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Text and/or other creative content from this version of Water crisis was copied or moved into Water security with this edit on November 21.1012. The former page's history now serves to provide attribution for that content in the latter page, and it must not be deleted as long as the latter page exists. |
The contents of the Water crisis page were merged into Water scarcity on November 19, 2012. For the contribution history and old versions of the merged article please see its history. |
"The Earth has a finite supply of dirtyweird water, stored in aquifers, surface waters and the atmosphere. Sometimes oceans are mistaken for available water, but the amount of energy needed to convert saline water to potable water is prohibitive today, explaining why only a very small fraction of the world's water supply derives from desalination"
Can be misconstrued without understanding "surface waters" "the earth has a finite supply of fresh water" at any one time. But the balance between fresh and salt can be effected by far more than just human desalinization. When desalination is addressed immediately after that statement, but not increased storage capacity of surface waters(ie: drop a hole the size of Lake Erie in the middle of India for a Monsoon catchment) it can be misconstrued when combined with "finite" to a younger reader. Surface water can be delayed nearly indefinitely with the proper storage and treatment\reuse, (which need not be capital intensive http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_machines) with a net loss within the hydrology cycle that is oceanic, delivered at no cost, drawn and impounded at nature's extremes. Surface water that would otherwise return largely underemployed to the ocean. Oceanic evaporation increases with a worldwide net energy gain. "Since the kinetic energy of a molecule is proportional to its temperature, evaporation proceeds more quickly at higher temperature." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporation
Other possible impoundments include artificial condensation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condensation (an efficient use of waste heat, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas-absorption_refrigerator) the net loss in water vapor would be replaced from all surfaces, the lion's share of which is oceanic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton's_law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapor_pressure
The "water crisis" is not constrained by a finite supply of fresh water, rather human practices and an unwillingness to invest in the infrastructure necessary. Presenting a sole example of an ongoing energy investment (desalinization) as opposed to infrastructure investments with a potential of a net energy gain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_energy_gain employing positional energy as freely delivered by the atmosphere http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potential_energy limits the scope of the question.
The net energy storage of the oceans and atmosphere are increasing, naturally occurring freshwater storage is decreasing, the trend is toward a more erratic hydrology cycle http://www.wmo.ch/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_791_e.html that erratic delivery will by necessity need to be employed, humans will have to replace at least a part of the ice storage with long term impoundment and reuse.
The crisis is one of demand, delivery window, and efficiency. Not a closed system with a finite supply of X amount of freshwater. That is only true if qualified by a period of time. Impoundment of water in one part of the cycle will be replenished from salt and fresh water surfaces, soil and transpiration over an extended period of time, reaching a new (and constantly changing) vapor pressure equilibrium. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transpiration http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evapotranspiration
More energy within the system means higher rates of evaporation and less natural retention of surface water (ice) with a net loss to the Oceanic stage of the cycle. Impoundment and reuse however can reverse that, especially if the more energetic (if erratic) delivery is anticipated.
hello NTK, thanx for the dismissive missive :P
The post is here to spur the inclusion of factual scientific context which the article hasn't included, namely the hydrological cycle vs time. The "Water Crisis" for any given region is typically seasonal
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080418112341.htm
"The global land surface temperature was the warmest on record for March, 3.3°F above the 20th century mean of 40.8°F. Temperatures more than 8°F above average covered much of the Asian continent. Two months after the greatest January snow cover extent on record on the Eurasian continent, the unusually warm temperatures led to rapid snow melt, and March snow cover extent on the Eurasian continent was the lowest on record."
human adaptation to a more extreme delivery isn't "my solution" rather a global imperative. The three interrelated aspects my post included within a joined context where, retention, reuse and replenishment (new surface storage, indefinite re-treatment, the vapor pressure equilibrium of the hydrological cycle). By compartmentalizing this article and artificially limiting the primary "solution" to human desalination (as opposed to employing an accelerated global evaporation\desalination cycle) shapes the way the issue is thought about. We are loosing our natural storage capacity (ice) and need to artificially replace it, as well as change how we use water.
Reductio ad absurdum, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum next storm surge experienced by every human alive, one pint of water is placed in a bottle and sealed "surface water" has just increased. Impounded, used and retreated for as long as possible before its eventual evaporation (largely dependent on local air exchange & temperature) the lions share of replenishment in the hydrological cycle comes from the oceans.
PS Governments are for centralized "solutions", widely available useful information is for decentralized solutions.
I seriously believe this article can benefit from an expansion of "surface waters" and the totally absent concept of more extreme delivery cycle. Its as if the article is discussing an average, not the increasingly real world surplus and deficit nature of the hydrological cycle vs demand. The passage I took umbrage with in particular
"The Earth has a finite supply of fresh water, stored in aquifers, surface waters and the atmosphere. Sometimes oceans are mistaken for available water, but the amount of energy needed to convert saline water to potable water is prohibitive today, explaining why only a very small fraction of the world's water supply derives from desalination[5]."
shapes the problem as static and the exclusion of the oceans is misleading. I posted this in here as an argument in hopes that the obvious deficiencies and assumptions in the article would be addressed by a third party, not ridiculed. (Unsigned).
'Causes of water deficit we speand lot of water in washroom during bath If we dont waste water we are able to use that water in agriculture sector and grow lot of food .. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 175.110.25.28 ( talk) 07:02, 8 February 2011 (UTC)
superficially looks like a reasonable idea, but the Asian Water Crisis is a huge topic in and of itself and can easily merit an entire article. better idea is to merge Asian water crisis with China water crisis Anlace 04:17, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
This article needs to show that the term (water crisis- as applied here to mean the world is/has run out of water) is used by official organizations.-- Peta 02:38, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
The latest edition of the New Scientist has an article on biofuel pointing out that some of the effects of its increased use may be to (a) increase land under cultivation, (b) divert cultivation from edible crops and, (c) divert cultivation towards water-guzzling crops such as sugar cane. I don't have the article to hand and I don't know enough about the subject to extemporize but it sounds relevant to this article to me. I might come back to the article when me, a computer and the magazine are all in the same place at the same time - unless someone beats me to it. 217.154.66.11 12:06, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
We'll have enough water for everyone , the problem will be just that we'll have to boil it to make use of it. Glaciation is near. Have a nice day. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.220.221.96 ( talk) 23:15, 6 November 2007 (UTC)
Warnings of a water and food crisis s this year, but the danger was stressed repeatedly to the assembled world elite. Scarcity of water was named by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a top priority at the World Economic Forum and he warned that conflicts lay ahead if the provision of the vital resource could not be assured.
"Population growth will make the problem worse. So will climate change. As the global economy grows, so will its thirst. Many more conflicts lie just over the horizon," [1] While the world's population tripled in the 20th century, the use of renewable water resources has grown six-fold. Within the next fifty years, the world population will increase by another 40 to 50 %. This population growth - coupled with industrialization and urbanization - will result in an increasing demand for water and will have serious consequences on the environment.
Biofuels, which were initially hyped as a "green" solution to the world's energy needs, drew criticism from the chairman of the UN's Nobel Prize-winning climate change panel.
"Wherever the production of fuels is going to conflict with the production of food, particularly in a world in which food prices are going up... obviously we are running into difficult territory," revealed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change chairman Rajendra Pachauri. [[[[27] http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/10/europe/EU-GEN-Hungary-Climate-Change.php]]]
Already there is more waste water generated and dispersed today than at any other time in the history of our planet: more than one out of six people lack access to safe drinking water, namely 1.1 billion people, and more than two out of six lack adequate sanitation, namely 2.6 billion people (Estimation for 2002, by the WHO/UNICEF JMP, 2004). 3900 children die every day from water borne diseases (WHO 2004). One must know that these figures represent only people with very poor conditions. In reality, these figures should be much higher. —Preceding
unsigned comment added by
Pretchan (
talk •
contribs)
02:26, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
This section is related to water crisis as discussed above and linked to Human Security because this existing article is not comprehensive in exploring the cause of water crisis. Climate change is one important factor which we should not neglect.
References
The article does not contain a single shred of evidence that lack of safe, clean water is caused by overpopulation.
Here is a List of countries by population density. If you look at the list, you will see that there is no correlation between population density and lack of safe, clean water.
Here is the Corruption Perceptions Index. If you look at this list, you will see that there is a huge correlation between government corruption and lack of safe, clean water.!
Tap water is not a natural resource. Instead, tap water is the product of scientists, engineers, technology, innovation, etc. When government is properly run, it always manages to provide people with safe, clean water, because the scientists and other people are properly rewarded for their efforts to provide people with clean, safe water.
Grundle2600 ( talk) 07:36, 20 July 2008 (UTC)
Hi, I see you've included one reference [2] to back up this view. The reference mentions the viewpoint but does not give any explanation - do you have any other references? Barrylb ( talk) 18:27, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
I think this report (exec summary) backs up some of what you are saying. eg they say "Water insufficiency is often due to mismanagement, corruption, lack of appropriate institutions, bureaucratic inertia and a shortage of investment in both human capacity and physical infrastructure" and "Many of the solutions to water problems lie in better governance." I'm not sure if your arguments about the List of countries by population density and Corruption Perceptions Index is original research though ? -- Barrylb ( talk) 18:47, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
Is it worth pointing out that (in many areas) lack of safe drinking water is caused not by overpopulation but by the environmental factors creating fresh drinking water? Desert, unstable water flows, unstable precipitation levels...these are the main factors deciding how much water is available to a basin, where overpopulation exacerbates water situations. If you want to blame anything for water shortages, you might consider looking toward agricultural use first (since in most areas it's by FAR the overriding consumer of water, some sources saying around 80% of typical fresh water use), and then look also to industry (that further exacerbates their usage by the environmental pollution). Again, overpopulation can strain water resources, but the few litres a day each person uses is a pittance compared to most agricultural uses. The "overpopulation" argument is all too frequently not caused by overpopulation, but the usage patterns conflicting with the cycles of precipitation. The crisis is especially poignant when exacerbated by poverty and the subsistence patterns dependant on the water use. Gba111 ( talk) 06:03, 9 November 2008 (UTC)
some of the wording in this article seems a bit biased -- voodoom ( talk) 06:42, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
This article is biased. It takes the view of pessimistic environmentalists. For example, it states that more than one billion people lack access to safe drinking water without mentioning that this proportion (and probably number) has decreased steadily over the last decades. I have tried to fix this but more has to be done.
Just because some international organizations talk of a water crisis doesn't mean there is one. They naturally have an interest in portraying the problem as bad as possible to attract attention and funding. Jacob Lundberg ( talk) 12:42, 30 December 2008 (UTC)
The article is not a Neural Point of View; its cites aguanomics.com too often. It does however link in to several points of view articles and gives a range of projections. Int. org.s in views vary greatly. They are widely used in geography articles for good reason - they have studies/websites that are copyright-allowed and they don't give one country's (e.g. US) bias. The mention of gain in access to safe drinking water is in there now, so quit moaning about progress. And don't scorn at the very least the inter governmental organisaitons - I bet all my wealth (save my drinking water) a survey would show most people think not enough aid is going into the best schemes to give us safe drinking water when they consider since the sixties that 2 Billion people have now gained access, leaving far less than that to go.-- Adam37 ( talk) 22:46, 11 September 2009 (UTC)And dats a big deal !
I believe that nanotechnology will solve the water crisis by allowing nanofactories to create water in infinite amounts on a sub-atomic level. This won't be until the year 2025 but I believe nanotechnology can solve things like that, pollution, and even find a cure for autism. GVnayR ( talk) 03:42, 5 October 2009 (UTC)
-- 222.64.220.28 ( talk) 10:17, 7 February 2010 (UTC)
Add " Consumption of water and the global hydrological cycle is a Planetary boundaries metric.", but also other wp article might be drinking water/potable water (consumption), water resources, and fresh water. 99.112.215.132 ( talk) 17:56, 22 June 2011 (UTC)
Hopefully, I reorganized this article to a more logical format. It seems to make sense to group the effects of water scarcity and then move towards potential solutions rather than mixing up the two in sections. There is more work to do, but I am leaving that to someone else. Thanks! Quill and Pen ( talk) 20:57, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
Only some parts were merged with Water Security. The main article was merged with Water Scarcity, which is in itself more logical, and especially so because it claims to be a redirect "from an alternative name". – Sampa ( talk) 21:17, 26 February 2018 (UTC)