The Shortage in the Supply of Clean Water free essay sample

However, according to a study carried by the journal Nature, if the Earth warms just a  degree  or two Celsius in coming decades, regions that depend on runoff from mountain snows for drinking water and farming will face shortages. Actually water shortage caused by global warming is due to the increase in demand for water but not a drop in water supply. When there is global warming, the rise in earth’s temperature will lead to an increase in the evaporation rate of the moisture in soils, thus increasing the demands on irrigation in agricultural activities. Moreover, higher temperature will speed up the water cycle as water evaporates at a faster rate and rain more often and plants will benefit less. There will be the depletion of water tables and lead to water shortage. Therefore, although the amount of water available in the world does not change when there is global warming, the rise in demand for water can still trigger the problem of water shortage. We will write a custom essay sample on The Shortage in the Supply of Clean Water or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page b. Increasing population The world population increase by 1%-3% annually and more people results in a need for more water. Industrial, agricultural and economic activities increase its water demand too. In some regions of even the most developed countries, people consume about 80% of their available fresh water supply at any given point in time. Problem exists when the increasing demand of water cannot keep pace with the limited supply of water. There is a report called â€Å"More people, Less Water† commissioned by Population Matters from an LSE  graduate student which reviewed that people will need between 1. 5 and 4. 9 million more tonnes of water (cubic metres) per day  if the population keep on rising. These are worrying figures implying the danger of water shortage and a rise in the cost of building new pipelines, sewage treatment and more long-distance pumping etc. This problem will keep on worsening if we do not take any actions to conserve water properly and gradually lead to water shortage which affects everyone’s life. c. Pollution Polluting water will reduce the water supply and lead to the problem of water shortage. Pesticides and fertilizers used in agriculture, sewer overflows and oil and grease from roads are examples of pollutants which will eventually run off into the water systems. Other sources of excess nutrients include lawn fertilizers, pet and farm animal waste, decaying plant material, failing septic tanks, and inefficient sewage treatment plants. Besides, industry such as industrial plants and municipal wastewater treatment plants is also the leading producer of sewage which will enter streams and rivers and ultimately lakes, estuaries and coastal waters. According to the statistical study carried by the Shanghai Star magazine, producing one ton of steel requires 20 to 60 cubic metres of water in Shanghai while in the US and Japan 6 cubic metres of water are required. Due to huge amount of pollutants enter the water systems, water is heavily polluted and it will badly affect the provision of clean drinking water as polluted water is not always reusable. Therefore, pollution lowers the quality of water and reduces the amount of water available for use. d. Poor water management Although the supply of water in the world is limited, water shortage can still be avoided by better water management. However, some responsible agency did not take proper actions to conserve water. For example, water leakages are not properly prevented with regular maintenance of water containers and water distribution systems. Also, the number of water tankers or any other water related facilities are not adequate to store water for future use and the sewage treatment system is not well operated and supervised to prevent water being contaminated by pollutants and water can be reused. Fines should be imposed on anyone who wastes this precious source on other unnecessary areas as well as industries which continuously emit toxic substances to pollute water in order to punish them for the misuse of water and educate them to conserve water. Dams or other constructions should also be built to reduce flooding. After all, poor water management will speed up the occurrence of water shortage and become a threat of our life to us. e. Increasing water consumption The ever-growing water consumption of people leads to water shortage by wasting water in other needless areas. In our daily lives, people are not aware of conserving water. Instead, they consume much water for their convenience. For example, people do not wash their cars with a sponge and a bucket in their driveways anymore. They drive through car washes which utilize dozens of gallons of water in one wash. Another example is that people opt for much quicker showers which have a constant stream of water flowing and draining since they no longer have time to bath. Besides, there is theme park like Ocean Park in Hong Kong with water attractions that consume hundreds of thousands of gallons of water per day. We can surely adopt another way to take a bath, to wash a car or to promote the theme park. But people seldom try to help to conserve water and cause water wastage. So, we increase water consumption for our convenience and enjoyment but at the same time paid a cost which is water shortage. . Consequences a. Disruption of agricultural activities According to research done by Shiklomanov, water usage for irrigation represent 66% of the total usage and up to 90 % in arid regions, the other 34 % being used by domestic households (10 %), industry (20 %), or evaporated from reservoirs (4 %) and we can know how important water is for irrigation of crops. Most plants need water to stay alive. Without water, crops cannot grow healthily and eventually died. Farmers wont be able to produce enough to stay in business and the price of food will go through the roof. They have to think of other alternative ways to irrigate their land for the crops since their regular water sources are always running dry, such as spend money on buying clean water or deliver water from places which are far away from their land. Food supply will then be badly affected as there is unstable supply of food from the farmland with unstable supply of water. Water shortage might lead to dry up of rivers or even desertification, which means the degradation of land  in any  dry lands, as lands become dry with little water moisture and cannot produce any food. Overall, agricultural activities cannot be smoothly carried out without water and badly affect food supply. b. Privatization of water When water becomes scarce, it is not surprised that the price of water will rise because there must be people who want to make a profit by the provision of limited supply of this precious resource while the market have a high demand in water. So many corporations are trying to privatize access to water in order to make water officially as a need rather than right. If water is a need, the private sector could provide this resource, through the market on a for-profit basis. On the other hand, if water is a right, the government will be responsible for ensuring all citizens have the equal access to water on a non-profit basis. For example, the World Bank has made privatization of urban water systems as a condition for receiving new loans and debt restructuring. Not only will this phenomenon increase the cost of living of the citizens with higher water cost, but also it is unfair to those who are not wealthy enough to buy adequate water for their daily needs. It creates the trend of â€Å"more money, more water, better living† which cannot raise the standard of living. Privatization of water will only worsen the problem of water shortage as well as the lives of all citizens. c. Poor sanitation and health of people The World Health Organization has identified clean water as the single most important factor in determining public health as it is what people daily intake. Without clean drinking water, human being surely cannot live for a long period. Besides, the human need for basic hygiene cannot be fulfilled without water. People cannot wash their body and clothes and clean themselves. As their basic hygiene need is not met and harmful virus or bacteria cannot be killed, it will reduce their resistance to diseases and cannot prevent infection from diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, salmonellosis, other gastrointestinal viruses, and dysentery. Also, when water was scarce, people might often force to rely on drinking water sources that might not be safe. It will increase the chance of people being contaminated and badly affect their health. Therefore, a normal person without water in his or her daily life is more likely to be sick or even died. d. Disruption of aquatic life Creatures which live in the water are also the victims of water shortage. When water shortage exists, river may dry up due to global warming and evaporation and aquatic lives in the river will soon be dead without water. Also, when the demand for water is high, people might get water from the sea. The sea level will become lower which is bad for the living of animals in the sea. The death or destruction of the aquatic life leads to the collapse of the fishery too. It is because the number of fishes collected will be smaller and they are difficult to stay in their business.