Fresh Water Shortages - Global Crisis
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Social
Why fresh water shortages will cause the next great global crisis
Wateris the driving force of all nature, Leonardo da Vinci claimed. Unfortunately for our planet, supplies are now running dry - at an alarming rate. The world's population continues to soar but that rise in numbers has not been matched by an accompanying increase in supplies of fresh water.
The consequences are proving to be profound. Across the globe, reports reveal huge areas in crisis today as reservoirs and aquifers dry up. More than a billion individuals - one in seven people on the planet - now lack access to safe drinking water.
Wateris the driving force of all nature, Leonardo da Vinci claimed. Unfortunately for our planet, supplies are now running dry - at an alarming rate. The world's population continues to soar but that rise in numbers has not been matched by an accompanying increase in supplies of fresh water.
The consequences are proving to be profound. Across the globe, reports reveal huge areas in crisis today as reservoirs and aquifers dry up. More than a billion individuals - one in seven people on the planet - now lack access to safe drinking water.
The global nature of the crisis is underlined in similar reports from other regions. In south Asia, for example, there have been massive losses of groundwater, which has been pumped up with reckless lack of control over the past decade. About 600 million people live on the 2,000km area that extends from easternPakistan, across the hot dry plains of northern India and into Bangladesh, and the land is the most intensely irrigated in the world. Up to 75% of farmers rely on pumped groundwater to water their crops and water use is intensifying - at the same time that satellite images shows supplies are shrinking alarmingly.
The nature of the problem is revealed by US Geological Survey figures, which show that the total amount of fresh water on Earth comes to about 2,551,100 cubic miles. Combined into a single droplet, this would produce a sphere with a diameter of about 170 miles. However, 99% of that sphere would be made up of groundwater, much of which is not accessible. By contrast, the total volume from lakes and rivers, humanity's main source of fresh water, produces a sphere that is a mere 35 miles in diameter. That little blue droplet sustains most of the people on Earth - and it is under increasing assault as the planet heats up.
Source: The Guradian
Read More Related Content On This Topic - Click Here
Media
Taxonomy
- Scarcity
- Water Supply
- Water Risk