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ehabilitate urban streams 62 an abandoned ship in the former aral sea near aral kazakhstan through the last hundred years more than half of the earth s wetlands have been destroyed and have disappeared 9 these wetlands are important as the habitats of numerous creatures such as mammals birds fish amphibians and invertebrates they also support the growing of rice and other food crops and they provide water filtration and protection from storms and flooding freshwater lakes such as the aral sea in central asia have also suffered it was once the fourth largest freshwater lake in the world but it has lost more than 58 000 square km of area and vastly increased in salt concentration over the span of three decades 9 subsidence is another result of water scarcity the u s geological survey estimates that subsidence has affected more than 17 000 square miles in 45 u s states 80 percent of it due to groundwater usage 63 vegetation and wildlife need sufficient freshwater marshes bogs and riparian zones are more clearly dependent upon sustainable water supply forests and other upland ecosystems are equally at risk as water becomes less available in the case of wetlands a lot of ground has been simply taken from wildlife use to feed and house the expanding human population other areas have also suffered from a gradual fall in freshwater inflow as upstream water is diverted for human use potential for conflict edit other impacts include growing conflict between users and growing competition for water 17 6 examples for the potential for conflict from water scarcity include food insecurity in the middle east and north africa region 64 and regional conflicts over scarce water resources 65 causes and contributing factors edit population growth edit main article population growth around 1970s the common view was that water was an infinite resource at that time there were fewer than half the current number of people on the planet people were not as wealthy as today consumed fewer calories and ate less meat so less water was needed to produce their food they required a third of the volume of water we presently take from rivers today the competition for water resources is much more intense this is because there are now seven billion people on the planet and their consumption of water thirsty meat is rising and industry urbanization biofuel crops and water reliant food items are competing more and more for water in the future even more water will be needed to produce food because the earth s population is forecast to rise to 9 billion by 2050 66 in 2000 the world population was 6 2 billion the un estimates that by 2050 there will be an additional 3 5 billion people with most of the growth in developing countries that already suffer water stress 67 this will increase demand for water unless there are corresponding increases in water conservation and recycling 68 in building on the data presented here by the un the world bank 69 goes on to explain that access to water for producing food will be one of the main challenges in the decades to come it will be necessary to balance access to water with managing water in a sustainable way at the same time it will be necessary to take the impact of climate change and other environmental and social variables into account 70 in 60 of european cities with more than 100 000 people groundwater is being used at a faster rate than it can be replenished 71 over exploitation of groundwater edit main article groundwater pivot irrigation in saudi arabia april 1997 saudi arabia is suffering from a major depletion of the water in its underground aquifers 72 the increase in the number of people is increasing competition for water this is depleting many of the world s major aquifers it has two causes one is direct human consumption the other is agricultural irrigation millions of pumps of all sizes are currently extracting groundwater throughout the world irrigation in dry areas such as northern china nepal and india draws on groundwater and it is extracting groundwater at an unsustainable rate many cities have experienced aquifer drops of between 10 and 50 meters they include mexico city bangkok beijing chennai and shanghai 73 until recently groundwater was not a highly used resource in the 1960s more and more groundwater aquifers developed 74 improved knowledge technology and funding have made it possible to focus more on drawing water from groundwater resources instead of surface water these made the agricultural groundwater revolution possible they expanded the irrigation sector which made it possible to increase food production and development in rural areas 75 groundwater supplies nearly half of all drinking water in the world 76 the large volumes of water stored underground in most aquifers have a considerable buffer capacity this makes it possible to withdraw water during periods of drought or little rainfall 34 this is crucial for people that live in regions that cannot depend on precipitation or surface water for their only supplies it provides reliable access to water all year round as of 2010 the world s aggregated groundwater abstraction is estimated at 1 000 km 3 per year of this 67 goes on irrigation 22 on domestic purposes and 11 on industrial purposes 34 the top ten major consumers of abstracted water make up 72 of all abstracted water use worldwide they are india china united states of america pakistan iran bangladesh mexico saudi arabia indonesia and italy 34 goundwater sources are quite plentiful but one major area of concern is the renewal or recharge rate of some groundwater sources extracting from non rewable groundwater sources could exhaust them if they are not properly monitored and managed 77 increasing use of groundwater can also reduce water quality over time groundwater systems often show falls in natural outflows stored volumes and water levels as well as water degradation 34 groundwater depletion can cause harm in many ways these include more costly groundwater pumping and changes in salinity and other types of water quality they can also lead to land subsidence degraded springs and reduced baseflows expansion of agricultural and industrial users edit about 1 9 trillion gallons of water are consumed within the colorado river basin in a typical year 78 contributing to a severe water shortage and causing states to reach a conservation and resource sharing agreement with the federal government 79 most of the colorado river basin water used by humans is used to grow feed for livestock more than four times the amount used for crops for direct human consumption 78 the main cause of water scarcity as a result of consumption is the extensive use of water in agriculture livestock breeding and industry people in developed countries generally use about 10 times more water a day than people in developing countries 80 a large part of this is indirect use in water intensive agricultural and industrial production of consumer goods examples are fruit oilseed crops and cotton many of these production chains are globalized so a lot of water consumption and pollution in developing countries occurs to produce goods for consumption in developed countries 81 many aquifers have been over pumped and are not recharging quickly this does not use up the total fresh water supply but it means that much has become polluted salted unsuitable or otherwise unavailable for drinking industry and agriculture to avoid a global water crisis farmers will have to increase productivity to meet growing demands for food at the same time industry and cities find will have to find ways to use water more efficiently 82 business activities such as tourism are continuing to expand they create a need for increases in water supply and sanitation this in turn can lead to more pressure on water resources and natural ecosystems the approximate 50 growth in world energy use by 2040 will also increase the need for efficient water use 82 it may means some water use shifts from irrigation to industry this is because thermal power generation uses water for steam generation and cooling 83 water pollution edit this section is an excerpt from water pollution edit water pollution or aquatic pollution is the contamination of water bodies which has a negative impact on how they can be used 84 6 it is usually caused by human activities water bodies include lakes rivers oceans aquifers reservoirs and groundwater water pollution results when contaminants mix with these water bodies contaminants can come from one of four main sources these are sewage discharges industrial activities agricultural activities and urban runoff including stormwater 85 water pollution may affect either surface water or groundwater this form of pollution can lead to many problems one is the degradation of aquatic ecosystems another is spreading water borne diseases when people use polluted water for drinking or irrigation 86 water pollution also reduces the ecosystem services such as drinking water provided by the water resource sources of water pollution are either point sources or non point sources 87 point sources have one identifiable cause such as a storm drain a wastewater treatment plant or an oil spill non point sources are more diffuse an example is agricultural runoff 88 pollution is the result of the cumulative effect over time pollution may take many forms one would be toxic substances such as oil metals plastics pesticides persistent organic pollutants and industrial waste products another is stressful conditions such as changes of ph hypoxia or anoxia increased temperatures excessive turbidity or changes of salinity the introduction of pathogenic organisms is another contaminants may include organic and inorganic substances a common cause of thermal pollution is the use of water as a coolant by power plants and industrial manufacturers climate change edit further information effects of climate change on the water cycle and water security climate change climate change could have a big impact on water resources around the world because of the close connections between the climate and hydrological cycle rising temperatures will increase evaporation and lead to increases in precipitation however there will be regional variations in rainfall both droughts and floods may become more frequent and more severe in different regions at different times there will be generally less snowfall and more rainfall in a warmer climate 89 changes in snowfall and snow melt in mountainous areas will also take place higher temperatures will also affect water quality in ways that scientists do not fully understand possible impacts include increased eutrophication climate change could also boost demand for irrigation systems in agriculture there is now ample evidence that greater hydrologic variability and climate change have had a profound impact on the water sector and will continue to do so this will show up in the hydrologic cycle water availability water demand and water allocation at the global regional basin and local levels 90 the united nations fao states that by 2025 1 9 billion people will live in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity it says two thirds of the world s population could be under stress conditions 91 the world bank says that climate change could profoundly alter future patterns of water availability and use this will make water stress and insecurity worse at the global level and in sectors that depend on water 92 scientists have found that population change is four times more important than long term climate change in its effects on water scarcity 47 retreat of mountain glaciers edit this section is an excerpt from retreat of glaciers since 1850 water supply edit a video describing the impacts of global warming and melting on everest and the surrounding himalayas and the downstream impacts on communities that use that water the continued retreat of glaciers will have a number of different quantitative effects in areas that are heavily dependent on water runoff from glaciers that melt during the warmer summer months a continuation of the current retreat will eventually deplete the glacial ice and substantially reduce or eliminate runoff a reduction in runoff will affect the ability to irrigate crops and will reduce summer stream flows necessary to keep dams and reservoirs replenished this situation is particularly acute for irrigation in south america where numerous artificial lakes are filled almost exclusively by glacial melt 93 central asian countries have also been historically dependent on the seasonal glacier melt water for irrigation and drinking supplies in norway the alps and the pacific northwest of north america glacier runoff is important for hydropower in the himalayas retreating glaciers could reduce summer water flows by up to two thirds in the ganges area this would cause a water shortage for 500 million people 94 in the hindu kush himalaya area around 1 4 billion people are dependent on the five main rivers of the himalaya mountains 95 although the impact will vary from place to place the amount of meltwater is likely to increase at first as glaciers retreat then it will gradually decrease because of the fall in glacier mass 96 97 options for improvements edit supply and demand side management edit main articles water resource management and integrated water resources management a review in 2006 stated that it is surprisingly difficult to determine whether water is truly scarce in the physical sense at a global scale a supply problem or whether it is available but should be used better a demand problem 98 the international resource panel of the un states that governments have invested heavily in inefficient solutions these are mega projects like dams canals aqueducts pipelines and water reservoirs they are generally neither environmentally sustainable nor economically viable 99 according to the panel the most cost effective way of decoupling water use from economic growth is for governments to create holistic water management plans these would take into account the entire water cycle from source to distribution economic use treatment recycling reuse and return to the environment in general there is enough water on an annual and global scale the issue is more of variation of supply by time and by region reservoirs and pipelines would deal with this variable water supply well planned infrastructure with demand side management is necessary both supply side and demand side management have advantages and disadvantages citation needed co operation between countries edit further information water conflict and international waters lack of cooperation may give rise to regional water conflicts this is especially the case in developing countries the main reason is disputes regarding the availability use and management of water 65 one example is the dispute between egypt and ethiopia over the grand ethiopian renaissance dam which escalated...
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