Every hydrology textbook
contains the basic estimates of global water sources. Freshwater (inclusive of
fresh groundwater, water in ice caps and glaciers, and rivers and lakes) constitutes
only 3% of the total water resources. While in absolute terms the fresh water
available in earth is around 35million cubic kilometers, accessible fresh water
for human consumption is around 11 million cubic kms.
The rest is water in the
ocean.
Water
stress and water scarcity will become more common in the next few decades.
Water stress occurs when water supplies drop below 1,700 cubic metres per
person, per year. Water scarcity is defined as less than 1,000 cubic metres per
person, per year and absolute scarcity is defined as less than 500 cubic
metres.
There is
no more water on earth now than there was 2,000 years ago, when the
Population
was less than 3 percent of its current size. 
The world
is adding around 75million to the population every year which has a direct
impact on water and energy demand. Though the rate of growth of population may
not be a concern at this point of time, still the absolute numbers on the
increment is alarmingly dangerous. India and China the two Asian giants alone
will contribute around 35% of the incremental world population every year.
Humans
cannot live without energy. The demand supply gap of energy continues to be
widening, causing stress on the global economic stability. All types of energy sources
consumes large amount of water as a part of power generation.
As the
world’s population grows, demand grows with it, and no two demands are more
pressing than those for fresh water and energy. If nothing changes, an increase
in energy production will continue to involve an increase in water consumption
and an increase in water collection and distribution will involve an increase
in energy use.
Water is
a renewable resource. The recycling of water is a natural system. All the water
that we consume has to come back into the global system through natural
process, which means we should not have any water scarcity by law of nature.
We have
three problems:
- Uneven distribution of fresh water, making it expensive for tapping
- Lack of system to preserve rain water, resulting in ocean absorption
- Increasing demand for water consumption from energy resources
The continuous
onslaught on the nature through global warming is making the natural recycling
system becoming dysfunctional slowly.
Mankind
is facing two important stress factors:
- - Ever Increasing Water-Energy Interdependence for sourcing
- - Ever Increasing Nature-Human Conflict in the name of development
The
combination of constraints in accessing fresh water and the stress the mankind is
building on the planet are causing the mess on water situation across the
globe.
Instead of
coordinating with the nature on sustenance, we are challenging the same through
our intelligence in the name of science and technology.
Instead
of preserving the fresh water and optimizing its utilization we have moved to
Ocean for solution. Desalination has been the answer for the nature’s fury though
desalination has been an expensive proposition and also energy dependent.
By this
we are again aggravating the global warming.
Desalination remains an energy-hungry industry
relying almost entirely on fossil fuels. Consequently, only rich nations or
countries with abundant and cheap domestic energy supplies have been able to
effectively deploy the technology. To date, that list includes Saudi Arabia
(the world leader in desalination by volume), the United Arab Emirates, the United States,
Australia, Israel, and increasingly, China
and India.
Greening
the Water for Sustenance:
We have a
responsibility to our future generation. The responsiveness on Water and Energy
Security comes from the way we align ourselves to the nature for
sustainability.
Water
harvesting through rivers, ponds and lakes should be mandated globally across Cities,
Towns and Villages depending upon the density of Population
Every
constructed building should have rain water harvesting system as part of the
building plan
Every
Building should have a compulsory Water Recycling plant to treat waste water
and Sewage water for reuse
Every
building across the world should move towards solar and LED lighting solutions progressively
but within a time frame of 5 -10 years depending upon the affordability.
Nations
should encourage people to invest on domestic Water and Energy Security and incentivize,
through cut on future taxes or deferred social benefits apart from easy capital
support to build infrastructure.
Conventional
energy based desalination should give way to solar powered desalination for
environmental sustainability.
There is
a collective responsibility on the part of People and the State to get away
from the precarious situation or else water can become proximity cause for the
next war across the world.
T Margabandhu
