Category: Water Scarcity

It’s been years since Elon Musk launched his tesla electric car in space. The world has changed drastically since then. The success of Elon Musk’s SpaceX is quite a revolution for the people of the world. While the world population is on a record low level. There is scarcity of water all over the world. People are finding it hard to survive. Improper use of earth’s resources have left our planet with no usable water whatsoever.

On the other hand National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are enjoying their recent success in the field of space research. NASA has proof that there are other forms of existence of life thriving in the space. Possibly the biggest achievement that NASA has provided in space research in these years since its existence. But the advancement of NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX is the world of Space Technology is being enjoyed by limited number of people. In these very difficult situations what are the possible solution to humankind?

The probable solution to water scarcity lies within the planet itself. Earth is made up of 71 % of water but most of it in the saline form which is not usable. This needs to find a solution to convert saline water into drinkable water. People like Elon Musk and other big organizations need to work on technologies which can help in finding a solution for it. This is possibly the best method which can be applied to overcome the water shortage around the whole world. Given the technology developed as well the aspirations of company like SpaceX, this solution really looks feasible. One of the advanced solutions to the water scarcity problem is to make artificial rain. Rain must be made on a large scale basis so that water can be made feasible to people all over the world. Technology has the capacity to make rainfall artificially and thus to again fill the water bodies on earth.

NASA, the premier space organization has been making quite a lot of plans for humans to start a civilizations in nearby planet. The technological advancements made by NASA are surely one ray of hope that water and life forms available in space can help mankind. Various mars orbital mission have found source of water on mars and its moon. So there must be a plan ‘B’ for cases when the entire human civilization would be on a verge of extinction. But these type of solutions need quite some years for progress. Also every person needs to be considered while deriving such a solution which is very to conceptualize.

Rainwater harvesting must be made compulsory so that whatever water is being made available would be utilized. People must be made aware of the possible solutions to water scarcity and thus the importance of reusing and utilizing the resource properly. Whatever may be the problems and its solutions mankind is one of the smartest known lifeform which is capable of solving it!

Population is the number of inhabitants (in our case, human) in a specific region. Global population is now about 7.4 billion and we should remember that despite the fact that world is unevenly distributed, every minute the population is growing. Although there are regions where population decline or change in structure caused by the births, deaths and migration. Population will decline if death rate is greater than birth rate and will increase if death rate is less than birth rate. (BBC)

Human population change is the difference between the size of the population from the beginning to the end of a certain time period. In other words, population change refers to change in the number of people during a specific time period. There are both positive and negative (https://gradesfixer.com/free-essay-examples/positive-andnegative-aspects-of-social-media/) consequences of population changes. To positive consequences, could be counted increase of innovation in growing regions. What is more if the population growth, education and medicine develops so that society becomes healthier. There are also lots of negative consequences such as political conflicts or air pollution.

Water has very important role in our life’s and there is no organism in the world that does not need water that’s why water scarcity is one of the negative consequences of population change. Water scarcity is the lack of sufficient available fresh water resources to meet water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: economic and physical. Physical Water Scarcity: Where the demand for water is greater than the supply of water. Physical water scarcity does not have to be an arid environment, because there demand for water in arid environments (deserts) is not normally low meaning that there is no shortage. Economic Water Scarcity: Where there is water available, but for some economic reason it is not possible to fully utilize the source of water. This might because extraction or transportation costs are too high, or because the water is polluted and it is not possible to treat it.

Yemen is a Middle Eastern country that’s currently experiencing political and national strife. When turmoil brews, resources are often brought to a halt. Certain parts of this country are run by terrorist groups, making it difficult for citizens to get the aid they desperately need. One of these scarce resources is water, as Yemen’s geographical layout doesn’t yield many natural sources. As a result, it uses aid and other sources for support. However, the current state of the country prevents these resources from reaching the hands that need it most. According to UPI, Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, is expected to be the first major city in the world to experience full water scarcity.

The country of Jordan is located in one of the driest regions in the Middle East, meaning that water isn’t exactly easy to come by. However, their neighbors are no better off – many countries that surround Jordan also experience water scarcity. As a result, Jordan often turns to its two natural resources: the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. However, it costs money and time to convert salt water to fresh water, and Jordan doesn’t have a lot of those resources, considering its economic and political state. The country’s population is also continually growing and those two resources are evaporating more and more, leaving Jordan with very few options.

Global warming and the water crisis is the title of a paper written by Kanae Shinjiro addressing the main issues that affect the earth resultant of global warming including the water crisis (860-864). For a long time, people often thought that water security was an issue revolving around drinking water. However, the water crisis has now been associated with the reduction in food quantity beside the scarcity of safe drinking water. Securing safe drinking water in regions around the world, that lack the commodity is essential for all human beings. The research showed that 70% of the water used and needed on earth is used for agricultural services. Thus, issues relating to water scarcity relate mainly to agriculture and overall food production. The human population is projected to hit the 9 billion mark within the next decade thus the reason to start making changes to avoid a water crisis.

Global warming projections will cause a significant reduction in water available especially within the semi-arid regions of the world where there are large crop growing areas. Currently, these areas require more water for farming than other areas that receive adequate rainfall (Midkiff 18-26). It is thus obvious that these areas will need increased water inputs especially with the issues of global warming coming into focus. The water situation within the semi-arid and arid areas will be in dire need of more water and better water-saving solutions to keep producing food products. Besides the increased need to supply more water for agricultural needs, these areas will need more water for both domestic and drinking water. In contrast, other parts of the world will face the problems of too heavy rainfall, floods, and excessive water disasters. At present, between 30 million and 300 million people are affected by water disasters around the world.

Global warming will be the culprit in putting people in different parts of the world in water-related crises. A large population of people, between 300 and 500 million will be affected by drought caused by the effects of global warming. On the other hand, another 300 million people will be facing the wrath of excess water resulting from global warming (Barlow 26). Necessary steps are taken right away to counteract the positive and the negative effects of global warming on water quantity and production In the future. This is paramount since a water crisis would spell doom to all people as it would also affect food production. Climatic changes resulting from global warming have to be well interpreted to allow people to maximize the benefits of available water. As Kanae explains, “in addition to the decrease in water for agriculture, domestic and drinking water supplies will also be threatened in semi-arid areas.”

The results of a decrease in amounts of water in some parts of the world and an increase in other areas caused by global warming will all contribute to the overall state of health of the human population. As a matter of concern, health scientists must take keen attention to all issues related to global warming due to their significance to the changes affecting water resources.

In this essay, I hope to demonstrate to you that water is very precious and should not be wasted. Water is a very important source that keeps us active and alive because we are 90% water. I will also show you that instead of wasting water we could save someone’s life.

Although there is 70 % of the earth’s surface is water, water scarcity (not enough safe drinking water) is a big problem in the world which is affecting a lot of people in hot countries. but the people who have Safe e drinking water coming out of their tap to take it for granted and pour it down the drain (like I do) which leaves the people with no water and dying of thirst. To try and solve this problem radios and television have catchy phrases to advertise not to waste water on products, and people donate money so that water can be taken to places like Africa or the desserts to make them have clean water and they make projects so they can have a long term safe water supply.

How does water come out of my tap?

The way water comes out of my tap is because of an indirect supply of water that is reserved in a big tank called a cistern, the tank is stored either under the sink or in the loft (attic) this is stored for a long period of time. When the tap is on, the water will stream down your pipes and flows out of your tap. Then the water will go down the drain and out into the sewer.[1]

Safe drinking water gets to your home from the sea. But before you drink it goes through many important tests. The tests they go through are plumbing it chlorinating it and it is safe to drink.

What could happen if we ran out of water in the future?

In the future if we run out of water it might be a disaster because all of the farmer’s crops grow with the help of water, so if we do at any point completely lose our water that would mean there were no food to eat no fish or any living animal, and there would definitely be no safe drinking water either. Humans and other animals would be extinct.

Droughts

In some places, it does not rain for many weeks. There is not enough water to drink or grow plants. This dehydrated time is called a drought. But in other places, there is way too much water and it is called a flood. Floods happen when it rains too much and in some places, people live in water so which means their house is on stilts.

Countries that lack water

There are many countries that have a lack of water these countries are Afghanistan is not the only one with a lack of water supply but it has a large amount of water crisis and we should try and help. Ethiopia, people blame Ethiopia’s large humanity rate on the crisis of water

Accessible clean water. Egypt, as it is a desert there is essentially no water only very far away but it is dirty and is not safe to drink water because the atmosphere is very hot which means the water that they have is nearly all evaporated [2]

The reason countries lack water is because of the climate and where they are in the world. for example, places with water scarcity are mainly always on the equator of the universe and the reason for there being no water is because the sun is directly on top of that country, where there is no water

How can we help countries that lack water?

We can help countries with water shortage by giving money to charity and never wasting good water because as I have told you above that if you waste water that water could have gone to people in need of it

In machinery, there is water which helps it work. In the world, machines are very useful and it helps to make our food and mainly all the products we use. So if we run out of water all our products will run out and all our food made from machinery will too so that is why we should not waste water.

In this essay, I have confirmed that water is precious and that it should not be taken for granted. As I have shown many innocent people have suffered water scarcity, and how water is used in an average lifestyle. From writing this essay I have learned that just because we have safe drinking water, it does not mean we should take it for granted because someone in need of it could be drinking it right now. So make a difference by not wasting the precious source (water)

1. https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/run-out-of-water.htm
2. Pocket scientist the red book pg 233

Water shortage has become a worldwide problem, which affects physical areas where 1.2 billion people reside, as well as 500 million others who are approaching the crisis. Australia, India and South Africa are currently facing water scarcity, which the effects and general causes of it will be discussed in this essay.

There are several effects of such dire water crisis across the three countries. Perth is known to be Australia’s driest city. Its water shortage problem has been affecting industries such as food production. Australia has been a major food exporting country. It is further mentioned by Green Planet Plumbing (2019) that agriculture occupies 70% of the country’s freshwater use averagely. Water scarcity has reduced dryland farming production and the volume of water allocated to irrigate agriculture, resulting in a decline in aggregate agricultural production and exports. On the other hand, India’s sixth-largest city, Chennai, forced schools to close, while hospitals delayed non-emergency operations as an act to conserve water.

Thirumurthy (2019) stated that there were several school reports declaring leave for certain classes. Funds and accessibility of water have put a huge strain on educational institutions that need to provide water supply for at least eight hours per day. Cape Town, the capital city of South Africa, was affected by water scarcity, specifically its economy. According to Juneja (n.d.), about 15% of the taxes that Cape Town earns come from their water supply. Without water supply, the amount of tax collected became affected. Being the two biggest professions in South Africa, tourism and agriculture were affected. They each added to about 11% to the GDP of the country. Juneja (n.d.) also stated that the wine industry has also been one of the major consumers of water. However, with this crisis, wine production has been massively cut down, affecting the employment rate. Overall, water shortage across these three nations has led to negative impacts on the lives of the people in the community, ranging from domestic use, education, agriculture, to the economy.

Water shortage is caused by many factors, which some are similar across countries worldwide. The city of Perth, for example, is caused by high usage of freshwater as well as climate change. Perth has an average annual rainfall of 733mm, with very limited freshwater sources. Despite that, Australians use the most water per capita worldwide, using 100,000 litres of freshwater per person every year. Other than that, climate change has been drastically affecting water levels, with the available freshwater expecting to drop significantly as rainfall patterns change, as there has been a steep decline in rainfall and catchment runoff into the dams in Perth. Water storage levels in Perth in 2017 was 40.4% – the lowest among other Australian cities, such as Melbourne and Hobart. In the year 2016, it was an alarming 28.5%. Wright (2017) found out that the long-term volume of water flowing into Perth has dropped drastically from an average of 338 GL/year (1911 to 1974) to less than 50 GL/year (2010 to 2016).

Chennai’s water shortage, however, was primarily caused by poor water management and an expanding urban population. The city’s watershed areas have been neglected. It is also known that many of the rainwater harvesting structures in buildings are either unmaintained or poorly designed. In fact, Chennai doesn’t have a decentralised system that stores and supplies water. The government has been over-reliant on insufficient reservoirs to supply water to a growing, water-starved city. Lastly, Cape Town’s water scarcity was caused by severe drought between the years 2015 and 2017, which led to lower rainfall. If rainfall was average, the city would have had full dams by the end of the monsoon season annually. The extreme drought was not expected by the people, since it was a rare phenomenon. Hence, the city had no water resources that would be resilient to such drought. With the causes mentioned above, it is evident that water scarcity among the three countries is mainly caused by global climate change, increasing population, and increased usage of water. This shows that the causes are man-made. Water scarcity would have been avoided if humans controlled human activities that potentially harm the planet.

Water shortage is a global issue that has yet to be solved, and it is unlikely to be solved within a short time. It has affected millions across the world, in the aspect of agriculture, education, tourism, healthcare, which overall have affected the economy. Such negative impacts could have been prevented if humans reduced human activities that led to world climatic changes. The increasing population and high usage of water are also causes that are controllable with the combined efforts of the people. Australia, India and South Africa are real-life consequences of our treatment towards the planet. Stern actions should be taken before it becomes too late.

The population I chose are the people of Libya. Libya is a country in Africa. The limiting resource in this country is water. Libya is primarily a desert country which means clean water is more of a luxury and becoming more scarce to find. However, water is needed for important things such as being able to sustain life such as the consumption of water by humans as well as agricultural purposes. Most of Libya’s clean water can be found in natural formed aquifers which care just below the country’s vast deserts. There are some factors that are causing the water to become undrinkable such as pollution levels increasing over the years due to the amount of oil being drilled.

Things such as salt water contamination is another factor that contributes to the water crisis. Due to global warming as well as rising ocean levels the sea level has advanced about one to two kilometers inland which has affected the natural aquifers by causing an increase in the salinity of the groundwater. These factors have complicated the already struggling water quality making the water supply even more challenging to obtain clean water and some of these factors are out of their control to fix. The people of Libya have been complaining about the lack of water for quite some time since water is a vital part of life. In order to bring more attention to the issue, residents have been protesting and if the problem isn’t solved, residents have suggested the idea to move forward with the process of shutting down Marsa Hariga, known as one of the nation’s biggest oil export ports.

The water crisis in Libya has led them to create a water trade with dealers in the city of Sabha. Dealers bring water from wells that are located outside of the city about 20 kilometers away and then sell that water to residents at a high price. Even though this is a solution and is helping alleviate the crisis but, this solution is putting a financial burden on residents considering majority of the people of Sabha can’t afford those prices that the water is being sold at. In order to help this population, there needs to be an alternative to oil production. Officials have come up with the idea to install new pumps. The pumps would still be able to operate properly despite the fact that Libya has fluctuations in their electrical currents. There can also be an improvement in water management.

To improve water management, Libya could review their agricultural water policies. This will could help the water from deteriorate in quality and even minimize some local areas deficits in their water supply. For this population, I don’t see there being an improvement anytime soon for Libya because the economy of the country relies on the oil revenues. Transitioning to different pumps will come with financial difficulties as well as overcoming obstacles in regards to dealing with administration. Making any changes could lead to Libya struggling more than what they already are.