation in China worse is the growth in water pollution(document E), global warming and its effect on the water supply(document A), and lastly the way water is used throughout China( Document
Most of water consumed in China is not rationally used. The cause which intensifies the water shortage in China is water inefficient use. For instance, 65%-70% of Chinese water usage is spent on agricultural needs, but more than half of this amount evaporates percolates and loses (Roberts 2009). Besides, majority of another 20%-25% which is occupied by China’s industry is not recycled (Brown 2008a, 16; Roberts 2009). Obviously, improving water distribution technologies and management quality can be one of the options to reduce the water scarcity in China. There are many different methods of improving the water distribution efficiency. Firstly, irrigation technologies should be improved. Farmers in China may use drip and shrink irrigation methods instead of traditional “surface” ones such as furrow and flood irrigation. Drip irrigation method is used mostly in arid and semi-arid zones and it increases the efficiency of irrigation by transporting the water directly to the roots of irrigated plant. The emitters sprinkle the soil under the roots with water which is introduced to the plant by pipes, diminishing water evaporation, deep percolation and leak. In contrast, fur...
This is a pattern due to the cold water climates. The arid climates are existent mostly in the center of a continent or beneath a continents rain shadow of a large mountain range. The rain shadow is land on a said of a mountain that is very dry because the mountain forces warm air higher into the sky, which cools it and it falls as rain, but only on one side of the mountain. Most of the arid areas or regions do not have regular seasons. An example would be the Sahara Desert which is always hot and dry. Some Arid places do have changes in temperature depending on the latitude and the surrounding climates. This would mean they have two seasons, which would be summer and winter. The temperatures of these locations can reach as high as 130 degrees or as negative as 30 degrees. This temperature also depends on the location at which it is located on the planet. These hot deserts have a poor rate of precipitation due to the lack of water to be evaporated. In order to have an Arid climate there must be less than 10 inches of water which most deserts do. Some of these deserts have less than 10 inches of rain a year.The causes of these poor climates would be the cold currents carrying dry air, so these lands are blasted with dry air most of the
Water shortage in arid and semi-arid regions and declining its availability to a crisis ...
...management than scarcity of that resource. In some cases up to 50% water in urban areas, and 60% of the water used for agriculture is wasted through evaporation and loss. Logging and land conversion to yield to the demands of human beings have been reduced to half the world's forests, which has increased soil erosion and water scarcity.
The changes in the quantity and timing of precipitation and the availability of water will profoundly affect people and other life forms. Ecosystems will change and wildlife behavior and habitat as well as crop yields will eventually be affected. Climate change will also have an impact on water-related economic activity – not just agricultural methods, for example skiing areas, may experience decreased snowfall, having an adverse impact on the economies of mountain towns and cities.
Developing our national economy, especially industry, requires a great amount of natural resources, such as land, water, oil, coal, gas and iron. However, the natural resources are limited and decline very quickly when a large population exploits them everyday. Take fresh water as an example, in 1990, 58% of Chinese cities (http://www.cass.net.cn/y_sjr/y_cn_sjr_334.htm) suffered from the insufficiency of water. It not only brings great disadvantages to people's daily life, but also has a passive influence on the economic development. Released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the economic loss caused by the insufficiency of water is 250 billion RMB per year, including 230 billion lost industrial output and 20 billion agricultural losses.
The main sources of water in Bhutan are natural spring water, natural rivers/streams and deep groundwater and water quality is reported as first class conditions expect at localized urban areas. Four major river sinks are Amochhu, Wangchhu, Punatsangchhu and Manas. The main activities that cause water pollutions in Bhutan are ongoing development and human actives such as urbanization, rapid growth of population, more hydro electric projects construction and other infrastructure development and industization activities which produce huge amount of waste leading contamination of water bodies in the country degrading quality of safe drinking water of the nation. Human waste and solid waste dumping in the rivers and urbanization waste water.
Many scientific studies also show increases in the intensity, duration, and extent of droughts, higher atmospheric temperatures, warmer sea surface temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, and diminishing glaciers and snowpack. The bottom line is that causes of climate change, such as greenhouse gas emissions, will have to be minimized if people want to do as much as possible to solve the water crisis. Works Cited Water demand management: the case of Zaragoza, Spain Web 25 Nov. 2014. http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/swm_cities_zaragoza_2010/pdf/final_report_swm_cities.pdf.
Compare to other region, they also have water problem but their main issues are about trees. Too many trees are cutting down in other to make charcoal and all that burning wood or waste can pollutes or damage the atmosphere.
a change in the water cycle. Some places may experience more rain. Warmer temperatures will
Water scarcity is harmful to human life because when water is poorly managed throughout the world, those who need water are deprived of nutrients they truly need, causing them to die. This eventually affects the global population. Therefore, many experts have proposed several solutions such as the LifeSaver Bottle, TrojanUVPhox treatment system, and Waste Water Recycling. 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.
“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)
Cherain, T., Unni, K., and Sophie, L. 2010. China – India water shortage. Bloomberg News. http://www.grailresearch.com/pdf/ContenPodsPdf/Water-The_India_Story.pdf (accessed November 1, 2010).