Imagining a future with water scarcity
Water crisis
Water crisis is indeed a problem now; to some people it is not a problem because it is easy to obtain this resource by simply turning on the tap. In some part of Africa, people have to drink water from rivers whether it is safe to drink or not because there is no other option. Rivers are contaminated with bacteria from sewage, animal waste, waste from factories, etc. Water is now a service that we must pay to get it, for the less fortunate people in Africa who cannot get clean water supply, they were advice to get tablets which contain iodine to make it safe to drink, but they still have to buy the tablets which they could not afford. Therefore people suffer from water-borne diseases like cholera and typhoid.
Conflicts arise from the issue of water shortages. One example is the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Issues between these two countries are not only about military airspace, social and religion attitudes or Gaza blockade but also about water issues. Israel receives its water supply mainly from the Jordan River, the Sea of Galilee and two other underground water sources and this is shared with the Palestinians. But this has caused great controversy, according to Yehezkel Lein, a water expert who helped to solve the water problems in Palestine said, “We are talking about mainly the mountain aquifer and the Jordan River system. Regarding the first one Israel exploits approximately 80% of the renewal water resources, and the Palestinians the remaining 20%”. This conflict is not only affecting the government but also the citizens, people suffer just to get clean fresh water supply. Will this conflict happen to other nations if there is a limited supply of fresh water? I can imagine when water supply is limited, when only the rich can afford this resource; it would create a major social problem such as health and development.
Water contamination
Even though there are efforts to minimize drying aquifer problem like injecting water to the ground, but considering the soaring population and development, there is a possibility of groundwater contamination through landfills leakage, excessive fertilizers and pesticides from agriculture practices. One particular pesticide, Atrazine, which is manufactured by Swiss company SYNGENTA, not only it pollutes drinking, ground and surface water, but it also creates a problem to humans and also animals. According to biologist, Tyrone Hayes from University of California, he mentioned in the award winning documentary FLOW (for love of water), this pesticide affects frogs and fishes where it affects the animal’s reproductive system. For us, it would cause in low sperm count, prostate cancer, breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
Water moves in a cycle and if the water cycle is highly affected with pollution through our patterns of consumption, then the process would cause problem which includes social-economic matter. One example is the closing of 15 schools in Northamptonshire because of the lack clean drinking water supply, cryptosporidium parasites were found in the water which could cause severe stomach upset. A consumer Mary Ellis, 57, went to Tesco and the shelves are empty and it was announced that there is a limit of how many bottles you can buy because of the limited number of clean water supply. We ourselves can reduce this problem by getting organic foods which is a pesticide free food production. Recycling would also help reduce groundwater contamination by reducing waste going to the landfills.
Groundwater contamination
Image taken from http://imnh.isu.edu/digitalatlas/hydr/concepts/gwater/aquifer.htm
Sinking cities
China is rising in terms of population, economy and development. But due to the rise of these aspects, some of the cities are sinking and this is due to the excessive pumping of groundwater. Groundwater is water stored underground in aquifers, which a body of saturated rock which water can easily move. Groundwater comes from rain, snow, sleet and hail that are soaked into the ground. Ground water is pumped using a well which is drilled into the ground, and if water pumped from a well is faster than it is replenished, the water table is lowered and may go dry. In China 46 cities are sinking because of this problem. According to the survey conducted by the Ministry of Land and Resources China, the rapid depletion of groundwater has produced more than 100 massive “funnels” covering a total area of 150,000 square kilometres across the country. The cities of Shanghai, Tianjin and Taiyuan report the worst sinking, each of them having dropped by more than two metres since the early 1900s. Another example of sinking city is Mexico, sinking at an average 9 centimetres per year because of the excessive pumping of groundwater. Water pipelines will be dislocated, building and roads will start to crack. What would happen if cities from each country start to sink? As a daily consumer of water, we need to realize that this problem comes from our own doings.
Santa Veracruz church
Mexico city
Image taken by Tim Leffel
http://www.perceptivetravel.com/issues/0409/mexico_city.html
Is our future secure?
We always thought that in the future, the world will be a better place to stay, with all futuristic transportation and architecture. But in reality, we are destroying the future. Resources are depleting, even water. Water seems to be everywhere, as a fact there is more water than land. But most of the water on earth is sea water, to make it drinkable, it has to undergo desalination, a process which is really expensive and energy consuming. Electricity which comes from oil and gas will not be on earth forever. At a certain point, when there is no more resources to power up buildings and power plants, which includes desalination plants, what will we drink? Water then will be as expensive as gold or even more. One good example in imagining the future is a film entitled ‘earth 2100’. The film predicts and visualises the future that will occur if we continue the way we live today.
How much water is there?
Illustration by Jack Cook
Image taken from http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=10897&i=7301&x=111
It seems that water is an infinite resource; Earth surface is covered by ocean more than 70% but how much water is there really? On the illustration which is done by Jack Cook, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution shows the Earth without water and put next to a blue ball which is the approximated volume of all Earth’s water. The tiny blue dot represents the amount of fresh water we have on Earth. Water is indeed a very precious resource like oil, where almost every production uses water during its process.
What is the importance of water?
Water is an essential part of a human’s life. Not only humans depend on water to survive but also other living species like animals and plants which make water an important aspect to keep us alive. Without water, we will be killed by our own waste. The water we drink will be used by our kidneys to remove uric acid and urea. Also water also helps us cool our body through perspiration. There is no doubt that water is vital in our life. Not only for our health, water is used in production such as paper, food, fabric, etc and also our daily activities like showering and cleaning. Water is a precious resource, there is no alternative for water therefore we should be responsible and monitor our consumption.
