Water: Environmental Crisis and Core Resource - Term Paper Example

Section/# Water: Environmental Crisis and Core Resource Without question, the most basic and fundamental building block of human life is the resource of fresh water. As such, the burgeoning human population, loss of natural environments, and desertification that is taking place around the globe all have a profound impact upon the availability and quality of the water resources that can be leveraged. This pressure is felt to the greatest degree within nations that area already experiencing water shortages and are struggling to provide for their growing populations as well as the need and desire to industrialize; a process that in and of itself requires a high level of water resources. For purposes of this particular study, the author will seek to discuss some of the triggers of the global water crisis that is currently taking place, the means by which this crisis impacts upon the economically disadvantaged, sick, and poverty stricken to a disproportional degree, and some of the most promising solutions as they exists within the modern technologically developing world. As such, certain cases will be analyzed under the lens of two possible scenarios for leveraging water resources within areas around the globe within the next 50 years. In such a way, by analyzing the two means by which a high level of fresh water resources can be procured, it is the hope of this student that such a recommendation and approach can help to both inform policy makers within the government, society, and industry with the ways that current changes to extant realities can positively impact upon the future of these regions. Although it may seem convenient to approach the water resource shortage from purely a regional perspective, the fact of the matter is that water shortages, as well as the overall purity of these water resources, is an issue that globally effects 780 million people. As has briefly been discussed within the introduction and regional information overview, two factors that continue to have a profound and noticeable effect on the existence of water shortage issues is the growth of the world’s population in tandem with the changes to precipitation that global climate change have affected. Due to the fact that many previously populated regions of the world have experienced a great degree of desertification, the extent to which the natural environment can continue to provide the ever increasing demands of the native population comes into question. Environmentalists and researchers are in agreement that unless fundamental changes are made with regards to the way the world’s water resources are utilized, within the next few decades the access to water will become a far greater issue than it is currently. Besides the rapid growth in human population, the rise in industrialization and the means by which the developing world is rapidly seeking to integrate with the global economy by supplying consumer goods to the developed world can be seen as one of the primary issues that trigger some of the global water shortages that are exhibited within the current time. Ultimately, industrialization is not only a polluting process but one that utilizes high levels of steam or water power as both a means to cool the process and machinery of production and as a type of power to drive it. Moreover, in poorer regions of the developing world, non-technologically advanced farming methods see millions of gallons of irrigation water squandered while entire regions go without basic potable water needs. Similarly, the actual size of most water supplies around the world has shrunk as a result of climate change and the ones that are remaining have oftentimes been tainted by pollution; so much so that entire populations that had previously had ready access to potable and sustainable levels of drinking water find themselves in a water shortage and/or water crisis within the current time. Due to the fact that the resource of water is the very fundamental building block of all forms of biological life on planet earth, it is of vital and daily importance to human populations; regardless of the environment within which they live. In much the same way as the past several decades have seen wars fought over gold, oil, or access to certain mineral wealth, it is not unlikely that the decreasing supplies of fresh water will cause security concerns for many nations around the globe. Naturally, the first issues that will likely be noted with regards to regional disputes will be noted within arid regions that struggle to supply their populations with water as it is (Chacartegui et al, 2009). However, disputes with regards to water resources are not relegated to the developing world. One need look no further than some of the ongoing lawsuits and bitter water right disputes that define the current growth and development of California and other arid regions of the western United States to see the impact that regional and domestic disputes concerning water can ultimately lead. With the current technology and means of water provision that exist, there are ultimately two particular ways in whcih policy makers and stakeholders can seek to affect the hydro-resource shortage in arid or otherwise water deprived regions. The first option would be to locate and utilize ancient underground aquifers as a means of supplying the ever-increasing demand that has thus far been noted within the analysis. A secondary option would be to improve and expand the presence of coastline desalination plants within these areas. It can and should be understood that neither of these options is without drawbacks. Option one of course represents the lower cost as all that is required is to perform a thorough GIS analysis of the subterranean landscape and locate the aquifers that are the most logical to leverage. As such, the economic cost of this first option would be concentric upon the piping, drilling, and integration of this network into the existing network. However, option two represents a much higher economic cost. This is due to the fact that the desalinization plants will need to be licensed, constructed, staffed, and brought online with the existing water provision system as well as the existing power system. Moreover, the economic costs of such an endeavor go far beyond the creation of the desalinization plants themselves. Due to the fact that the process of desalinization requires an extraordinarily high level of electrical energy, the economic costs and toll upon the existing power system will be massive. Similarly, with regards to the environmental impacts, option one has something of an irreversible effect on the manner in which these underground aquifers will be exhibited within the future. Due to the fact that almost all of the underground aquifers that are available to be tapped within Saudi Arabia can be defined as ancient water aquifers, these do not readily replenish themselves and once exhausted can take centuries or millennia of unmolested time in order to reconstitute. As such, option one has a high environmental impact with regards to the existence of such aquifers well into the future if they are indeed tapped to a high level. Likewise, the environmental impacts of option two are concentric upon the environmental impact of constructing the desalinization plants as well as the environmental impacts realized by a rapid increase and/or spike in electrical energy needs that the system will need to integrate with (Damanhouri et al, 2012). However, as compared to option one, option one has the potential to continue to generate water at an undiminished rate over time. Accordingly, from the analysis which has been engaged within this brief research, it is the belief and understanding of this particular student that option two has the better claim. Although it will take a sizable level of investment in order to build and equip further desalination plants within these regions, this is ultimately a process that is non-exhaustible and can continue to provide fresh water for industry, society, and agriculture indefinitely. Furthermore, although the economic costs of option two are higher, they ultimately lead to a better economic return when considered over time. However, the fact of the matter is that when one considers a non-renewable resource (NRR), water is almost invariably never considered. By very definition, a non-renewable resource is one in which the earth cannot by natural processes to reproduce within a reasonable human timeframe. For instance, fossil fuels such as coal can take millions of years to form; most certainly not a reasonable amount of time with regards to the current rate of consumption and the means by which future coal deposits will be available to a planet that may very well be devoid of all human life. Yet, with regards to the renewability of water resources, this is quite a different topic entirely, due to the natural process of condensation and the heating and cooling of the world’s vast oceans, water is continually replenished into the interior of continents to flow out through its rivers back into the ocean only to repeat the process again. However, there is an aspect of non-renewable water resources that is taking a more and more important position with regards to how humans leverage water resources around the globe. This is with regards to the aquifer drilling that is taking place in diverse regions from the Middle East to the arid regions of Australia. In effect, these ancient aquifers represent a non-renewable water resource (Biswas, 2009). Due to the fact that many of these ancient aquifers have developed over millions of years and are not currently fed by any other means than the maintenance process that have exhibited over the centuries, humans leveraging these resources to an increasing extent places a definitively negative impacts on the way in which future human development can be achieved within these otherwise arid regions. As a means of ameliorating the regional/continental water shortage issues that are exhibited within many regions of the globe, this author is of the firm belief that utilizing the vast coastlines of the world as a means of building and leveraging desalination plants is necessarily the best and most reasonable approach (Baguma et al, 2012). Naturally, such an option represents a very high economic cost. This is due to the fact that the desalinization plants will need to be licensed, constructed, staffed, and brought online with the existing water provision system as well as the existing power system. Moreover, the economic costs of such an endeavour go far beyond the creation of the desalinization plants themselves. Due to the fact that the process of desalinization requires an extraordinarily high level of electrical energy, the economic costs and toll upon the existing power system will be massive (Ellensworth, 2007). The environmental impacts of the construction of desalination plants are concentric upon the environmental impact of constructing the desalinization plants as well as the environmental impacts realized by a rapid increase and/or spike in electrical energy needs that the system will need to integrate with. Yet, this has the potential to continue to generate water at an undiminished rate over time. This demand for a far greater supply of electrical energy that would be required to power these plants also has a negative environmental cost due to the fact that electrical production is inherently tied to CO2 generation and or the use of nuclear fuel to power the reactors that ultimately produce the power that would be used for the desalinization process. When one traces the environmental costs of the desalinization process to its root end, other factors are discovered which must be weighed to differing degrees Naturally, although the economic costs of other options may initially be lower than the overall economic costs of constructing desalination plants, the reader can and should integrate with the understanding that this latter option offers something permanent fix to the depletion of underground aquifers that are being drained around the globe. From the preceding analysis that has been reviewed, it can definitively be seen that the construction of further desalinization plants around the globe are most certainly the better choice; both economically and environmentally speaking (Che-Yu et al, 2012). This is due to the sustainable nature of such an activity as well as the fact that 70% of the world’s population lives within 150 miles of the ocean. Thus, these regions necessarily have a much larger access to the resource of the coastline as compared to the resource of ancient aquifers from which to draw hydro resources (Allins, 2011). In effect, the dangers of continuing to ignore the coming water crisis are profound. Although it might seem as an eventuality that is not worth consideration, the fact of the matter is that without firm and determined action on the part of financiers and the developed world, access to and quality of water supplies around the globe can and will escalate into armed conflict that will likely result in some very horrendous actions. As with most aspects of global environmental change, engaging with these problems within the here and now - whether or not they portend a high economic cost - is invariably the best means of ensuring that such issues do not become monumental crises in the near future. References Allins, P. (2011). Water: The Coming Crisis. Society Today, 12(4), 288-295. doi 11.2003/wp.2011 Baguma, D., Hashim, J. H., Aljunid, S. M., Hauser, M., Jung, H., & Loiskand, W. (2012). Safe water, household income and health challenges in Ugandan homes that harvest rainwater. Water Policy, 14(6), 977-990. doi:10.2166/wp.2012.021 Biswas, W. K. (2009). Life Cycle Assessment of Seawater Desalinization in Western Australia. World Academy Of Science, Engineering & Technology, 56369-375. Chacartegui, R. R., Sánchez, D. D., di Gregorio, N. N., Jiménez-Espadafor, F. J., Muñoz, A. A., & Sánchez, T. T. (2009). Feasibility analysis of a MED desalination plant in a combined cycle based cogeneration facility. Applied Thermal Engineering, 29(2/3), 412-417. doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2008.03.013 Che-Yu, H., & Hui-Ling, Y. (2012). Solve the Water Shortage in a Tourism-Dependent Island: A Proactive Operation Strategy of Pumping Allocation for a BWRO Plant. International Journal Of Intelligent Technologies & Applied Statistics, 5(4), 423-441. Damanhouri, M., Al-Saleem, B., & Al-Ali, Y. (2012). Level of Water Awareness at Some Jordanian Universities Students. Journal Of Social Sciences (15493652), 8(3), 454-458. Ellensworth, T. (2007). Desalinization Plant Brings Water to Perth, Australia. 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