Table of Contents
The term’s definition
Water shortage is the absence of accessible enough, clean drinking water for people and animals in a specific location. This issue may impact over 2.8 billion individuals for at least one month.
The health of the populace, electricity production, ecosystems, and economies that depend on agriculture are all impacted by water shortage. There are two types of water scarcity: physical and economic.
Economic Water Scarcity: What Is It?
Economic water shortage refers to a lack of infrastructure and investment in water collection and delivery. This can be a result of the water shortage itself.
An example of an economic water shortage in the modern era is Flint, Michigan, in the United States. Over 100,000 individuals were exposed to contaminated water that contained lead in this terrible episode because the river that supplied drinking water was not adequately cleansed.
The water problem in Flint began in 2014 and won’t be resolved until at least 2020. Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Haiti, and India, to mention a few, do not have the financial means to address their issues with water shortages.
A country’s economy and resources might suffer from a water shortage since numerous water-related issues may go undetected and unresolved owing to a lack of resources.
Due to weather, accelerated population expansion, unstable political environments, and corruption, economic water shortage deteriorated even worse in some regions.
Physical Water Scarcity: What Is It?
Physical water shortage affects one-fifth of the world’s population because certain regions are just too dry for enough water to rinse the land organically.
This will happen in arid, dry places like the Sahara Desert in Africa. The degradation of the environment is one of the main effects of physical water shortage that can be witnessed in today’s globe.
This is apparent in African nations like Ghana and Chad, whose agricultural industries suffer. For water, a lot of Africans will have to trek for hours.
Because males in Africa are often assigned the chore of caring for the water supply, women and children are more severely affected by this issue.
Water conservation and water scarcity reduction
Numerous worldwide organizations have spearheaded programs to promote water conservation to guarantee that there will always be enough water available for drinking, farming, generating electricity, and supporting life.
Many people in North America have changed their water consumption behaviors due to the ongoing drought in California, a state historically recognized for its water scarcity.
It may seem insignificant, but checking your home’s taps for leaks, taking shorter showers, turning off the water while brushing your teeth, and only running your dishwasher when it is fully loaded will help you save a lot of water.
An environmentally conscious company created an innovative, contemporary solution to this issue in the United Arab Emirates. This corporation suggested towing an iceberg 5,500 miles, or over a year, from Antarctica to the United Arab Emirates.
The United Arab Emirates is a wealthy desert nation in the Middle East with few to no natural spring water sources. According to the idea, this iceberg may be able to supply up to 1 million people with irrigation and drinking water over five years.