The Global Water Crisis: What Does the Future Hold in its Water Reserves?
While the global water crisis is already a matter of great concern in the United States, it only gets worse as one views the state of our water resources at a larger, international scale. Having already become the number 1 global risk to society, the growing water crisis threatens to leave over 4 billion without adequate access to water as soon as 2025.
The abundance, quality, maintenance and accessibility of our water resources have been threatened for a long time. Between climate change and the changing rainfall and water resource replenishing methods and industrialization and urbanization and the resulting pollution and exploitation of our water resources, our water levels have begun to drop at dangerously high rates and our steady access to water is being threatened. The Ogallala reserve has already caught the attention of environmental activists and market players due to its contribution to the agriculture, food and energy industry. However, the water crisis doesn’t end here. Within the United States alone, there are several other major water crisis issues that have risen. The most obvious two are the droughts in California and water poisoning in Flint, Michigan. Other places in America are also affected .The most widely known of these are California and Flint. If we move beyond America to weaker economies, the state of water resources only gets worse, and the predictions for the changes in our water availability by 2025 are astoundingly grave.
The depletion of the Ogallala reserve as fast as 2 feet per year is threatening our steady food and energy supply, putting the US economy at risk of suffering a $14 billion loss as a result. However, this is only one side of things. If we are to look at the water crisis as it relates to us beyond the agriculture industry, California and Flint, Michigan are the most visual examples. From climate change causing droughts in California, to improper infrastructure maintenance causing poisoning and health issues in Flint, a view of these two examples shows how much needs to be fixed and invested in order to even begin successfully solving and mitigating the growing water crisis.
Beginning with the very root of most of our water issues — Climate change. Changing rainfall patterns have caused severe flooding in places like Texas, but have resulted in 4 consecutive years of severe drought in California. Rainfall in California relies on snow each year that is responsible for replenishing lakes and other water bodies. With rising temperatures, snowfall has decreased, resulting in insufficient rainfall and heavy water shortages across the State. In order to meet its populations needs, California has had to dip into its groundwater reserves. This has caused its large Central Valley Aquifer to be heavily depleted much like the Ogallala reserve in the Great Plains region. Water has become more of a luxury and most of the remaining water resources have been allocated to farming so as to maintain a steady food supply and market. California has survived drought before, but this was back in the 1970s when its population was just about 20 million people. It is now trying to recover from prolonged drought with easily double the population it had in the1970s. Climate change is upon us, and its effects are only becoming more and more prominent. Measures to improve water use efficiency and sustainable methods of using water have surfaced, but once again, minor efforts and movements are not enough.
Climate change is evidently causing enough issues, but this is not the only threat to our water resources. As is evident from the case of lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan, even maintenance of our water infrastructure has a huge effect. The problems with Flint’s water supply all began when the city chose to save money by opting out of an agreement to use Detroit’s water supply.
Almost immediately after, complaints began to flood in about unusual water color, taste and odor, as well as of the occurrence of several water-borne diseases. Over the next few months, water tests sequentially returned worse results and a state of crisis was declared in light of the lead found in Flint’s water reserves. The presence of lead was found to have come from rusting pipes and poorly maintained water infrastructure, and health issues were only getting worse. While an immediate measure has been to distribute water purification pills and filters across neighborhoods, major infrastructural sprucing is required. Unfortunately, Flint’s funds alone are not sufficient for this kind of damage-control. Other states in the nation could contribute, but it should be noted that Flint is not the only city that is suffering due to poor water management. America would need to spend about $225 billion to repair and maintain necessary water infrastructure to uphold steady access to clean water. Our conditions sound bleak, but are still only a sliver of the issue if one is to consider water shortages at a global scale.
In 2015, the World Economic Forum declared the water crisis as the top global threat to society. Already, 1.2 billion people live with inadequate access to resources, while a whopping 663 million do not have any daily access to clean water. 33% of our population does not have access to proper water-related sanitation facilities like toilets. We see here how water risk connects to climate change, the food crisis, and also to personal and public sanitation and health. Innovation and research has led to multiple different alternatives for energy, but water is irreplaceable, and the water crisis is far more complicated. There is an urgent need to tackle the issue, and seeing where the state of our water availability is predicted to go over the next decade makes this need even clearer.
According to an analysis carried out at the turn of the millennium as part of the Global Water Scarcity Study by the International Water Management Institute, conditions of inadequate water availability will expand from the current 1.2 billion to 1.8 billion as early as 2025. The Institute applied new software and planning techniques to study 118 countries and projected water shortages for each. The Middle East and North Africa are already water-scarce countries, and according to these predictions, even China, India, South Africa and Pakistan will fall into this category. China and India, having the largest populations, are likely to entirely run out of water if it is not used sustainably from here on out. Collectively, a total 4 billion are projected to be left without access to water. Whats worse? About 1.6 billion people of the 4 billion will live in proximity to usable water, but will not be able to afford it. Yes, even water is at the point of becoming a luxury.
The water crisis is justifiably the number one global concern. It threatens irrigation, health, and the satisfaction of the worlds daily needs. Innovation has eased the stress, but only marginally, and only through small-scale projects among countries with the ability to invest extreme wealth. The world must continue to invest in water development projects to meet growing food and energy demands, while keeping newly developed water affordable and accessible. The challenge ahead is herculean, but not one that cannot be solved through collective mass action and innovation.
