Water use has been growing globally at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century, and an increasing number of regions are reaching the limit at which water services can be sustainably delivered. So, what could go wrong? Plenty. While peak oil may be the least of our problem, peak water is almost upon us.
In this round-up I've blockquoted the most significant aspect of our collective problem, to save you from having to click on the links, and depress yourself further. I've read somewhere that more people in the world own cell phones than have access to a toilet, that's a depressing fact. What's even more depressing is the apparent obliviousness of some who gleefully would say that water will never run out...that the amount of water will never change...that it's called the water cycle. Yeah, right!
Long after the political uprisings in the Middle East have subsided, many underlying challenges that are not now in the news will remain. Prominent among these are rapid population growth, spreading water shortages, and growing food insecurity: Source
In some countries grain production is now falling as aquifers – underground water-bearing rocks – are depleted. After the Arab oil-export embargo of the 1970s, the Saudis realised that since they were heavily dependent on imported grain, they were vulnerable to a grain counter-embargo. Using oil-drilling technology, they tapped into an aquifer far below the desert to produce irrigated wheat. In a matter of years, Saudi Arabia was self-sufficient in its principal food staple.
But after more than 20 years of wheat self-sufficiency, the Saudis announced in January 2008 that this aquifer was largely depleted and they would be phasing out wheat production. Between 2007 and 2010, the harvest of nearly 3m tonnes dropped by more than two-thirds. At this rate the Saudis could harvest their last wheat crop in 2012 and then be totally dependent on imported grain to feed their population of nearly 30 million.Of course, we already knew one of the big eco-bummers of our modern lives is that products from beer to microchips use inordinate amounts of water. Last August, the WWF revealed that each Brit effectively uses 4,645 litres of water a day to produce the food on our tables and the T-shirts on our backs; see our world map for an idea of where Britain's "borrowed water" comes from.
Israel water shortage greater than previously thought: Source
A dramatic change has taken place in the amount of natural water available in the aquifers and Lake Kinneret, due to dwindling precipitation, the task force said. And a recent study found that the water supply is even smaller because of processes such as a rise in the salinity of the groundwater, which has rendered 10 percent of it unfit for use. A further 15 percent decrease was caused by a deterioration in water quality, urbanization (which prevents rainwater from entering the groundwater ) and climate change.
Saltora, May 6: It’s easier to get a bottle of soft drink than drinking water in Bankura’s Saltora: Source
The CPM-controlled constituency is reeling from a severe water scarcity with the residents alleging that the Left has done precious little to provide purified drinking water in the area. Mrityunjoy Pandit, a 25-year-old resident of Saltora’s Ardhagram village, said the area had always faced water scarcity but this year it was acute because of the scanty rainfall last year. “There are three wells in our village. Of them, two have dried up completely while the water level in the other has receded significantly. The solitary pond here has also dried up,” Pandit said, pumping water from a tubewell. “See how water is trickling from the tubewell. It takes 15 minutes to fill a medium-sized bucket,” the mason said, wiping sweat off his brow. “We can offer you a bottle of soft drink but not drinking water,” Pandit said. His wife Tumpa, 20, stands silently by his side.
The Price of Water 2011: Prices Rise an Average of 9 Percent in Major U.S. Cities: Source
Prices are increasing because operational inputs such as chemicals, energy, labor, and water itself are getting more expensive. That is the case in Phoenix, where over the last decade chemical costs per million gallons of treated water have increased by 493 percent, electricity costs by 68 percent, and raw-water costs by 41 percent. The size of the increase in each of these input categories depends on local factors, such as source-water quality and electricity prices.
To that end, the authors have estimated the water footprint of everyday food and drink, which encouragingly shows that one litre of beer consumes less water (300 litres) than one litre of orange juice (850 litres): Source
One kilogram of coffee is reportedly more thirsty (21,000 litres of water) than one kilogram of hamburger (16,000 litres). Take a look at our image gallery to see the hidden water cost of everything from your daily cuppa to a glass of wine. According to the report, this is adding up to a global crisis. "We are facing a crisis of running out of sustainably managed water," says Peter Gleick, the author of the sixth edition of the World Water report by California's Pacific Institute. Despite human demand accounting for over 50% of the world's accessible freshwater, the report warns that billions of people still lack access to basic water services. Developing countries, it notes, will suffer worst from peak water because of supply problems exacerbated by flooding, drought and water pollution. Developed countries won't be entirely spared though, as Peter Preston discovered in Spain last year
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Even without the complication of climate change, water scarcity in China is a long-term problem that has been exacerbated by the growing demands of agriculture, industry and urban centres. The impact is not only felt in the dry north, but in the manufacturing heartlands along the coast: Source
Gripped by its worst drought for 60 years, the world's biggest wheat producer is desperate for a downpour to avoid a crop failure that would have an impact on food prices around the world. The challenge is evident from the burst of recent reports in the Chinese media about food, water and the environment. Grain hoarding is already a problem, according to TV report about farmers who are reluctant to sell their stocks because they expect the price to increase in the near future. China News quoted the manager of Yucheng Xinfeng flour mill in Henan complaining about the difficulty of securing supplies since the start of the Chinese new year.
A panel of some of the world's leading climate and glacier scientists co-chaired by a Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego researcher issued a report commissioned by the Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences citing the moral imperative before society to properly address climate change: Source
The co-authors of "Fate of Mountain Glaciers in the Anthropocene" list numerous examples of glacial decline around the world and the evidence linking that decline to human-caused changes in climate and air pollution. The threat to the ways of life of people dependent upon glaciers and snow packs for water supplies compels immediate action to mitigate the effects of climate change and to adapt to what changes are happening now and are projected to happen in the future.
Over the past nine months, Circle of Blue and the China Environment Forum have explored the extensive water circulatory system and vast energy production musculature that makes China and the United States go, and what could also contribute to making both nations falter: Source
Underlying China’s new standing in the world, like a tectonic fault line, is an increasingly fierce competition between energy and water that threatens to upend China’s progress. Aside from water-sipping technologies such as wind and solar, energy production—particularly coal—uses vast amounts of water. In China, coal mining, cleaning, and production alone is using 23 percent of the nation’s water. Because of water scarcity, central government and provincial leaders, for instance, have halted at four the number of new coal-to-liquid fuels plants allowed to be built in a program that once envisioned nearly 20 new plants. The process of turning coal to a metric ton of liquid fuel can take as much as 12 cubic meters (3,200 gallons) of water.