Every day thousands of people die from lack of access to clean water. This threat has been considered the greatest threat that we have ever come up against. There are three different types of water crises. Dwindling freshwater supplies, inequitable access to water, and the corporate control of water are these concerns.
Around the world 215 major rivers and 300 groundwater basins and aquifers are shared by two or more people. This creates tension over ownership and use of use of precious freshwater. If we do not change over behavior with water in the near future we could be seeing deepening conflicts and potential wars. This will become more likely when more watersheds turn to deserts, glaciers melt, and water supplies are poisoned. The former defense secretary of Britain warned of coming "water wars".
For example, there was a tragic conflict in Darfur where there was lack of water and agriculture land. Israel, Jordon, and Palestine all rely on the Jordon River which is controlled by Israel and is starting to cause conflict. In China and India the Brahmaputra River has caused tension over disputes of water rights. Currently China has a proposal to divert the river and re-igniting this tension.
This can be seen in the U.S. along the U.S.-Canadian border over shared boundary water as well. This is in direct result of growing concerns over the Great Lakes. Increasing pollution and water tables drained have only worsened the situation by the buildup of population and industry.
The problem starts with the global covenant from people and their governments. The U.N. report argued that corruption, restricted political rights, and limited civil liberties are reasons of the plant's growing water crisis. The only ways to improve this situation are to clean water, protect and conserve water supplies, and water justice. The success from these new changes can be seen in the restoration of the Lake Constance from the countries sharing this water source. These countries are Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, and Switzerland.
This is relevant to our class because some of the policy ideas to correct this concern. Some of these policies to solve this issue include trading virtual water, conserve irrigation, exploit advanced desalination, expand waste water recycling, and develop creative pricing policies for urban water and waste water. Also we can start watching water footprints by making this concern the next Energy Star.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
By Shawn Page
ReplyDeleteWater supply has certainly become an issue of topic both nationally and globally. As places like the southwestern United States struggle to plan for the future regarding their water demands, new research has surfaced that could potentially save many arid regions in decades to come. In October, NASA discovered a "significant" amount of water on the moon. With fresh water being limited, and many conflicts arising because of such, this discovery provides a ray of hope for future generations. Another potential direction dry regions could go is desalination. Although often expensive, this process could provide regions with the water they need as 97% of the Earth's water is salinated. There is plenty of potential for innovation in terms of water conservation and sources.
ReplyDeleteThis issue with water supply is definitely a frightening one. In certain areas of Africa people who make less than a dollar a month have the choice to either pay to get water from pumps in the ground or they can get it from the disease infested rivers for free, which has claimed the lives of many. I think one of the greatest ways to conserve water would be to reuse greywater throughout the megacities around the world.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely that corruption, restricted political rights, and limited civil liberties are reasons for the impending water crisis. Shockingly, the World Bank encourages privatization of the world's water supply and has 6 or 7 members who are CEO's of bottled water companies.
Water is a 400 billion dollar industry, third behind electricity and oil. We've been at war for oil for forever, or at least it feels like it, so I wonder what kind of destruction will come from a water war, especially since we cannot survive without water.
It seems to me that you will not be able to adequately tackle the issue of clean water unless you can address international relationships as well. I fear that political corruption will be the major barrier to effective clean water efforts. Corrupt governments may use clean water as another way to control their populace, just as they already do with food. Corruption may make environmental conservation incredibly difficult if pollution spewing factories pay off the officials to look the other way.
ReplyDeleteDevelopment of land has adverse effects on the environment, especially through interrupting the hydrologic cycle. Surfaces such as parking lots, roadways, and buildings—all associated with development of land—are impervious and water cannot penetrate them. This creates increased volume and velocity of runoff as well as opportunities to collect pollutants. Increased runoff creates erosion and sediment issues, as well as increased pollution of waterways. Impervious services correlate with flooding and stream degradation. Storm water management ordinances could be designed to mitigate or offset storm water impacts of development through regulations on land development and construction practices. Detention and infiltration measures can be used to mitigate expected flows to predevelopment levels and must be demonstrated through calculations. The use of permeable pavement, rather than impermeable pavement, is another method for helping to reduce stormwater. Though there are cheaper methods to help reduce stormwater runoff such as rain catchment planters. In some instances drainage pipes may lead to these to further reduce runoff from buildings. The use of glorified ditches, bioswales, is also great method for stormwater mitigation as they help collect and remove pollutants from runoff. The uses of green roofs, on buildings that can sustain them, are other methods of stormwater mitigation. Rain harvesters also help to reduce stormwater, can are practical as the water can be recycled and reused for gardening or other household needs. There are lots of ways to reduce erosion and stormwater runoff and improve the watershed!
ReplyDeleteI believe a huge cause of the water crisis is over population. Our population is increasing at shocking rates and will keep growing even though much of our worlds population does not have access to water or food. This population leads to higher demands for water to grow more crops and I believe a future problem will be deciding how to distribute the clean water we do have among humans and the crops they need to survive. I believe we are heading into a water war and we are running out of time in figuring out how to solve this crisis.
ReplyDeletethe global water crisis is severely impacting women and children in developing countries, who are crucial for the success of countries. Children are especially effected by disease from sanitation while they are also having to skip school to go search for water. Even when they do make it to school, most schools lack adequate sanitation facilities. If water was more economically and technologically accessible, children would get the privilege of having 443 million school attendance days per year. Less education leads to increased population rates since uneducated girls get married younger and have more kids. More educated women are also more likely to be involved in the community. The more time people have to spend looking for water, the less productivity a country has, decreasing their annual GDP. Just a thought.
ReplyDelete