By: Jesica Cortez
Although
it may seem like water is endless and seems to be around forever, that’s not
the case. Blue water scarcity is becoming a threat. The availability of
freshwater is not keeping up with the demand, and the demand is rising due to
factors including population growth, expansion of irrigated agriculture, etc.
In the past, studies were made to determine scarcity however, they didn’t show
the actual extent. For example, a study was conducted where they only tested
levels in river basins but failed to capture the spatial variation within
basins which would make scarcity levels inaccurate. Blue water scarcity is low
if the blue water footprint doesn’t exceed the availability (WS < 1.0),
moderate if within 1.0 < WS < 1.5, significant if 1.5 > WS > 2.0
and severe if WS > 2.0.
Fig. 1 The number of months per
year in which blue water scarcity exceeds 1.0 at 30 × 30 arc min resolution.
It
was found that about 71% of the global population lives with moderate to severe
water scarcity at least 1 month of the year and 66% lives with severe water
scarcity. It’s interesting that at least two-thirds of the world experience severe
water scarcity. These findings help us advance environmental sustainability by
attaining accurate levels of water scarcity. A way to respond to the levels of
water scarcity could mean taking action such as raising productivity in
rain-fed agriculture. However, this might be difficult because not everyone
will be willing to compromise if it will effect the growth rate since relying
on rain is unpredictable and not always possible in certain areas of the world.
References
Mekonnen M.M. and A.Y. Hoekstra, 2016. Four billion people
facing severe water scarcity. Sci. Adv. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1500323
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