Water scarcity is the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water
usage within a region. It already affects every continent and around
2.8 billion people around the world at least one month out of every
year. More than 1.2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.
According to 2014 census total population of world is 7,238,848,700. Around 7.25 billion people are living on this world and which will increase as the time passes. Two-Third of population resides in Asia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_world). Water is what this 7.25 billion people uses everyday. The UNITED NATIONS (UN) estimates that, of 1.4 billion cubic kilometers (1 quadrillion acre-feet) of water on Earth just 200,000 cubic kilometers (162.1 billion acre-feet) represent fresh water available for human consumption More then 1.25 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.
Today we waste water everyday without thinking that what will we do when we will be short of water. Today mny scholars and experts argue that World War 3 might be on shortage of water. We are wasting water as we do not know its important and we don't know how important it is to us.
Every morning litres of water is wasted and we don't even care. When ever some one wash his hands or face or what ever he does he opens the tap and the water is flowing and we dont even try to close the tap. Water is very precious for our lives. We are wasting water we are enemies of ourselves. People using water for irrigation purposes some times over flood it which is the reason when sometimes farms get destroyed. In Pakistan and India people when filling their water tanks starts the water motor but then forgets and litres of water is been wasted when tanks get full and it is over flooded.
MEASUREMNTS OF WATER SCARCITY
Hydrologists today typically assess water scarcity by looking at the population-water equation. This is done by comparing the amount of total available water resources per year to the population of a country or region. A popular approach to measuring water scarcity 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 United 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. 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.
Other ways of measuring water scarcity include examining the physical existence of water in nature, comparing nations with lower or higher volumes of water available for use. This method often fails to capture the accessibility of the water resource to the population that may need it. Others have related water availability to population.
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. Water stress harms living things because every organism needs water to live.
According to 2014 census total population of world is 7,238,848,700. Around 7.25 billion people are living on this world and which will increase as the time passes. Two-Third of population resides in Asia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_world). Water is what this 7.25 billion people uses everyday. The UNITED NATIONS (UN) estimates that, of 1.4 billion cubic kilometers (1 quadrillion acre-feet) of water on Earth just 200,000 cubic kilometers (162.1 billion acre-feet) represent fresh water available for human consumption More then 1.25 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.
Today we waste water everyday without thinking that what will we do when we will be short of water. Today mny scholars and experts argue that World War 3 might be on shortage of water. We are wasting water as we do not know its important and we don't know how important it is to us.
Every morning litres of water is wasted and we don't even care. When ever some one wash his hands or face or what ever he does he opens the tap and the water is flowing and we dont even try to close the tap. Water is very precious for our lives. We are wasting water we are enemies of ourselves. People using water for irrigation purposes some times over flood it which is the reason when sometimes farms get destroyed. In Pakistan and India people when filling their water tanks starts the water motor but then forgets and litres of water is been wasted when tanks get full and it is over flooded.
MEASUREMNTS OF WATER SCARCITY
Hydrologists today typically assess water scarcity by looking at the population-water equation. This is done by comparing the amount of total available water resources per year to the population of a country or region. A popular approach to measuring water scarcity 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 United 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. 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.
Other ways of measuring water scarcity include examining the physical existence of water in nature, comparing nations with lower or higher volumes of water available for use. This method often fails to capture the accessibility of the water resource to the population that may need it. Others have related water availability to population.
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. Water stress harms living things because every organism needs water to live.
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