Water Resources, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Consequent to global population rises, the demand for fresh water has been on the rise. In many countries already, clean water is become overly scarce. The US (especially in California) and other developed nations are also experiencing water shortages (Midkiff, 2007). To compound the effect, global climate changes are on the fast drive and yet the population continues to grow phenomenally.

Rivers are drying up by and by. News about such major rivers as Colorado, Indus, Rio Grande, Ganges and Yellow has been overly tapped until they have become seasonal. Naturalists concur that freshwater wetlands in the globe have already shrunk by about half. The Chinese Yellow River failed to make it to the sea in 1972 for the first time since the beginning of time. In 1997, the river failed to make it to the sea for a whooping 226 days. Glaciers of the Himalayan Mountains have been replenishing most water catchments but they are also disappearing fast. Aquifer (underground water tables) have fallen in all continents consequent to over-pumping of the groundwater in China, Iran, India, Mexico, North Africa, the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and the US. It is upon this basis that the world is now reflecting on the urgent need of managing fresh water supply and demand (Midkiff, 2007).

 Managing Water Resources – Challenges

One of the greatest contradictions in this effort to conserve fresh water is that as the populations grows, the use of water per person has been rises. This means that the demand for freshwater has been soaring incredibly, yet the supply is only but finite. Water pollution of the available water bodies is further reducing available fresh water, as the global climatic conditions play their toll simultaneously.

Today, 31 countries with 8% of the world population are experiencing chronic fresh water shortages. This percentage will change by 2025 when 48 countries (35% of the global population totaling to over 2.8 billion people) will chronically be out of fresh water. In such nations as Kenya, Ethiopia, Peru, China and India are already experiencing public health problems especially due to water-related diseases like cholera, malaria, typhoid and schistosomiasis (Tesar, 1992). Other species are also suffering from water over-use.

For the first time since the beginning of the world, there is an urgent need to check population growth globally as the only way of curbing extinction. While water resources remain the same as it was 2,000 years back, the global population grows annually with 3%. We have turned to agricultural irrigation, increased domestic consumption and water pumped industrial operations that compound the use of fresh water. The pending crisis mandates that every nation in the globe initiates emergency measures to conserve the available water, to pollute less and then to manage the supply and the demand of fresh water economically

Looking Into the Future

To achieve global results in effective management of water shortages as one of the effects of adverse climate change, nations must refine their policies and practices regarding water management. We have two broad categories of reactive measures available for such intents. These include the supply side practices and the demand side policies and practices.

• Demand Side Practices

The practices and policies that affect the demand side and which must be implemented thereof, include those practices that reduce water expenditure globally. For instance, countries need to reduce the amount of water needed by irrigation projects. This can be done by importing the products and food items instead of growing them locally or changing the cropping calendar so that irrigation becomes unnecessary. Irrigation water demand can also be reduced by crop mixing so that amount of water needed decreases or by changing the irrigation methods to use minimal water such that instead of flooding, only the planted area is irrigated.

Again there is need to promote water use efficiency especially by recycling the rainwater as well as expanded use of water markets to reallocate water to the highly valued areas. Other demand based policies and practices can be the expanded use of economic incentives to reduce water expenditure, including (but not limited to) efficient metering and high pricing to encourage water conservation.

• Supply Side Practices

The practices and policies affecting the supply side are characterized by their objective. All are intent on increasing sustainable water harvesting. These are the practices and policies that help tap what has hitherto been wasted water resource. They include expansion of rainwater tapping and by increasing the storage capacity in countries such as by building reservoirs and dams. Additionally, prospecting and extraction of ground water, and desalination of rainwater capture and storage, increased use of gray water and transportation of water to regions where needed most.

• Best Options

The best options here are those that aim at reducing water expenditure and not in harvesting more. We must increase water use efficiency and limit waste. As such, policies that aide in increasing conservation, metering and offering other economical incentives to reduce wastefulness remain the best course of action (Tesar, 1992). Harvesting more will not cater for the shortages globally but conservation would.

• Limitations and Side Effects

Some of these practices and policies are overly expensive, especially those on the supply side. Desalination has been termed as prohibitively expensive and highly energy intensive such that it will end up using lots of fossil fuels, the same ones responsible for the global warming consequences (Glennon, 2009). Increased underwater harvesting will deplete the ground water levels, like it has happened in India already. The governments must therefore be wary of adopting policies and practices of water management that have negative side effects on the long term.

• Other Remedies

Other policy changes and practices that can help conserve fresh water and increase its supply if implemented include privatization so that efficiency in use and conservation is attained. Cloud seeding can also be used (sprinkling tiny silver iodine crystals on clouds) to catalyze water circulation.

Conclusion

The remedial measures in global water shortage are overdue as it is. A water-short globe will be highly and inherently unstable (Glennon, 2009). The water crises in countries across the world will present phenomenal obstacles to health, living standards and conflicts over fresh water access. As such, finding solutions to water shortages is a priority right now.

References

Glennon, R. (2009). Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to Do About It. New York: Island Press.

Midkiff, K. (2007). Not a Drop to Drink: America’s Water Crisis (and What You Can Do). New York: New World Library.

Tesar, J. et al. (1992). Food and Water. Washington DC: Facts on File.