Water Sustainability: One Of The Challenges Of Water Sustainability

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Recommended: Water scarcity and its causes essay

Shane Galvin
SBE 195a
Sustainability Paper Water Sustainability
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. …show more content…

The few rivers and lakes that exist do not contain a sufficient supply of water to meet the demand of the populace. This requires the majority of the water that is supplied to come from groundwater. Ground water is a series of aquifers, springs, and wells that store water beneath the surface. These underground water resources take time to accumulate because they are filled by surface runoff that has to seep through pores and crevices in soil, sands, and rock. In arid climates it takes even longer to accumulate because of the lack of precipitation each year. At the current rate of ground water pumping the water that is being pumped out of aquifers and springs is greater than it is replenished naturally. With population expected to grow in Tucson and around Arizona the groundwater depletion will only continue to

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