[INFORMATIVE] Water Scarcity: A Rising Concern

Water Scarcity: A Rising Concern

By: Mansi Kumbhare

What is water scarcity?
Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of freshwater resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical and economic. Physical water scarcity is when there is not enough water to meet all demands, including water needed for ecosystems to function.

Regions with a desert climate often face physical water scarcity. Central Asia, West Asia, and North Africa are examples of arid areas. Economic water scarcity results from a lack of investment in infrastructure or technology to draw water from rivers, aquifers, or other water sources. It also results from weak human capacity to meet water demand. Many people in Sub-Saharan Africa are living with economic water scarcity.

There is enough freshwater available globally and averaged over the year to meet demand. As such, water scarcity is caused by a mismatch between when and where people need water, and when and where it is available. One of the main causes of the increase in global water demand is the increase in the number of people. Others are the rise in living conditions, changing diets (to more animal products), and expansion of irrigated agriculture.

Climate change (including droughts or floods), deforestation, water pollution, and wasteful use of water can also mean there is not enough water. These variations in scarcity may also be a function of prevailing economic policy and planning approaches.

Types of Water Scarcity
Experts have defined two types of water scarcity: physical water scarcity and economic water scarcity. These terms were first defined in a 2007 study led by the International Water Management Institute, which examined the use of water in agriculture over the previous 50 years. The study aimed to find out if the world had sufficient water resources to produce food for the growing population in the future.

• Physical Water Scarcity

Physical water scarcity occurs when natural water resources are not enough to meet all demands. This includes water needed for ecosystems to function well. Dry regions often suffer from physical water scarcity. Human influence on the climate has intensified water scarcity in areas where it was already a problem. It also occurs where water seems abundant but resources are over-committed. One example is the overdevelopment of hydraulic infrastructure.
This can be for irrigation or energy generation. There are several symptoms of physical water scarcity. They include severe environmental degradation, declining groundwater, and water allocations favoring some groups over others.

• Economic Water Scarcity

Economic water scarcity is due to a lack of investment in infrastructure or technology to draw water from rivers, aquifers, or other water sources. It also reflects insufficient human capacity to meet the water demand. It causes people without reliable water access to travel long distances to fetch water for household and agricultural uses. Such water is often unclean.

The United Nations Development Programme says economic water scarcity is the most common cause of water scarcity. This is because most countries or regions have enough water to meet household, industrial, agricultural, and environmental needs, but they lack the means to provide it in an accessible manner.

Related concepts

• Water security

Water security aims to make the most of water's benefits for humans and ecosystems. The second aim is to limit the risks of destructive impacts of water to an acceptable level. These risks include, for example, too much water (flood), too little water (drought and water scarcity), or poor quality (polluted) water. People who live with a high level of water security always have access to 'an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, and production'. For example, access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services is one part of water security. Some organizations use the term water security more narrowly for water supply aspects only.

• Water risk

Water risk refers to the possibility of problems related to water. Examples include water scarcity, water stress, flooding, infrastructure decay, and drought. There is an inverse relationship between water risk and water security, meaning that as water risk increases, water security decreases. Water risk is complex and multilayered.

It encompasses risks of flooding and drought, which can lead to infrastructure failure and worsen hunger. When these disasters occur, they result in water scarcity or other issues. It is important to note the potential economic effects of water risk. Water risks threaten entire industries, such as the food and beverage sector, agriculture, oil and gas, and utilities.

Causes and Contributing Factors

• Population growth

Around fifty years ago, the common view was that water was an infinite resource. At that time, there were fewer than half the current number of people on the planet. People were not as wealthy as today, consumed fewer calories, and ate less meat, so less water was needed to produce their food. They required a third of the volume of water we presently take from rivers.

Today, the competition for water resources is much more intense. This is because there are now seven billion people on the planet and their consumption of water-thirsty meat is rising. And industry, urbanization, biofuel crops, and water-reliant food items are competing more and more for water. In the future, even more water will be needed to produce food because the Earth's population is forecast to rise to 9 billion by 2050.

• Over-exploitation of groundwater

The increase in the number of people is increasing competition for water. This is depleting many of the world's major aquifers. It has two causes. One is direct human consumption. The other is agricultural irrigation. Millions of pumps of all sizes are currently extracting groundwater throughout the world. Irrigation in dry areas such as northern China, Nepal, and India draws on groundwater. It is extracting groundwater at an unsustainable rate. Many cities have experienced aquifer drops of between 10 and 50 meters. They include Mexico City, Bangkok, Beijing, Chennai, and Shanghai.

• Expansion of agricultural and industrial users

The main cause of water scarcity as a result of consumption is the extensive use of water in agriculture/livestock breeding and industry. People in developed countries generally use about 10 times more water a day than people in developing countries. A large part of this is indirect use in water-intensive agricultural and industrial production of consumer goods. Examples include fruit, oilseed crops, and cotton. Many of these production chains are globalized, so a lot of water consumption and pollution in developing countries occurs to produce goods for consumption in developed countries.

• Improvements to be made

There is some good news. In fact, one study found that water scarcity can be significantly reduced by 2050 if we commit to making big, yet practical changes like the ones listed below.

• Developing water filtration systems: It’s one thing to have access to water, and it’s another to have access to water that is safe to drink. Effective water filtration systems help ensure fresh water is safe to use. That’s one of the reasons why companies worldwide are committed to developing sophisticated water filtration systems that produce purified water free from bacteria, microbes, and other contaminants, and bring this clean drinking water to as many schools, hospitals, workplaces, and homes as possible.
• Reduce your waste usage: It takes every community in the world to reduce the threat of water scarcity. Now more than ever, the world needs water stewards in all forms. You can reduce your water usage by taking shorter showers, installing low-flow toilets, and collecting rainwater for garden use at home. You can also reuse greywater, eradicate leaks, or invest in sustainable energy and water reduction initiatives.
• Increasing water storage in reservoirs: Climate change increases the frequency of droughts and floods. By expanding the reservoir capacity, we can capture and store floodwater to prevent its loss to the ocean, where it becomes salinized and more difficult to treat. This stored water can be used to provide water during times of drought.

Conclusion
In conclusion, water scarcity is an issue that will greatly affect the amount of crops grown and will determine whether there is enough food to feed the world by 2050. Due to the increasing population, a lot more work, research, and money will be needed to ensure a sufficient food supply. This issue has been addressed, and some work has already been done. For example, water scarcity in the Murray-Darling Basin was a significant issue.


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