Clean Water Scarcity and Its Conservation Measures - Essay Example

 Clean Water Scarcity and Its Conservation Measures Abstract This is a general review paper that analyzes the water scarcity situation currently being experienced globally. It does more of a scientific research on the existing literature on this topic and gives out possible remedies of the situation. The paper elaborates the economic significance of water as a resource and how it can effectively be used to ensure that it meets the demand of the global population. Most of the literature researched recognizes the need to protect the available water resources through appropriate government regulations and policies. It gives a critical analysis of the various pitfalls within the water resource management systems and offers some possible solutions to mitigate the current situation. The management of natural resource economics has come under a lot of global scrutiny with the need to secure the environment and people’s lives. Current events points to a degraded situation of almost all the existing natural resources. Particular concerns have been on the availability of clean and plentiful water and its provision. It is noted that the existence and the provision of clean water has helped in providing the necessary foundation for communities to prosper. The mass population of the world relies heavily on this fresh water availability for survival despite its scarcity. The paper clearly illustrates the importance of conserving natural resources within nations. A failure to do this could result into tremendous effects, both to the health of people and to the global economy. Societies and governments should thus take it upon themselves to ensure the sustainability and efficient use of natural resources within their boundaries as these have a direct impact on their livelihoods. TITLE: CLEAN WATER SCARCITY AND ITS CONSERVATION MEASURES Introduction: The use and management of natural resources have tremendous impacts on people’s lives and the prosperity of nations. Most of a country’s income is obtained from the sustainable and efficient use of its natural resources. Livelihoods depend on these resources, thus there should be a heightened concern and sustained pressure to use them sparingly. Conservation of resources including land, water, forests, wildlife and other beneficial resources play a vital role in enhancing the economies of countries (Chopra & Biennial conference. Indian Society for Ecological Economics, 2003, p.6). Clean water availability has come under increased scrutiny because of the current events being experienced in specified countries, mostly within the underdeveloped nations. In these countries, like Kenya for instance, huge populations of their citizens do not have access to clean water, approximating to about 43% of its overall population. Kenya has most of its urban poor population reported to only have access to waters that is polluted, and this has resulted into numerous accounts of cholera epidemics and multiple other diseases among its citizens. Accompanying this critical clean water shortage in this country is its large rural to urban discrepancies in access to clean water. The World Bank, in 2010, estimated more than half of the country’s rural population lacking access to fresh water as opposed to its urban population with more than 85% having this access. It was further estimated that this situation would become worse in the future considering the increasing population growth rate (Chopra & Biennial conference. Indian Society for Ecological Economics, 2003, p.13). In other developed economies including that of China, water scarcity has still been a constant threat and has necessitated a lot of policy reviews by its government. China as a country contains less than 7% of the world’s arable land, most of which is used to feed its huge population of 1.3 billion people. Increasing scarcity of water has been one of the most pressing issues facing the Chinese government given its burgeoning industry and the huge population it has. As China continues along its industrialization and urbanization path, more of its available waters will be rendered useless for drinking, irrigation, and hydropower purposes and this would put a lot of strain on the water resources (Adler, Landman & Cameron, 1993, p.29). Other particularly developed nations haven’t been spared either from this menace. The existence of dirty water has been the world's biggest health risk and has continued to threaten the quality of life and the general public health in countries like the United States of America. Water from rainfall, running on rooftops and into roads and finally into rivers picks a lot of dirt and toxic materials, getting it contaminated. These sources have become even more vulnerable to pollution from industrial wastes and other pollutants due to their lack of basic protection mechanisms (Adler, Landman & Cameron, 1993, p.35). The Water scarcity concept has been used to denote the lack of sufficient water resources to satisfy the demands of the different water usages within respective regions. Currently, close to half of the global population do not have access to clean drinking water. This scarcity often involves water stress, shortage or deficits, and water crisis. Water stress is used to refer to the difficulties experienced in obtaining the sources of fresh water for use during a period of time and often result in further depletion and deterioration of the existing water resources. The water shortages are in numerous circumstances caused by the changing weather patterns involving droughts and periods of floods; increase in pollution and the human demand for water. On the other hand, a water crisis situation is that which results when the existing potable water that is not polluted within a region becomes less than what the region needs (Adler, Landman & Cameron, 1993). This insufficiency can been manifested through such principles which include; Inadequate access to safe water for drinking purposes globally Excessive utilization of groundwater resulting in reduced agricultural yields Overutilization and pollution of water resources destructing biodiversity Inadequate access to water for sanitation and disposal of wastes from several regions across the world Regional conflicts over the existing scarce water resources resulting in warfare in certain regions The scarcity of water has been driven by two converging phenomenon that includes the growing freshwater use and depletion of usable freshwater resources. This paper looks at these various aspects of the global water scarcity under the following sub-topics: Water availability and supply. This section looks into the general water availability and its global distribution including its per capita use across different regions. Water as a resource. This section describes the various uses of water that makes it a useful natural resource economics. Policy Issues. This section looks into several policy and management issues bedeviling the water sector across the different areas of the world. The Economic value of water use. This section reveals some of the benefits derived from the usage of the water resources. Possible causes of the Water crisis. This section analyzes a few of the global causes of water scarcity. Effects of the shortage of water. This section breaks down some of the problems that come as a result of the shortage on the global water. Proposed and possible solutions to the water crisis; this section gives solutions to some of the causes of water shortages and problems discussed. i) Water availability and supply The Earth has got enormous water resources, approximated at 1.35 billion cu km of it. More than 97 percent of this water resource is salty water and cannot be used on crops and for human consumption. About 70 percent of the earth’s surface is water, but most of this is ocean water. Estimating by volume, only about 3% of all water on earth is freshwater, and most of this is largely inaccessible. Almost three-quarters of all freshwater is locked away in the form of ice caps and glaciers that exists in polar areas, far removed from most human habitation, with only about 1% readily accessible surface freshwater (Young, Dooge & Rodda, 2004, p.18). This forms the water that is found in lakes, rivers, and in the soil at underground levels shallow enough to be harvested at affordable costs. This is the amount that is regularly renewed by rain and snowfall and thus available on a sustainable basis. Only one hundredth of one percent of the world’s total supply of water is considered easily accessible for human use on all accounts (Young, Dooge & Rodda, 2004, p.21). Source: (Igor, 1993, p.14) Globally, between 12.5 and 14 billion cubic meters of water was considered available for human use taken on an annual basis. This amounted to an estimate of closely 9,000 cubic meters per person per year, by the year 1989. It was projected that by the year 2025, the global per capita availability of freshwater would drop to 5,100 cubic meters per person as the population was expected to expand and spur. This was however estimated to be enough to meet the human needs in case it was distributed equally and subjected to sustainable use. This is not the case as there is an uneven distribution of this resource globally. The fact that the world’s population is characterized by uneven distribution considering different regions, so is the annual supply of reusable water. Rainfall and snowfall are determined by uneven weather patterns and landscape, and because of this result, some areas of the earth get more precipitation as compared to others. This uneven distribution of water resources indicates that its availability and supplies in some regions of the world is already overstretched (Young, Dooge & Rodda, 2004). Source: (Coleridge, 2006, p.7). The water usage of different regions of the world per capita in cubic meters ii) Water as resource Since the ancient past, various types of water control measures have included irrigation, drainage, and impoundment, and these have had a major impact on the landscape and the water flows. Since the dawn of irrigated agriculture, controlling water for crop growing has been the primary motivation for human alteration of freshwater supplies. To date, the different demands for fresh water have grown to include irrigation, household and municipal water use, and industrial uses. Most of these supplies have been generated from surface runoff although extraction of underground water from aquifers has also been an important source in certain areas. The water uses have gained momentum over time, and this has increased its withdrawals to extreme high levels (Salman & Bradlow, 2006, p.56). The amounts of water used by citizens of a particular country normally depend not only on the minimum needs and how much water is available for use but also on the level of economic development and the extent of urbanization. Globally, of all the standard categories of freshwater uses, agricultural use dominates. On a worldwide basis, agriculture accounts for about 69% of all annual water withdrawals; industry, about 23%; and domestic use, about 8% (Salman & Bradlow, 2006, p.69). There are, however, wide differences by regions. In Africa, an estimated amount of 88% of all freshwater use is for agriculture, 7% used for domestic purposes, and 5% for industrial purposes. In Asia, most of the waters is also is used mostly for agriculture, with an estimated amount at 86% of total use while industry accounts for 8%, and domestic use, 6%. In Europe and other developed nations, however, most water is used for industrial purposes, at 54%, while agriculture accounts for 33%, and domestic use, 13% (Salman & Bradlow, 2006, p.82). Low household water usage in most countries today reflects a difficulty in obtaining freshwater. Piped water systems in these countries are rare in rural areas. Two-thirds of the world’s population, by estimation, the majority of developing countries, gets their water from lakes, public standpipes, rivers, community wells, or rainfall harvested off rooftops. In several circumstances, rural people, usually the women and girls, have to walk several kilometers spending many hours fetching water for their household uses. In such nations, mostly in Africa, it has been estimated that women and girls spend over 40 billion person-hours year hauling water (Salman & Bradlow, 2006, p.37). As the world has increasingly become predominately urban and agriculture more dependent on irrigation, it has become harder for cities to meet the rising demands for freshwater. And this rapid urban growth has put more pressure on the existing inadequate water supply systems, more so in the developing nations. Picture depicting water crisis in the developing nations Source: (The Water Project.org, 2015, p.3) iii) Policy Issues Developing effective water sector policies in most countries has been a hard task for the policy makers involved. This has been because of its unique physical properties, the complex economic characteristics and the important cultural features that come with the resource that distinguishes it from other natural resources. Other than this, water resource management has continued to present a lot of complicated administrative issues, and this is because it involves many considerations including legal, technological, environmental, economic and political considerations. In most countries, political and economic considerations have dominated a lot of policy decisions on the use of water resources. Its management largely depends on the respective government's ability to establish appropriate legal, regulatory and administrative frameworks (Palo, Uusivuori & Mery, 2001, p.27). Several strategies that have tended to confront these policy issues in single dimensional terms have resulted in numerous difficulties as these have had single objectives aimed at achieving unintended and unrecognized end results. Water managers and the relevant policy-makers should thus be able to assess the full range of particular government’s interventions to fully comprehend the economic, social and environmental impacts these policies have on the given sectors, regions and/or groups of people to come up with appropriate policies (Palo, Uusivuori & Mery, 2001, p.33). Water resource management efforts should be able to recognize how the overall water sector is integrated into the economies of the respective countries. It is important to understand how alternative economic policy instruments have an influence on the water use across different economic sectors and also between local, regional and national levels. The water managers should recognize the existing connections between macroeconomic policies and the impacts they have on other areas. Most of these policies as well as some sectorial policies that are not specifically aimed at the water sectors do have strategic impacts on the resource allocation and the aggregate demand for water in the economy. Respective country's overall development strategy and its use of macroeconomic policies including monetary, fiscal and trade policies affect, both directly and indirectly, the demand and various investments in activities related to the water resource (Young, Dooge & Rodda, 2004, p.81). Some of the problems associated with water resource management efforts in most countries are its bulkiness and mobility. Its value per unit of its weight tends to be relatively low as compared to other commodities that are considered bulky. The cost of transporting and storing it is high relative to its economic value at its point of use. It is also difficult to identify and measure because unlike other commodities, it flows, evaporates, seeps into the ground and transpires. This evasive nature of water has meant that according it exclusive property rights, which forms the basis of a market economy, has been hard to establish and enforce (Young, Dooge & Rodda, 2004, p.118). Other problems experienced both in the developed, and the developing nations regarding the management of water resources relates to the fact that most of its issues are site-specific and thus do not allow for uniform policy treatments. While the consumption of water and its quality requirements are often tied to local populations and the levels of development, the availability of local water usually changes with the variations in the climatic conditions throughout the year and over longer cyclical seasons. The supply of water thus is highly variable and unpredictable both in time, space and quality (Palo, Uusivuori & Mery, 2001, p.143). iv) Economic value of water use Water resource has several economic values to the respective countries; some of these benefits that have been derived from the utilization of the water resources include; Commodity benefits. People get commodity benefits from water by using it for drinking, cooking and sanitation purposes. Farms, businesses and industries, on the other hand, obtain commodity benefits by using water in their productive activities. These benefits always represent private good uses of the water resource that pit others against each other. The respective Government policies and regulations that focus on improving market access and competition should present important ways of improving the productive and allocative efficiency of the resourceful uses of water (Ray, 2011, p.28). Waste assimilation benefits. Water bodies have the ability to assimilate wastes that are carried into them. They can process, dilute and carry away wastes. In most cases, partially treated polluted waters are let into water bodies including rivers and these have the ability to assimilate these wastes (Ray, 2011, p.49). Recreation and esthetic benefits. These benefits often derived from the water bodies are gaining increased attention both in the developed and the developing nations of the world. In the developed nations, a lot of people are focusing on the recreational and the esthetic benefits from activities around the lakes, rivers and seas. This situation is almost similar today in the developing nations with their increasing income and leisure times. Water-based activities have been on a rising popularity among the population of these developing nations and the additional provision of such good quality waters have acted in attracting tourists from the western nations (Ray, 2011, p.57). Act as fish and wildlife habitat. Water resources have also provided an ecosystem for both fish and the wildlife habitat across the globe. Questions and concerns have however been raised about the impacts humans have had on these ecosystems. Fish, birds, and the other wildlife depend on clean water, just as humans do. It is thus imperative to protect and restore the important waterways and water reservoirs to ensure there is enough water flowing. This will help to keep these ecosystems intact and functioning for the water inhabitants to survive (Ray, 2011, p.64). V) Possible causes of the Water Crisis. The increasing global water scarcity has been contributed to mostly by human activities. Some of these causes have included include; Population expansion: The world population has been on the rise, and this has put a lot of pressure on the existing natural resource economics. In just 50 years, the earth’s population has doubled and continued to grow. This has been as a result of larger family sizes and access to better healthcare and lifestyles. China, for instance, has projected a total population of 1.5 billion people by 2030. The increased population has meant that the wholesome use of water for drinking, cleaning, cooking and sewage has increased. People have been more careless in recent times, and this too has resulted in a lot of more wastage than ever before, causing and placing more pressure on the same amount of water that is in existence (Pereira, Cordery & Iacovides, 2009, p.66). Urbanization: The level of usage of water resources reflects more importantly to the extent of urbanization in a particular country. Cities and towns are growing and expanding in various parts of the world more than ever before. They have as a result tended to hold more people as compared to the recent past. This has increased the need to take care of sewage, cleaning, construction and manufacturing. China’s economy as an example is expected to continue growing at around 9% per year, which as estimated would increase the industrial demand for water. Migration to the cities and towns of people looking for better jobs has also resulted in an increase in the per capita water use; a situation that has accelerated supply shortage of the resource (Xie & World Bank, 2009, p.5). Pollution: Both Water, air, and land pollution together have contributed to the reduction of water quality and supply. These pollution agents range from sewage, waste dumping into water bodies, oil discharges from industries, radioactive waste emanating from mining activities and dirty water from sanitation work in hospitals, hotels, oil companies, mining, schools and restaurants. These all have ended into the water bodies making them unsafe for general public use. Other agents including water contaminants and wastage from some mining industries through Hydraulic Fracturing has also polluted the water sources, and this has been made a global concern (Xie & World Bank, 2009, p.9). Vegetation destruction and Deforestation: Vegetation and forests help prevent excessive evaporation from water bodies. They also help in enriching and conditioning the climate. Most of the world’s vegetation and forests have been destroyed and destructed through such acts as by fire, logging and clearing for farming. This, as a result, has exposed soil moisture and the water bodies to the intense heat of the sun, leaving them to dry out in the process (Xie & World Bank, 2009, p.13). Poor management of water supply: The global management of water resources has been extremely inefficient and has led to extensive water loss thus creating the water crisis. Most of the water authorities in most regions do not work in synergy and have numerous conflicts among themselves. This has compromised to a great extent the supply and access to the water resources (Pereira, Cordery & Iacovides, 2009, p.39). Climate change: Climate change has posed a serious threat to a lot of ecosystems around the world. It has resulted into areas that previously experienced lots of rainfall getting lesser or no rain. Other areas that were previously dry are getting colder and wetter. Both of these situations have resulted in the shortage of clean water in some areas and flooding in areas receiving excessive rainfall (Pereira, Cordery & Iacovides, 2009, p.65). vi) Effects of the shortage of water A lot of people do not have access to safe and clean water, and this has been contributed to by poverty, inequality and respective government failures to form effective water policies. This lack of access to clean water sources has acted too in propagation of more poverty and inequality (Scheumann & Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, 2008). On a global scale, the impacts of the water shortage across various regions have been experienced, and these have included: a) Competition between different sectors and countries for the water supply and this in some circumstances has caused serious civil unrest. b) Breakage and spread of multiple illnesses including the water-based, water-borne and water-washed diseases, mostly in the developing nations; this occurs when people consume contaminated water resources that are extremely unhealthy. This polluted water has also been linked to the spread of other serious diseases, including cancers and an increase in its level of contamination could lead to more serious and widespread of other health problems. c) A decrease in food supply in most countries; this has been contributed to majorly by the shortages of water. Most measures used to increase the production of food rely on such activities as irrigation, and these depend mostly on the availability of water. vii) Proposed and possible solutions to the water crisis Experts and researchers have pondered on several measures that can combat the causes of water scarcity. They have come with various means and ways to reduce the effects caused by water scarcity and others to enable the provision of water resources to areas it is highly needed. Some of these measures have included among others; Rainfall water harvesting. This is a technique that prevents as much rainfall from being wasted as possible. It involves harvesting water from rooftops and through ground catchments. Governments should construct dams to also help prevent water from flowing away. They should construct weirs to help essentially in preventing water loss. Other installations including water concrete tanks and canals should also be encouraged to help in preventing water from infiltrating into the ground. These initiatives would be much more effective and easier than drilling and pumping underground water especially in the developing nations (Adler, Landman & Cameron, 1993, p.61). Improvement of irrigation efficiencies. This highly needed in various parts of the world. Most of the irrigation systems and techniques in place in most developing countries are often inefficient and waste waters mostly through leaks. A lot of water is wasted through these irrigation systems, most of which would be saved by the installation of better pipes and efficient sprinkler systems (Adler, Landman & Cameron, 1993, p.102). More extensive investigations on groundwater availability. This should be carried in several regions to help determine how much groundwater would be available to supplement the human drinking and general purpose needs. It would involve precise calculations to help maximize the capabilities of these underground sources of water (Pereira, Cordery & Iacovides, 2009, p.94). Further desalination studies and practices. This should be carried out to help in the conversion of salt water from the ocean into usable water for those areas living around such water bodies. This would also help in supplementing the available water sources to these people. This should, however, when considering its cost so that it doesn’t become expensive to afford for the citizens (Salman & Bradlow, 2006, p.87). Other more comprehensive measures that would help in addressing this crisis as proposed by the relevant global water bodies include; a) Building of partnerships: The building of partnerships among the water authorities would help make this scarcity problem a shared challenge, and this would act in producing concerted efforts to combat the crisis. b) Inclusion of farmers on policy issues: Farmers form the largest component of water users estimated at 70% of the world thus they must be included in these policy formulations. This would help more in ensuring successful implementations of the policy measures. c) Involvement of communities, especially women: the management of water resources is usually site-specific and do not allow for a uniform policy treatment. This would mean that the policy formed by the relevant water authorities must involve the surrounding communities in the regions within particular jurisdictions. This would help in policy implementations for the different regions covered. As an increasing trend, women are having more roles to play in the water usage and thus should be more involved in the water sector management. d) Measurements of water as a natural resource with economic value: measurement of water would reflect on the management measures to be involved. Data on resources usually crystallizes and validates a challenge, spurring action and also helps in noting improvements and trends. e) Placing of a realistic price for water resources: water should be charged more depending on the management measures put in place, this should be carried out more in developing countries that do not have sufficient water infrastructure. Charging more for water would help improve the motivation to tackle some of the pressing needs in the water sector. f) Integration of water policies into trade policy: Water management, conservation, and sanitation should be integrated into the trade policies to help achieve more gains from it. g) Upgrading of the water infrastructure: Most of the water infrastructures in the developing nations are in deplorable conditions, and this has reduced its access. The governments should allocate more resources to the sector to help improve this state. This would improve access and even the quality of the water resources Conclusion. The world is currently at crossroads with several different interest groups in the water sector having unlimited demands for the resource but diverging ideas about how to manage it. The world’s biggest problem and challenge is to balance these regional and sector demands. It is up to the involved authorities to integrate their efforts with effective policies to meet these demands (Ray, 2011, p.84). The world’s global water sources are becoming scarcer while the demand for these sources ever increasing. Rivers and lakes in most regions have dried up, and the water that is left is increasingly becoming polluted. The glaciers at the global poles are melting and in most areas the groundwater is being over-pumped beyond limits it can’t recharge effectively, with decreasing precipitation. The Global climate change too has already had its negative impacts on several parts of the world and has worsened the crisis existing in the water sector. Greater stress has been exerted on the water resources as these problems have tended to overlap and amplify the effects on each other (Scheumann & Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, 2008, p.14). It is thus imperative to take into account all these measures to secure clean water for the people. Several efforts should be made to help in promoting water efficiency strategies to help decrease the amount of clean water being wasted and protecting the existing waters from pollution. This should be carried out through such acts as providing a solid defense to the Clean Water Act and implementations of policies such as green infrastructure policies across different regions of the world. Cities and countries should also be helped in preparing for water-related problems they are likely to face as a result of climate change and it should be ensured that waterways have enough water to support vibrant fish and wildlife ecosystems (Scheumann & Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, 2008, p.29) Reference Adler, R. W., Landman, J. C., & Cameron, D. M. (1993). The Clean Water Act 20 years later. Island Press, Washington, D.C. Chopra, K., & Biennial conference. Indian Society for Ecological Economics. (2003). 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(2011). Climate change: IPCC, water crisis, and policy riddles with reference to India and her surroundings. Lexington Books, Lanham, MD. Salman, S. M. A. (1999). Groundwater: Legal and policy perspectives: proceedings of a World bank seminar, [held in Washington on April 19, 1999]. World Bank, Washington, DC. Salman, S. M. A., & Bradlow, D. D. (2006). Regulatory frameworks for water resources management: A comparative study. World Bank, Washington, DC. Scheumann, W., & Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik . (2008). Water politics and development cooperation: Local power plays and global governance. Springer, Berlin. The Water Project.org, (2015). WATER SCARCITY & THE IMPORTANCE OF WATER. The Water Project, 4-7. Retrieved from: http://thewaterproject.org/water_scarcity Xie, J., & World Bank. (2009). Addressing China's water scarcity: Recommendations for selected water resource management issues. World Bank, Washington, D.C. Young, G. J., Dooge, J., & Rodda, J. C. (2004). Global water resource issues, 5th edn. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge England. Read More