The Causes

source: pwf

Water scarcity stems from a number of interconnected issues including: poverty, pollution, overallocation and general misuse of the land. It is the greatest human threat of the 21st century, and one that was created by our own greed and ignorance. Since the 1970s, the world's water supply has declined by by an alarming 30%, and will continue to do so unless we change our ways. A large amount of our activity on this planet negatively impacts the freshwater supply. Here are a few of the largest.

Agriculture:

As previously mentioned, 70% of human's consumption of fresh water is allocated to agriculture, and today, 10% of those water sources are almost exhausted. Food is important, but the ways in which we produce it are extremely harmful to water systems.  Our practices involve methods that allow us to mass produce a specific product in ways that are detrimental to the environment. Present-day agriculture has become dependent on chemical fertilizers that affect the soil in the sense that it has a lower water holding capacity. This means that it is unable to retain as much water, which means that the amount of water needed to sustain the crops drastically increases. Also, with single crop production, the amount of pesticides used increases which then leech into fresh water sources. Animal farming also consumes a large amount of this resource. 1 pound of beef takes 2500 gallons of water to produce! Animal farming also plays a role in water pollution. This newer approach of confining animals leads to concentrated volumes of waste which run into surface water and seeps into ground water.

Deforestation: Forest floors play an important role in retaining and regenerating water tables(water accumulations under ground), but extensive logging and monoculture make that water run-off.

 

 

 

Pollution:

Source: theriskyshift

During the industrial revolution, water pollution expanded with the introduction of the chemical industry, the internal combustion engine etc. But there were no effective water treatment systems in place to withstand the pollution these new industrial players. "Steady economic growth where not accompanied by pollution regulation and enforcement continues to devastate water supplies". And even when water treatment facilities are already established, they are not equipped to deal with the various pollutants we use today. Water treatment plants do not remove chemicals such as dioxins, heavy metals or PCBs. These pass into lakes, rivers, oceans where they threaten human, sea and animal life as they bio magnify in food chains causing mutations, diseases and death. The increased number of rivers and lakes contaminated by human, industrial and agricultural waste results in nearly 30,000 human deaths per day worldwide.

Mismanagement and Overallocation:

 "12% of the world's population uses 85% of its water, and these 12% do not live in the third world". -Maude Barlow

The average Canadian uses 350 liters of water a day, while a person in a water scarce region must survive on as little as 5 liters of water a day.We as Canadians overuse and waste water everyday, whether it be by leaving  the tap on while brushing teeth and wasting up to 5 litres of water per minute, or removing 370 million cubic meters of water a year from rivers for tar sands projects. Our whole lifestyle seems to revolve around the wasting of this finite resource, and the effects are beginning to become overwhelming. The Colorado River frequently runs dry before reaching the ocean due to overallocation of water to users of the upper basin, the Jordan River has been reduced to little more than a trickle due to redistribution from Jordan to Israel. These effects are severe warning signs that we are choosing to ignore.

Source: 404systemerror

Privatization: Water privatization plays a huge role in water management (or lack there of) as it dictates the availability of this resource. With water privatization, water control is handed over  by governments to multinational corporations whose main responsibilities are to shareholders and not to the people they "serve".

 In situations where governments have handed over their water services to private companies, only a small elite group profits,and safe drinking water is not made readily available to those who need it most.