Why World’s Taps Are Going To Run Dry Soon
Global Water Crisis : Explained
Water: What’s the Big Deal?
While nearly 70 percent of the world is covered by water, only 2.5 percent of it is fresh, the rest being saline and ocean based. Even then, just 1 percent of our freshwater is easily accessible, with much of it trapped in glaciers and snowfields. That means, only 0.007% (yes you read it right, less than 1%) of the planet’s water is available for consumption.
On the other hand, about 60% of the adult body is made up of water. Water is required by every living cell of the body be it for regulating body temperature, maintaining blood flow or for flushing out waste of the body. Not only does the human body, but also a lot of the products we consume and use daily require a lot of water for their production. A Water Footprint is an indicator of how much water goes into making a product.
Unfortunately the inefficient usage of water has led to detrimental effects and continues to pose a threat to the future of humankind. According to the United Nations, water use has grown at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century. By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world’s population living in water-stressed regions. Not that far! Right?
The Growth and The Climate Change
To put it simply, there’s too much demand and not enough supply, which calls for a change in traditional ways of using water. A lot countries continue to grow thirsty crops like rice and sugarcane in arid regions. With little to no rainfall, the water demands of these crops are met my extracting the groundwater indiscriminately.
Setting up large scale industries under the name of creating employment in regions with scanty rains is another example of inefficient use of the water resource.
Adding to this, is the rapid climate change.Scorching summers and shortened winters have resulted in reduced snow cover and retreating glaciers, leading to dried up rivers across the world.
Day Zero : Capetown
Capetown recently introduced a concept of Day Zero to apprise its residents of the gravity of the depleting water condition and push them to manage water consumption as tightly as possible. Western Cape was seeing its worst drought. Day Zero is the day when the most of the city’s taps will run dry . It will mean residents will have to stand in line to collect 25 litres of water per person per day. The water will be sourced from the remaining supplies that are left in the dams.
The Day Zero initially doomed to be on 16 April has been announced not be happening anywhere in 2019, thanks to the intense water management practices and behavioral change adapted by the city.
The city was subjected to Level 6B water restrictions which meant:
1)Agricultural users must reduce consumption by 60%, compared to usage levels from 2015.
2) Borehole water use is discouraged, as it takes away vital resources for groundwater reclamation projects.
3) Cape Town’s daily water usage target has dropped to 450 million litres a day.
4) Day zero is now ‘likely’ to happen, scheduled for 16 April 2018.
5) Over 200 water collection points will be set up in the municipality in preparation for the taps being shut off. Residents will have to queue up to receive an allocation of 25 litres of water per person, per day.
6) No filling up of any pools whatsoever. That includes portable (inflatable) ones.
7) Washing cars with municipal drinking water is strictly forbidden. Greywater and collected rainwater are the only sources allowed.
8) Heavy water consumers will face penalties. Households using more than 6,000 litres a month can expect to face punitive measures.
9) The target of 50 litres per day, per person will be in effect for 150 days from February 01 onwards. This will be reassessed on 27 June 2018, when potential restrictions could be lifted.
What do we do now?
Before we are compelled to pay the price for an invaluable resource that comes to us without a price, it’s critical for us to change the way we use it. The use be individual use, corporate use or community use. The most important and critical task is to make sure the problem is better understood worldwide. In areas where aquifers are drying up and rainwater is increasingly unpredictable, innovation is needed and openness to accept it too.
