Water Scarcity

12 Key excerpts on "Water Scarcity"

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  Engineers Engaging Community

  Water and Energy

  • Carolyn Oldham, Gregory Crebbin, Stephen Dobbs, Andrea Gaynor(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Springer

    (Publisher)

  It is anticipated that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in regions of water shortage (or absolute rather than relative scarcity), and two-thirds of the world’s population could be experiencing water stress, a condition approaching shortage (FAO, 2012). At present, many regions are dependent on unsustainable extraction of groundwater (Burke and Moench, 2000). In average years, adequate flows no longer reach the mouths of many rivers, including the Colorado, Nile, and Huang He, with severe consequences for human and non-human communities. More than a quarter of all North American freshwa- ter fauna are now considered threatened, due to extraction of fresh water for economic uses, and transformation of freshwater ecologies (Gleick, 2003). There is also increasing uncertainty, as our capacity to monitor critical aspects of the global water balance is diminished, and anthropogenic climate change introduces a range of new challenges. In this context, “business as usual” is simply not a viable option. U.N. Definition of Water Scarcity There are several ways of defining Water Scarcity. In general, Water Scarcity is defined as the point at which the aggregate impact of all users impinges on the supply or quality of water under prevailing institutional arrangements to the extent that the demand by all sectors, including the environment, cannot be satisfied fully. Water Scarcity is a relative concept and can occur at any level of supply or demand. Scarcity may be a social construct (a product of affluence, expectations and customary behavior) or the consequence of altered supply patterns—stemming from climate change for example. Scarcity has various causes, most capable of being remedied or alleviated. A society facing Water Scarcity usually has options.

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  Sustainable Water Management

  • Daniel H. Chen(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  Water Scarcity is one of the main problems to be faced by mankind in this century. Little or no water scar city Physical Water Scarcity Approaching physical Water Scarcity Economic Water Scarcity Not estimated FIGURE 9.1 Global physical and economic Water Scarcity. (Reprinted with permission from United Nations, International Decade for Action, Water for Life 2005–2015, Water Scarcity, 2014.) 229 Water Scarcity in Developing Regions Water use is growing at more than twice the rate of population increase. There is enough water on Earth for everyone, but it is not evenly distributed and an increasing number of regions are chronically short of water. Much of the freshwater resource is not managed properly and is wasted or polluted. Water Scarcity, poor water quality, and the absence of appropriate sanitation negatively affect food security for the poor people of the world. These will also affect lifestyle and livelihood choices, as well as educational opportunities. Water challenges can only increase significantly in the coming years because of population growth and the associated demand for better quality of life. According to the UNESCO World Water Development Report, by 2050, at least one in four people are likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of freshwater (UNESCO 2014). Observational records and climate projections provide evidence that the world’s freshwater resources are extremely vulnerable and will be strongly affected by cli-mate change (IPCC 2008). This will have wide-ranging consequences for humans, the environment, and ecosystems. Global warming, observed over several decades, has been linked to changes in the large-scale hydrological cycle, including increasing atmospheric water vapor content; changing precipitation patterns, both intensity and extremes; reduced snow cover and melting of ice; and changes in soil moisture and runoff.

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  Global Water Resources

  Festschrift in Honour of Asit K. Biswas

  • Cecilia Tortajada, Eduardo Araral(Authors)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Dore, 2005 ). Big cities all over the world are now experiencing recurring water shortages. Sao Paulo in Brazil, Jakarta in Indonesia, Bangalore in India and Cape Town in South Africa are just some of the cities that recently made international headlines due to water shortages.

  By definition, Water Scarcity is a general state of water insufficiency. Water stress is defined as a state when certain threshold values are exceeded (Hanasaki, Yoshikawa, Pokhrel, & Kanae, 2018a ). Water Scarcity was further classified by Rijsberman (2006 ) into two different types: physical and economic. Physical Water Scarcity is the insufficiency or lack of water itself. This type of scarcity is often found in arid regions. Economic Water Scarcity is an insufficiency of water associated with lack of capacity to use water resources despite its availability or abundance. Economic Water Scarcity is often associated with inadequate infrastructure development and poor management, as well as cases of inequitable water allocation and access across economic levels. Access to safe drinking water tends to improve with economic growth. The achievement of the Millennium Development Goal for drinking water (Target 7-C) was associated with the rapid economic growth in China and India in 1990–2015 (Fukuda, Noda, & Oki, 2019 ).

  Although supply and demand are the fundamental factors dictating water stress, economic forces interfere and alter the dynamics of these two. Standard of living changes water use behaviours; richer economies tend to use more water per capita. On the supply side, the capacity for building utility infrastructure also correlates with economic stature. Inter-basin transfers, groundwater extraction and seawater desalination are just some of the common alternatives to conventional water supply, which are all undeniably capital-intensive. Also, the urbanization process, along with the distribution and growth of population in megacities, is different in developed and developing economies (Biswas, 2004 ). Megacities in developing countries grow exponentially faster than their developed and industrialized counterparts. But the magnitude of economic development is concurrent with population growth only in industrialized cities, leaving developing cities behind (Varis et al., 2006 ). The importance of water resource management in alleviating water stress, especially in cases of economic Water Scarcity in developing countries, was highlighted by Biswas and Tortajada (2010a , 2010b). In their case study of Phnom Pehn, Cambodia, the drastic improvement in public access to water since institutional restructuring has demonstrated that effective leadership and governance can alleviate Water Scarcity (Biswas & Tortajada, 2010b

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  Legal Analytics

  The Future of Analytics in Law

  • Namita Singh Malik, Elizaveta A Gromova, Smita Gupta, Balamurugan Balusamy, Namita Singh Malik, Elizaveta A Gromova, Smita Gupta, Balamurugan Balusamy(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Chapman and Hall/CRC

    (Publisher)

  1999 ).

  Water Scarcity may be either physical (absolute) or economical. If the natural resources of water are out of the reach of a particular community, area, or region and cannot meet the requirement, then it is called “physical Water Scarcity”. While, on the other hand, if the Water Scarcity was due to poor management of water resources and lack of technology and investment, then it is economic Water Scarcity (Anonymous ).

  Demonstrating the global accessibility to water and the most crucial areas, Figure 9.1 presents the picture of the present world full of obstacles in the form of a lack of safe drinking water, which excessively affects inhabitants worldwide enormously (Figure 9.2 ).

  FIGURE 9.1 Global accessibility to water.

  FIGURE 9.2 Expected Water Scarcity in 2025 in different ways.

  Source: Third World Academy of Sciences. (TWAS 2002 ).

  In the coming decades, the Earth will consist of the same level of water as it contains at present; however, the global population over the following decades is projected to grow, which will also increase additional demand for drinking water. At present, the global scheme of development is neither desirable nor sustainable. Considering the future. Indeed, the current situation regarding accessibility and availability of safe drinking water will prove a bigger obstacle in the coming years if serious and instant efforts are not taken soon (UNESC 2003 ).

  A further serious obstacle that the world is tackling is common water resources. The need of human beings is causing water shortages. Pollution of the environment and water sources is leading to environmental collapse at a wider level in the common area. This creates conflicts between basic human needs and social development, the environment, its biodiversity, and economic growth, such as industrial development. Here, another significant issue is states sharing common water resources (UNESC 2003 ). Measures have to be taken towards the present issue by recycling, storing, and consuming water, and a more sustainable way of doing this has to be recognized. Besides tools for sanitation, access to water is essential to reduce the huge lack that currently is affecting a large amount of the global population negatively, in the form of health issues, which frequently lead to death (Twas 2002

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  Handbook of Engineering Hydrology

  Environmental Hydrology and Water Management

  • Saeid Eslamian(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  27.5 Causes of Water Scarcity Basically, Water Scarcity is caused by two reasons. One belongs to the natural phenomenon including biophysical conditions such as low rainfall, high temperature, soil characteristics, and vegetation cover. Another results from the man-made activities such as attitude and their poor water management sys-tem. Both reasons affect both quality and quantity of the water resources, as well as human factors overstress the Water Scarcity. 27.5.1 Climate Change and Water Scarcity The major climatic parameter such as temperature and rainfall affect the water availability of any region. The variations in such parameters increase the frequency and severity of floods and droughts, loss in snowpack and acceleration of snowmelts in mountainous areas, and sea-level rise; and disrupt ecosystems that maintain water quality [67]. People living near a shoreline will be affected more, as they are most susceptible to sea-level rise and increased salinity of coastal potable water sources. Many of these factors will increase both water demand and Water Scarcity, affecting human and ecosystem health. Climate change will alter the geography of traditional crop areas, which may impact on the world’s capacity to provide enough food thus increasing the water demand. Ongoing climate change will mean that the water supply for human communities will become more and more uncer-tain. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated that between 2000 and 2005 in the northern hemisphere, climate change accelerated faster than predicted, with the consequence that the water cycle could change in an unpredictable way, leading to the possibility of increasing 526 Handbook of Engineering Hydrology: Environmental Hydrology and Water Management extreme weather. The fear is that with all these changes, even if the quantity of water in the world does not change, the level of accessibility of the theoretically available water may significantly change [66].

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  Desalination Sustainability

  • Chenggui Sun(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Arcler Press

    (Publisher)

  In countries within the tropical and temperate regions, due to enough precipitation, abundant volume of water is available for each person annually. On the other hand, there is an acute shortage of water resources in drier regions within the arid and semi-arid climatic zones. In the latter group of countries, average water availability is extremely scarce. Water security is “the availability of, and access to water sufficient in quantity and quality to meet the health, livelihoods, ecosystem and production needs of populations, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risk”. Water security can be considered from four different dimensions (FAO 2003): • Little or no Water Scarcity. Abundant water resources relative to use, with less than 25 % of water from rivers withdrawn for human purposes. • Physical Water Scarcity is the situation where there is not enough water to meet all demands, including that needed for ecosystems to function effectively. Arid regions frequently suffer from physical Water Scarcity. • Economic Water Scarcity occurs when human, institutional, and financial capital limit access to water, even though water in nature is available locally to meet human demands. • A nation is considered “water stressed” if its total renewable freshwater resources are between 1000 and 1700 m 3 per person annually. Water Scarcity IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA In Arabian Peninsula, ready availability of fresh water has always been a major concern. The region is one of those with the lowest absolute and per inhabitant water resources (Osman-Elasha 2010). Throughout history, the scarcity of water in the region has affected the lives and livelihood of Desalination Sustainability 56 inhabitants. A remarkable variety of adjustments to water-supply fluctuations and deficits have been made by indigenous people over the years.

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  Key Concepts in Water Resource Management

  A Review and Critical Evaluation

  • Jonathan Lautze(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  2

  Water Scarcity

  Jonathan Lautze and Munir A. Hanjra      

  2.1

  Introduction

  Water Scarcity is widely considered to present a major global challenge (e.g., Seckler et al., 1998; Postel, 1998; WWC, 2001; UNDESA, 2007; Chartres and Varma, 2011; Vidal, 2012), often spurring language of a global “water crisis” (e.g., BBC, 2002; National Geographic, 2003; UN, 2006). Postel (1998), for example, questioned whether there will be enough water for food production in 2025. The World Water Council (WWC, 2001) described “the gloomy arithmetic of water.” The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2007) declared that Water Scarcity “will be among the main problems to be faced by many societies and the world in the 21st century.” Chartres and Varma (2011) state that the world faces an emerging water crisis due to worsening water shortage and scarcity.

  While mention of Water Scarcity is ubiquitous in the international development and water management communities as well as the popular press, inconsistencies, anomalies, and limitations associated with the definition and use of the Water Scarcity concept are apparent. Brown and Matlock (2011) document the considerable variation in how Water Scarcity is defined, interpreted, and measured. Rijsberman (2006) reveals inconsistencies associated with various Water Scarcity indicators, and questions whether Water Scarcity is fact or fiction. Molle (2008) suggests that demand for water will always outpace supply, hence scarcity is fairly widespread and the practical value of the concept is minimal. Rogers (2008) and Rogers and Leal (2010) question whether we are really facing a scarcity-induced crisis. The UN Human Development Report (2006) suggests that Water Scarcity is “manufactured through political processes and institutions that disadvantage the poor,” a description consistent with Mehta’s (2007) declaration that Water Scarcity is a socially mediated construct. Finally, Savenije (2000) highlights how inclusion of green water can skew Water Scarcity results, and Brandt and Vogel (2008) and Perveen and James (2011) highlight how variation in scale of analysis can affect results.

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  Water Insecurity

  A Social Dilemma

  • M. A. Abedin, Umma Habiba, Rajib Shaw, M. A. Abedin, Umma Habiba, Rajib Shaw(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Emerald Group Publishing Limited

    (Publisher)

  The effects vary according to local climate, vegetation, geology, institutional arrangements, and government policies. Water Scarcity also affects men and women differently. Because water is funda-mental to health and agricultural production and cannot be easily substi-tuted, it must be available in sufficient quantities at the local level wherever people live in order to sustain communities. Thus, the threat of Water Scarcity is a potential contributor to population movements, although the relative significance of this factor has not been carefully evaluated. Drought 195 Water Scarcity and Migration: An Indian Perspective has caused many large population movements as well as loss and disruption of lives, but there are also many cases in which people have coped with drought by continuing to live in difficult circumstances, adapting, and draw-ing on other types of assets. Between Water Scarcity and large-scale popula-tion movement, there is a large array of options that allow people to continue their lives in their homes and communities. As availability of water is related to every basic aspect of human lives, the crisis of water breaks the whole system. Neither famine nor migration is the result of Water Scarcity alone, but rather part of an overall livelihood situation that involves oppor-tunities and constraints that delimit feasible coping strategies. Fig. 3 shows how the crisis of water and its different impacts lead to different kind of human migration. The worst outcome of Water Scarcity is drought contributing to famine and refugee movements. Throughout history, drought and famines have affected millions of people, causing large numbers of deaths and forcing people to move. Drought is a slow, gradually developing form of natural disaster that may extend over years. Over the duration of the drought, there may be several years of decreasing harvests and building stresses.

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  Divided Environments

  An International Political Ecology of Climate Change, Water and Security

  • Jan Selby, Gabrielle Daoust, Clemens Hoffmann(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  2 Geography versus Demography The Question of Scarcity No idea is more central to mainstream water, climate and environmental security discourse than the idea of ‘scarcity’. Scarcity, it is typically assumed, leads to competition, marginalisation, migration, insecurity and conflict, and in an era of accelerating climate change will likely do so with ever wider and more acute consequences. Such is the basic premise under- pinning most environmental security thinking, whether the word ‘scarcity’ is deployed or not. Thus Thomas Homer-Dixon’s major explanatory claim on the subject is that ‘environmental scarcity causes violent conflict’. Michael Klare maintains that global limits on freshwater availability com- bined with rising demand will, by 2050, produce ‘intense competition for this essential substance in all but a few well-watered areas of the planet’. The Environmental Justice Foundation foresees a world of ‘scarce futures’. Margaret Beckett, as UK foreign secretary, claimed that ‘[w]hen people are exposed to the stresses caused by overpopulation, resource scarcity, environmental degradation, as they feel the security upon which they and their families depend progressively slipping away, so we see the slide down the spectrum from stability to instability’. And the first major defence planning study of climate security risks put the issue thus: Abrupt climate change is likely to stretch carrying capacity well beyond its already precarious limits. And there’s a natural tendency or need for carrying capacity to become realigned. As abrupt climate change lowers the world’s carrying capacity aggressive wars are likely to be fought over food, water, and energy. Deaths from war as well as starvation and disease will decrease population size, which overtime, will re-balance with carrying capacity. 1 1 Homer-Dixon, ‘Environmental scarcities’, 39; Homer-Dixon, Environment, Scarcity and Violence, 93; M.

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  Water

  The International Crisis

  • Robin Clarke(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  A shortage of water is not the same as drought. Droughts are exceptional meteorological events. Water shortage in much of Africa – and elsewhere – is not exceptional but endemic, a part of everyday life. The central thesis of this book is that many countries, and not only those in Africa, are now chronically short of water. Most of them are likely to become more so in the future.

  While the symptoms of water shortage are easy to identify, its causes are not. Malin Falkenmark, from Stockholm’s Natural Science Research Council, distinguishes four different causes of Water Scarcity:

  • aridity, a permanent shortage of water caused by a dry climate;
  • drought, an irregular phenomenon occurring in exceptionally dry years;
  • dessication, a drying-up of the landscape, particularly the soil, resulting from activities such as deforestation and over-grazing; and
  • water stress, due to increasing numbers of people relying on fixed levels of run-off.

  The first two of these relate to the climate, the second two to changes that result from human activity. For the moment, it matters little which of these causes is the most important, and which results in the greatest suffering. Suffice that, jointly or separately, they are depriving millions of people of the water they need to live anything approaching a decent life.

  Water shortages are also a potential problem in many developed countries. However, industrial nations can usually resort to buying their way out: through the use of expensive energy, expensive technology and expensive investments they can install the wherewithal to recycle their water, or even to desalinate sea water.

  Developing countries, trapped in poverty and debt, have no such option. Those that suffer from serious water shortages are faced with a cruel dilemma: they must either limit their use to water that has not previously been used; or they must make do with used but untreated water.

  There are few meaner examples of Hobson’s choice. To choose to limit water use can prevent progress, reduce food production, threaten livestock production and imperil human survival. To choose to reuse untreated water, on the other hand, is an open invitation to disease.1

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  Economics Of The Middle East: Development Challenges

  Development Challenges

  • Julia C Devlin(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • World Scientific

    (Publisher)

  85 Chapter 4 Water Scarcity in the MENA Region Managing water resources pose significant challenges for policymakers globally — the amount of water readily available for human use is less than 1% of total water resources in the world. Water resource scarcity is particularly severe in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) — the most water “poor” region in the world where per capita water resources have declined by 60% since the 1970s. In Yemen, for example, groundwater tables in the Sana’a Basin are falling by as much as 6 m per year and government offi-cials are considering moving the location of Sana’a, the capital city. This chapter surveys underlying factors driving Water Scarcity in the MENA region and explores policy approaches to more sustainable water management. Section I discusses rising Water Scarcity in the context of the MENA region and underlying contributing factors. Section II explores policy approaches to more sustainable water resource management with a focus on specific countries in the region. • Water is a renewable resource but finite.  The amount of water readily available for human use is less than 1% of total water resources in the world. 1 1 Globally, freshwater resources are scarce — an estimated 70% of the Earth’s sur-face consists of water, but the majority of it, that is, 96% is saline. Of the remaining 86 Economics of the Middle East II. Water Scarcity in the MENA Region 2 • In the MENA region, ensuring access to freshwater resources for activity and human welfare is particularly challenging. Globally, between 1950 and 2030, it is estimated that per capita water resources will decline by 60%. In the MENA region, water resources per capita have already declined by 60% since the 1960s. • Today, countries in the MENA region are among the most water scarce globally with per capita freshwater availability well below a global water “poverty” line of 1,000 cubic meters per day.

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  The Atlas of Water

  Mapping the World's Most Critical Resource

  • Maggie Black(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • University of California Press

    (Publisher)

  G. G. MO N GO LI A AN N TAN T TA C HINA JAPAN A JA MONGOLIA NEPAL BHUTAN NORTH KOREA SOUTH KOREA Xinjiang Ar Qinghai Tibet Ar Beijing Tianjin Liaoning Jilin Heilongjiang Hebei Shanghai Jiangsu Zhejiang Anhui Fujian Jiangxi Shandong Henan Hubei Hunan Chongqing Guangdong Guangxi Ar Guizhou Yunnan Sichuan Shanxi Shaanxi Gansu Ningxia Ar I n n e r M o n g o l i a A r Hainan CHINA Water’s uneven distribution is not only geographical. Human pressure on available supplies contributes to scarcity and stress. 25 Copyright © Myriad Editions Population growth, economic expansion and rising living standards are exerting ever more pressure on supplies. In India, freshwater availability per capita has declined from over 4,000 cubic metres to 1,500 cubic metres in less than 50 years. In major river basins shared by Afghanistan, China, India and Pakistan there is strong competition between farmers, industrialists, and urban consumers and the potential for conflict. The depletion of water resources, when combined with annual and seasonal rainfall variability and vulnerability to drought and/or flood, creates severe water stress. >H[LY Z[YLZZ PU JVU[YPLZ ZWWSPLK MYVT /PTHSH`HU ZVYJLZ 9PZPUN +LTHUK +^PUKSPUN :WWS` *VTWL[P[PVU HUK *VUÅPJ[ R ANTIGUA & BARBUDA PUERTO RICO BARBADOS ST LUCIA TRINIDAD & TOBAGO ST KITTS & NEVIS ST VINCENT & GRENAD.

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