Global Water Scarcity and Security - Term Paper Example

Global Water Scarcity and Security Student name Date Supervisor Study Program Global Water Scarcity and Security 1.0. Introduction Water scarcity is the lack of sufficient water or not having access to safe water supplies. UN-Water (2006), however, defines scarcity as the stage at which the cumulative effect of all the consumers interrupt either the quality or supply of water under existing institutional provisions to the degree that the demand cannot be met fully. Water scarcity is spreading as water is needed to grow and process food, create energy, and power industry for a continually growing population and climate change is a major factor (Tindall, and Campbell, 2011). Figure 1 shows how different areas of the world are affected by water stress. Figure 1: Global Freshwater Resource stress Source: Morrison et al. (2009). Although water is an essential natural resource that is critical to sustaining human life, the International Water Management Institute recently reported that an estimated 1.2 billion people do not have access to clean water (Gleick, 2015). When the demand for water far exceeds the supply, then a situation of physical water scarcity is said to occur. Currently, about 20% of people around the world are faced with physical water scarcity (Paulson, 2015). This is a clear indication that one of the biggest problems of the 21st century is the shortage of clean water. Many regions of the world are already facing severe scarcity, causing considerable challenges for the populations as well as entire societies. Figure 2 shows the global distribution of freshwater, and it clearly indicates that sub-Saharan Africa and some parts of Asia are already under pressure. When there is inadequate water for agricultural production, then it becomes impossible to alleviate starvation and poverty; hence, water scarcity can create severe conditions of poverty. Moreover, insufficiency of water hampers both urban and industrial development, forcing other sectors, particularly agriculture, to have restricted supply. Consequently, health problems also emerge as the decline in the quality and availability of surface and groundwater makes it conducive for water-borne diseases to thrive as sewerage and water distribution systems become ineffective. Regions with stress are known to experience water conflict. In the developing world, for example, it is often time-consuming and expensive to find a reliable source of potable water and the scarcity of water can often lead to political and economic instability. Figure 2: Availability of freshwater: river flow and groundwater Source: World Resources 2000-2001: People and Ecosystems: The Fraying Web of Life. World Resources Institute, Washington DC (2000). Water scarcity spreads across sectors, including economic and social, and threatens the sustainability of the world ecosystems. While scarcity may be a social construct or the result of altered supply patterns, it can occur either at the level of supply or at the level of demand. While scarcity often has various sources in urban areas, the major cause is the high rate of population growth accompanied by economic development. However, if managed effectively and sustainably, the world’s freshwater resources can meet the demands of an ever-growing urban population. Nevertheless, water quality degradation and water scarcity present significant challenges in acquiring adequate potable water for human, environmental, economic, and social needs for sustainable development. Consequently, is is important to analyze the challenges that come with tackling water scarcity that results from rapid urbanization. This will be done using global case study examples. 2.0. Climate Change as a Key Contributing Factor to Water Scarcity Unlike other natural resources, water is a resource without borders. Hence, the activities of one region can have significant effects in another. As such, climate change is one of the aspects that informs and contributes to water scarcity. For example, a particular area could conceivably be highly water as a result of rapid urbanization if, for instance, it suffered egregious water pollution, leading to plentiful supplies of polluted water (Mithen, and Black, 2011). Using North America as a case study, it is evident that climate change has caused considerable shifts in the availability of natural water resources. Changes in climatic patterns have led to uneven distribution of precipitation both in time and space. This has led to an increased temporal variability of natural water resources across the world (Oki et al., 2006). Hence; it has become increasingly difficult to predict weather patterns. Moreover, the rate of evaporation varies greatly, depending on humidity and temperature; this determines the amount of water that is able to refill groundwater supplies. The combination of intense but shorter duration rainfall, leading less infiltration and more runoff, and increased evaporation has the potential to deplete ground water resources. Moreover, this condition has led to changes in the amount of precipitation and seasonal distribution of rainfall. A study conducted in 2007 by the Intergovernmental panel on Planet Change indicated that there has been a decline in the amount of precipitation in the region of 10°S and 30°N from the 1980s. as population increases in these areas, and the effects of climate change intensify, the water stress is destined to worsen. Figure 3 shows how acute drought conditions have impacted on the dwindling water resources, which has ensured increasingly less potable water is available for drinking and sanitation. Figure 3: Low water level in California’s South Lake reservoir indicating the pressure that the drought has put on water supplies Source: Paulson (2015) Climate change is already responsible for many events as illustrated in Figure 1. There is increasing documentation of climate-related effects on natural water resources, which are already affecting various businesses and sectors. In the North America, and indeed many parts of the world, there is growing physical evidence of diminished ice cover, flooding, and severe weather events; these changes are all attributed to climate change. Various recent scientific studies also indicate an increase in the duration, spatial extents, and intensity of drought attributed to changes in patterns of spatial precipitation, diminishing snowpack and glaciers, warmer sea surface temperatures, and higher temperatures (see Table 1). Table 1: Effects of climate change on North American Water Resources in the twentieth century Source: Bates, Kundzewicz, and Palutikof (2008). Because of climate change, various countries that rely heavily on agricultural and industrial products are already suffering from the impacts of drought. This fact is due to their investment of available sources of water on industrial activities, leaving significantly little amount of water for domestic consumption (Margerum and Robinson, 2015, p. 59). Therefore, they have recorded a historic water scarcity. As climate continues to worsen, Australia, Africa, Asia, and the U.S. are the main parts of the world suffering acute water shortage as per the recent studies. Recent estimates by the UN-Water indicate that there will be a significant increase in the total area of land under irrigation by the year 2080. This is attributed to the fact that the climate change leads to more need for water required to irrigate the ground so that the food supply is kept constant. Moreover, the increase in temperature due to climate change will increase the need for water used in industrial application (Harrison, 2015, p. 43). As the impacts of changing climatic patterns continue to be felt, drought will become a reality in most areas, meaning that the demand for irrigation water will rise. Already, agriculture consumes the largest share of fresh water (Figure 4), accounting to two-thirds of global consumption and in excess of 90% in developing countries. Studies indicate that the demand for freshwater has more than doubled since the 1940s and is expected to increase by as much as 25% by the year 2030 (Wild et al., 2007). Figure 4: Water Usage by Sector (km3) Source: Hodgson (2010) It has been estimated that currently, 2.4 billion people in the world live in water-stressed areas. The number is, however, expected to increase with time as the usage of water increases with world population growth. Most of the water tables and reservoirs are exploited due to the same high population. Asia, for example, has its farmers using more than 80% of the countries water capacity. Due to the rapid climate change, it is reported that the percentage of the land under irrigation has doubled since 1970. The World Bank has also added that Asia is likely to suffer from exhausted water resources by 2050 (Gleick and Ajami, 2014, p. 59). The high rate of glacier melting due to elevated temperature has led to significant water flow in vast areas of the world. Consequently, Africa and Australia are likely to suffer heavily from the effects of such activities in the near future. 3.0. Rapid Urbanization An urban area is a locality that is heavily build up such as a town or a city. Urbanization, thus, is the rise in population in urban areas as more people move from rural areas to live in urban areas. When urban areas grow rapidly, the process puts pressure on the available potable water for domestic and industrial consumption. Studies indicate that 55.6% of the world population will be living in urban areas by 2020 (Hodgson, 2010). It is a fact that economic and demographic changes continue to exert pressures on freshwater resources; however, climate change and environmental degradation have worsened the situation. As urban populations grow, the pressure put on farming land increases, leading to more pressure on water resources. Consequently, urban areas are left with severe cases of water scarcity. Using a case study of Shandong, China Shandong, it is possible to demonstrate how urbanization leads to water scarcity. It is estimated that China has 2800 km3 per year of water resource, which is about only 6.59% of global availability, yet it is home to 20% of the world population, or rather 1.34 billion people, as per 2010 estimates. China has a water possession per capita of only 2100 m3 while the world average is three times that amount. In general, China is facing severe water scarcity, particularly in its rapid urbanizing and populous regions such as eastern coastal provinces and North China Plain. The North China Plain has an availability of 212 km3, yet it hosts 500 million people. This availability is a mere 7.7% of the country’s total, yet the region accounts for 37% of the national population. The per capita water availability in these areas is well below the global average at one-fifteenth. China has been undertaking fast urbanization since the late 1970s. The urban population increased from 172.45 million to 665.58 million from in 1978 to 2010, accounting for 49.68% of the country’s total population. Because of the rapid urbanization, the demand and consumption of urban water remained at a record high, contributing to severe shortages. As per 2010 estimates, two-thirds of the cities in china face acute water scarcity due to rapid urbanization. Shandong is facing water scarcity due to its high rate of urbanization. Studies indicate that the region has 30.3 billion m3 as the average amount of annual amount of water resources. This is 1.1% of China’s water resources. At the same time, the region commands 7.1% of the national population in 1.6% of the land area. Moreover, it contributes nearly 10% of the national industrial and agricultural products. This date shows that the province suffers absolute water scarcity. Considering the region's high population density and huge population, the average annual availability per capita of 320 m3 if far below the national average and one almost twenty-sixth of the global average. The UNDP water stress indices consider any region with 1,700-m3 or less annual water resource per capita to be water stressed. 1000m3 is considered water scarce, while the absolute verge of water scarcity is 500m3. As such, Shandong faces water scarcity and must seek external sources of potable water to meet the ever-growing demand. Rapid urbanization means that limited water resources are being exploited excessively (Figure 5). Both the mean annual precipitation and the surface water resource in Shandong, as well as the total water resources, have been on a sharp decline since the 1950s. The dwindling of these resources is attributed to the rapid urbanization that this region has been experiencing over the years (Wua and Tan, 2012, p. 922). Figure 5: Urban water consumption in Shandong from 1995 to 2009 (billion m3) Source: Wua and Tan (2012, p. 922). 4.0. Tackling the challenges associated with water scarcity in relation to rapid urbanization The challenges facing effective interventions of water scarcity include developing new supplies strategies, water management, and governance (Manzungu et al., 2016). Water is a finite liquid resource without boundaries. It is critical for the sustenance of life; hence, the demand is ever growing due to rapid urbanization, population growth, and increasing agricultural production (Calder, 1999). Rapid urbanization leads to a high demand for water resources in urban areas. This also creates pressure on agricultural production, which is forced to increase its output to meet the rising food demands. Another challenge is the lack of adequate wastewater treatment services to cope with the rising population. As such, many traditional fresh waterways have been polluted (Morrison et al., 2009). Water shortage has various implications on economies, businesses, and the general consumers. For instance, water scarcity will affect agricultural yields, threatening the global food security. Such a trend would lead to an increase in food prices and imports (Nikolaou, Nikolaidou, and Tsagarakis, 2016). As indicated in figure 6, food prices have been rising steadily in the last decade. In Russia, for example, food prices index almost doubled from 449 to 831 between 2004 and 2009. When food prices rise, it places more pressure on disposable income. Figure 6: Food index prices (2004-2009) Source: Hodgson (2010). Portable water scarcity presents immense challenges to inhabitants as well. The lack of clean water leads to poor sanitation, which makes it easy for diseases to spread. This, in turn, exacerbates the levels of poverty in developing countries and impact on economic growth and private consumption. Due to these challenges, consumers and companies are urged to improve water efficiency challenges. Putting in place saving measures will create business opportunities for manufacturers of water saving technologies and products. Moreover, the wastewater industry will also have opportunities for expansion as the demand for potable water, recycling and wastewater treatment rises. To tackle the shortage, various agencies and governments have recommended the efficient use of water, protection of the ecosystem, restraint in the usage of water resources, and prevention of water pollution. A significant, example, is India, which has a policy that requires new city houses to have rainwater harvesting technologies to prevent the overreliance on groundwater (Groenfeldt, 2013). 4.1. Managing Demand and Reducing Wastage Desalination enables the treatment of saline or brackish water, making it possible for consumption. In areas where desalination has become the major practice, there is an improved level of clean water supply and the industries are doing quite well. Desalination has provided fresh water in water-stressed areas of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and even the U.S. (Gomes, Andrade, and Morais, 2015, p. 44). Desalination, however, is an expensive process and can only be done by countries that have advanced technology and capital (Gleick and Ajami, 2014, P. 66). Therefore, technology is another fundamental factor when it comes to the provision of clean water. In highly populated areas, governments must ensure that they have advanced technology enable the supply of adequate, clean water. Research and development is one of the biggest challenges faced by bodies that try to curb the water crisis (Ringler, Bhaduri, and Lawford, 2013, p. 17). Research and development in third world countries has faced some hiccups because of consistent use of less advanced strategies accompanied by the use of less advanced skills. This has led to a failure to bring the problem of water crisis under control. The lack of adequate skills to handle water shortages in the developing countries is another challenge. In most developing countries, people are at times forced to consume unsafe water because they lack the skills to purify it (Shue and Nie, 2016, p. 21). These challenges, however, provide business opportunities for companies in the water sector as they can come up with technologies and products for purifying, cleaning and recycling water. 4.2. Water management and Governance Water management requires a supportive government structure for without it, it is impossible to manage water resources successfully (Nair et al., 2014, p. 23). Hence, it is important to come up with effective strategies for adequately addressing demand. These include the use of closed-loop systems for both supply and sanitation, decentralized treatment systems, and installing good operation and maintenance. Lastly, there is a need to have effective government policy and framework that enables comprehensive stakeholder participation (Global Water Partnership, 2012). 5.0. The Implications of Water Shortage Problems on Economies, Business, and Consumers The water scarcity situation is likely to cause various implications and opportunities. The biggest effect on economies is the effect it will have on agriculture, where it will negatively affect agricultural yields. The resulting high cost of production will lead to increased prices of food prices and imports, causing food insecurity (Nair et al., 2014, p. 7). This will also affect businesses, as the cost of production will increase due to the limited supply of water (Nikolaou, Nikolaidou, and Tsagarakis, 2016). The rising inflation will directly be felt by the consumers; hence, the threat of poverty (Margerum and Robinson, 2015, p. 33). Such a scenario may also create conflicts in water-stressed areas, which creates instability and unconducive environment for conducting business. This has been witnessed in countries bordering river Indus and the Mekong River. However, this will also create opportunities for businesses to come up with water saving measures as the demand for clean water rises and the need for wastewater treatment (Nikolaou, Nikolaidou, and Tsagarakis, 2016). 6.0. Impacts of Portable Water Scarcity on the Masses The global population is estimated to rise to 9 billion in the next ten to fifteen years with more than 70% of that population living in urban areas (Green et al., 2015, p. 20). This implies that there will be a lot of pressure on the urban water supplies, which will contribute to the water scarcity in such zones. More water will be needed in the industries and agricultural sectors due to the increased population and food demand (Manzungu et al., 2016). The already available pressure on local water sources is expected to double in the near future as people strive to get clean and safe water. Health too will be an issue due to tenants consuming unsafe water (Grey et al., 2013). On the contrary, most of the people will view water shortage as a business opportunity, more so in developed countries such as the U.S. They will set up water companies to supply clean water with the aim of making a profit. However, this is likely to cause economic scarcity because water is likely to be provided only to the high-income groups in the absence of a reliable water use policy (Grey et al., 2013). Some good level of human corporation is also needed to ensure that the policies are fully implemented to avoid the over-exploitation of the available sources of reliable water. The increased water crisis will also lead to food scarcity, particularly in third world countries, because of inadequate water for agricultural activities (Thaker et al., 2016, p. 37). 7.0. Conclusion Water, being a valuable resource in life, should be used and made available to all the residents of urban areas. The efforts to achieve this goal are, however, affected by the high rate of urbanization, which leads to increased rate of pollution (Gomes, Andrade, and Morais, 2015, p. 66). Due to contamination of water, many waterborne diseases are reported, hence, adding up to the lack of community development as more revenue is spent on providing health services instead of supplying water in the urban regions. Climate change contributes to the water crisis in that it regulates the amount of precipitation received in the adversely affected areas, causing lack of enough water to run daily activities. The governments are, therefore, encouraged to set up regulatory policies to control the usage of water in the urban areas so that the wastage is eliminated. The best way to ensure that the policies are obeyed is by coming up with ways of punishing the lawbreakers who tend to use water in a careless manner (Cronin et al., 2016, p. 34). List of References Cronin, A.A., Prakash, A., Sridhar, P. and Coates, S., 2016. Drinking Water Supply in India: Context and Prospects. In Indian Water Policy at the Crossroads: Resources, Technology and Reforms (pp. 49-71). Springer International Publishing. Gleick, P.H. and Ajami, N., 2014. The World's Water Volume 8: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources (Vol. 8). Island press. Global Water Partnership , 2012 . Water and Urbanisation. [Online] Available at: http://www.gwp.org/en/ToolBox/CRITICAL-CHALLENGES1/Water-and-Urbanisation/ [Accessed 6 April 2016]. Gomes, S.D.F., Andrade, A.L.D.O. and Morais, D.C., 2015, October. Using Soft Systems Methodology on the Problem of Water Scarcity. In Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), 2015 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 273-278). IEEE. Green, P.A., Vörösmarty, C.J., Harrison, I., Farrell, T., Sáenz, L. and Fekete, B.M., 2015. Freshwater ecosystem services supporting humans: Pivoting from water crisis to water solutions. Global Environmental Change, 34, pp.108-118. Grey, D., Garrick, D., Blackmore, D., Kelman, J., Muller, M. and Sadoff, C., 2013. Water security in one blue planet: twenty-first century policy challenges for science. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 371(2002), p.20120406. Hodgson, A., 2010. Global water shortages will pose major challenges. [Online] Available at: http://blog.euromonitor.com/2010/09/special-report-global-water-shortages-will-pose-major-challenges.html [Accessed 7 April 2016]. Manzungu, E., Mudenda-Damba, M., Madyiwa, S. and Dzingirayi, V., 2016. Bulk water suppliers in the City of Harare-An endogenous form of privatization of urban domestic water supply in Zimbabwe? Water Alternatives, 9(1). Margerum, R.D. and Robinson, C.J., 2015. Collaborative partnerships and the challenges for sustainable water management. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 12, pp.53-58. Morrison, J., Morikawa, M., Murphy, M. & Schulte, P., 2009. Water Scarcity & climate change: Growing Risks for Businesses & Investors, Boston, MA: Ceres and the Pacific Institute. Nair, S., George, B., Malano, H.M., Arora, M. and Nawarathna, B., 2014. Water–energy–greenhouse gas nexus of urban water systems: Review of concepts, state-of-art and methods. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 89, pp.1-10. Nikolaou, I.E., Nikolaidou, M.K. and Tsagarakis, K.P., 2016. The response of small and medium-sized enterprises to potential water risks: an eco-cluster approach. Journal of Cleaner Production, 112, pp.4550-4557. Paulson, L. D., 2015 . What Is Water Scarcity?. [Online] Available at: https://www.rwlwater.com/what-is-water-scarcity/ [Accessed 7 April 2016]. Ringler, C., Bhaduri, A. and Lawford, R., 2013. The nexus across water, energy, land and food (WELF): potential for improved resource use efficiency. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 5(6), pp.617-624. Shu, X. and Nie, J., 2016. Social Management Problems Facing the Ningxia Ecological Migration Zones and Their Solutions. In Ecological Migration, Development and Transformation (pp. 89-101). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Thaker, J., Maibach, E., Leiserowitz, A., Zhao, X. and Howe, P., 2016. The Role of Collective Efficacy in Climate Change Adaptation in India. Weather, Climate, and Society, 8(1), pp. 21-34. Tindall, J. A. and Campbell, A. A., 2011. Water Security: Conflicts, Threats, Policies. Denver, CO: DTP Publishing. UN-Water. 2006. Coping with water scarcity: a strategic issue and priority for system-wide action. Wild, D., Francke, C., Menzli, P. and Schön. 2007. Water: a market of the future -Global trends open up new investment opportunities. Sustainability Asset Management (SAM) Study. Zurich. Wua, P. & Tan, M., 2012. Challenges for sustainable urbanization: a case study of water shortage and water environment changes in Shandong, China. Procedia Environmental Sciences, 2012(13), pp. 919-927. Read More