Water stress

Researchers define water stress and water scarcity in different ways. For example, some have presented maps showing the physical existence of water in nature to show nations with lower or higher volumes of water available for use. Others have related water availability to population. A popular approach has been to rank countries according to the amount of annual water resources available per person. For example, according to the Falkenmark Water Stress Indicator, a country or region is said to experience "water stress" when annual water supplies drop below 1,700 cubic metres per person per year. At levels between 1,700 and 1,000 cubic metres per person per year, periodic or limited water shortages can be expected. When water supplies drop below 1,000 cubic metres per person per year, the country faces "water scarcity". The Unitied Nations' FAO states that by 2025, 1.9 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions. Water stress is considered "set to become a permanent feature of British life". The World Bank adds that climate change could profoundly alter future patterns of both water availability and use,thereby increasing levels of water stress and insecurity, both at the global scale and in sectors that depend on water.

Another measurement, calculated as part of a wider assessment of water management in 2007, aimed to relate water availability to how the resource was actually used. It therefore divided water scarcity into ‘physical’ and ‘economic’. Physical water scarcity is where there is not enough water to meet all demands, including that needed for ecosystems to function effectively. Arid regions frequently suffer from physical water scarcity. It also occurs where water seems abundant but where resources are over-committed, such as when there is overdevelopment of hydraulic infrastructure for irrigation. Symptoms of physical water scarcity include environmental degradation and declining groundwater.

Economic water scarcity, meanwhile, is caused by a lack of investment in water or insufficient human capacity to satisfy the demand for water. Symptoms of economic water scarcity include a lack of infrastructure, with people often having to fetch water from rivers for domestic and agricultural uses. Large parts of Africa suffer from economic water scarcity; developing water infrastructure there could therefore help to reduce poverty. Critical conditions often arise for economically poor and politically weak communities living in already dry environments. Some 2.8 billion people currently live in water-scarce areas, as defined by this method.

Causes of water stress

The concepts of water stress and water scarcity are relatively new. Fifty years ago, when there were fewer than half the current number of people on the planet, the common perception was that water was an infinite resource. People were not as wealthy then as they are 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 nearly seven billion people on the planet, their consumption of water-thirsty meat and vegetables is rising, and there is increasing competition for water from industry, urbanisation and biofuel crops.

The total amount of available freshwater supply is also decreasing because of climate change, which has caused receding glaciers, reduced stream and river flow, and shrinking lakes. Many aquifers have been over-pumped and are not recharging quickly. Although the total fresh water supply is not used up, much has become polluted, salted, unsuitable or otherwise unavailable for drinking, industry and agriculture. To avoid a global water crisis, farmers will have to strive to increase productivity to meet growing demands for food, while industry and cities find ways to use water more efficiently.

See also

• Peak water
• Water crisis
• Irrigation in viticulture
• Water contamination
• Water resources
• Drought rhizogenesis

Further reading

• Steven Solomon (c2010). Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization. Harper. p. 608. ISBN 9780060548308. 
• Alexander Bell (c2009). Peak Water : Civilisation and the world's water crisis. Edinburgh: Luath. p. 208. ISBN 1906817197. 
• Peter H. Gleick, ed. (c2009). The World's Water 2008-2009: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources. Washington D.C. : Island Press. p. 402. ISBN 10: 1-59726-505-5. 
• Maude Barlow (c2007). Blue covenant : the global water crisis and the coming battle for the right to water. New York : New Press : Distributed by W.W. Norton. p. 196. ISBN 9781595581860. 
• Richard Heinberg (c2007). Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines. Gabriola, BC : New Society Publishers. p. 213. ISBN 9780865715981. 
• Engelbert, Ernest A., and Ann Foley Scheuring, ed. (c1984). Water Scarcity: Impacts on Western Agriculture. Berkeley: University of California Press. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0f59n72f/. 
• Jameel M. Zayed. "No Peace Without Water – The Role of Hydropolitics in the Israel-Palestine Conflict". London. http://www.jnews.org.uk/commentary/“no-peace-without-water”-–-the-role-of-hydropolitics-in-the-israel-palestine-conflict. 

• The World Bank, (2010) Water and Climate Change: Understanding the Risks and Making Climate-Smart Investment Decisions.

External links

• "Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis". United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 2006. http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2006/.