World water shortfall expected in 15 years
By Associated Press
NEW DELHI — The world could suffer a 40 percent shortfall in water in just 15 years unless countries dramatically change their use of the resource, a U.N. report warned Friday.
Many underground water reserves are already running low, while rainfall patterns are predicted to become more erratic with climate change. As the world’s population grows to an expected 9 billion by 2050, more groundwater will be needed for farming, industry and personal consumption.
The report predicts global water demand will increase 55 percent by 2050, while reserves dwindle. If current usage trends don’t change, the world will have only 60 percent of the water it needs in 2030, it said.
Having less available water risks catastrophe on many fronts: crops could fail, ecosystems could break down, industries could collapse, disease and poverty could worsen, and violent conflicts over access to water could become more frequent.
“Unless the balance between demand and finite supplies is restored, the world will face an increasingly severe global water deficit,” the annual World Water Development Report said, noting that more efficient use could guarantee enough supply in the future.
The report, released in New Delhi two days before World Water Day, calls on policymakers and communities to rethink water policies, urging more conservation as well as recycling of wastewater as is done in Singapore. Countries may also want to consider raising prices for water, as well as searching for ways to make water-intensive sectors more efficient and less polluting, it said.
In many countries including India, water use is largely unregulated and often wasteful. Pollution of water is often ignored and unpunished. At least 80 percent of India’s population relies on groundwater for drinking to avoid bacteria-infested surface waters.
In agriculture-intense India, where studies show some aquifers are being depleted at the world’s fastest rates, the shortfall has been forecast at 50 percent or even higher. Climate change is expected to make the situation worse, as higher temperatures and more erratic weather patterns could disrupt rainfall.
Currently, about 748 million people worldwide have poor access to clean drinking water, the report said, cautioning that economic growth alone is not the solution — and could make the situation worse unless reforms ensure more efficiency and less pollution.
“Unsustainable development pathways and governance failures have affected the quality and availability of water resources, compromising their capacity to generate social and economic benefits,” it said. “Economic growth itself is not a guarantee for wider social progress.”
Who cares? As long as I get mine i don’t give a flying-you-know-what about anyone else.
Could it be that the rapid growth in world population has anything to do with a shortage of water?
Looks to be a chance we “MIGHT” get some precipitation tonight. Cover what needs to be covered outdoors and bring in that extra armload of firewood.
I’ll be baking biscuits and cookin’up some home made soup. Lets hope we get some weather carrying water! Every flake of snow or drop of rain is much needed.
Keep your fingers crossed! OLS
the sky is falling and we are all are going to die
In the 70’s it was an Ice Age that was going to do us in. Then an Ozone hole. AIDS was the next global killer. Then Global warming. And when it became clear nothing has been heating up, climate change. Now we are going to run out of water.
Every time the current made-up sky-is-falling villain loses its luster and urgency, the socialists who wish to exert control over the populace invent another one.
Here’s one you can count on. In 5 billion years the sun will die taking us with it. Buh bye.
Yob. Scientists were not predicting an Ice Age in the 1970’s; that is a myth. Homo Sapiens came together to ban products that were destroying the Ozone hole and now it is predicted to return to pre 1980’s levels in 30 – 40 years. Homo Sapiens again confronted the AIDS epidemic 1980’s and it is no longer a death sentence to those infected. The Planet is heating up and the only population that wants to control anything is the Fossil Fuels Industry.
As far as your Sun imploding comment. Yes, in 4 – 5 Billion years our Sun (Star) will expand into a Red Giant. It is more likely that Homo Sapiens will have destroyed this Planet via a Nuclear War much sooner then that.
Getting back to fresh water, Homo Sapiens should be able to confront this problem with tools at hand.
Watch out…rock4cock is a self certified expert in all fields notable to man. He is so smart that ahhh…i got nothing, he is just smart ok.
“It is more likely that Homo Sapiens will have destroyed this Planet via a Nuclear War much sooner then that.” Wow, what a great observation! I wish some other people could think like that!
Maybe people should stop worrying about the sun sucking us up in 5 billion years, and climate change making the earth warmer in a few hundred years, and start worrying about Russia turning us into a smoldering crater tomorrow. I agree that if there is a water shortage, we should be able to deal with it.
What drives me crazy though, is the constant “sky is falling” attitude that yobobbyb was referring to. I hate the way some things are made out to be a huge problem before they even have the data. Then, after a year or two of research, the whole thing just fizzles. It seems like some of these scientists making these bold pronouncements are just trying to get attention.
Green. A Doctor in Germany knew that cigarettes caused lung cancer in the early 1900’s. He even tried to get the NAZIS to reduce cigarette consumption. Yes, it was a bold pronouncement that would resonate for decades; thank you Camel and Phillip Morris “marketing” lies regarding tobacco Science and safety that caused so much death.
Scientists have known about CO2 and the possible effects of rising temperatures since the late 1800’s and have been warning of Global Temperatures rising since the 1970’s. Yes, Newsweek printed an article in 1975 that predicted Global Cooling but later retracted the article saying, “the article was spectacularly wrong about the near-term future.”
Is Stephen Hawking trying to “get attention” by making his predictions, I think not.
We, Homo Sapiens, found a solution for Ozone Depletion and can find a solution for CO2.
Must be time to stop paying people to have children.
Actually sunriser2 if you have the time you should read through rocks comments. He told me in private that he plans to stop anonymously blogging and submit an article to LTN. It should be very interesting to put a real name and face to such an elite intellect in our society. Thanks rock.
BS BO.
duke, ditto