Resources
Water Scarcity Issues
"Oceans cover two-thirds of the planet’s surface and account for ninety-seven percent of its water; unfortunately it’s saltwater--unfit for human use. Approximately two percent of the available water is locked in polar ice sheets and glaciers. That means that life must be sustained with less than one percent of the world’s water."
Dr. James R. Leutze, "Troubled Waters: The Illusion of Abundance"
Introduction
Water scarcity issues face every living thing on the planet, whether it’s due to overuse, overdevelopment, water quality or the lack of water altogether. What are the main reasons for water scarcity? One is population growth and another is the disparity of its distribution globally. In addition, there is a perception that water is an infinite resource, but the truth is, water is finite. In this section, we define some of the issues and provide an excerpt from an interview about them. However, there is much more to learn within all the interview transcripts. Each expert we interviewed discusses the issues of water scarcity, why the issues exist and look at some of the trouble areas. (We invite you to read the interview section for an overview of what each expert had to say.) Also included are links to articles, organizations and other information pertaining to each issue. Please check with your local library or search the World Wide Web for more information on the issues of water scarcity worldwide and in your neighborhood.
Population Growth
Experts claim that by the year 2025, there will be over 8 billion people on the planet. The more people, the more water consumed and is necessary to provide for the needs of the growing population. This is a concern everywhere, globally, nationally and in every state. As population increases, challenges will follow.
Paul Simon, Former Illinois State Senator, currently a Professor at the Southern Illinois University:
“The reality is the more people you have the more water is consumed, so we have to recognize that we are going to have to do some things. I am talking about we, the United States; we are going to have to do some things that are politically sensitive.”
Paul Simon Interview (Microsoft Word document)
Sandra Postel, Director, Global Water Policy Project
“…we’re over tapping the water that’s available from nature. Water is renewable but it’s finite, which means that as populations grow and as economies grow we start to run into limits as to how much more we can take. Many parts of the world now are at that limit, where their demands are simply at or beyond the available supply of water…Water isn’t distributed evenly around the continents…As you begin to max out on your supply; the name of the game becomes redistributing and reallocating the water that you already have. Cities and farmers are now in competition for the same water.”
Sandra Postel Interview (Microsoft Word document)
World
Population Awareness
http://www.overpopulation.org/
Lovearth
Network
http://www.overpopulation.net/
Competition for Water
Freshwater demands for municipal, agricultural, industrial, recreational, household and individual uses are increasing, especially as population grows. Freshwater is vital for all life. It is a renewable, but finite. Regardless of its use, we all compete for the same resources. Freshwater resources have been tapped in a number of ways: for agriculture, energy generation, industry and transport, all of which have enabled many countries to advance economically.
Nearly three quarters of the available water on the planet is used in agriculture to grow the food necessary to feed the world’s population. However, other uses such as industry and energy production are adding to the depletion of this valuable resource. Overuse also affects the other ecosystems that depend so much on water.
The challenge faced by humanity is one of balance, equity and sustainability: how to meet present-day competing demands for freshwater, with the need to maintain healthy ecosystems that will safeguard freshwater resources and biodiversity for the future.
Sandra Postel, Director, Global Water Policy Project:
"The problem is that in areas that are now heavily irrigated, we see all kinds of signs that irrigation is not sustainable. Farmers are over-pumping groundwater in order to grow the crops that they’re trying to grow. Rivers are being over tapped; in large part to irrigate land. If you look at the water supply globally, seventy percent of everything we’re using is for irrigated agriculture, so it consumes the lion’s share of the water that we’re using."
Sandra Postel Interview (Microsoft Word document)
Urban Needs Compared To Rural Needs
As cities grow, so do their water needs, and often times, their demand outweighs their supply. When this happens, cities find it necessary to seek out new or alternate water sources. This often means they turn to rural areas and their water supply to solve their problems. This can resolve the supply issues for the cities in need. Unfortunately, rural areas are where many aquifers, recreation areas, fish, and wildlife habitats are found. Therefore, many rural areas see it as exploitation of their valuable resources, and a potential future supply problem of their own.
There are some rural communities however, who have found a way to take advantage of this situation. In fact, selling water has become a new source of income for many small towns. This, along with the urban needs, causes a drain on rural water supplies, both in quality and quantity.
Rural communities have other issues as well. Due to the
lack of available funding, some rural areas and small towns are unable to update
or build new water facilities. With businesses and industries on the decline
in rural areas, their tax base is reduced, and this affects their ability to
meet these needs. The smaller the population, the more expensive it is to build
a water distribution or treatment network. According to the Economic Research
Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “Rural America comprises
2,052 counties, contains 75 percent of the Nation's land, and is home to 17
percent (49 million) of the U.S. population based on the 2003 Federal definitions
of nonmetropolitan counties.”
Substandard water quality is an issue throughout the entire world. In some countries, it is a dire and often fatal problem. However, it is a concern even in the United States, where small communities cannot afford to build new facilities to meet water quality standards.
Water quality is a term used to describe the chemical, physical and biological characteristics of water, usually in respect to its suitability for a particular purpose, in most cases its human needs.
Sandra Postel, Director, Global Water Policy Project
“More than a billion people in the world still don’t have access to safe drinking water. This is not because the water is not there. It’s not a water scarcity problem; it’s because they’re poor and access to water has not been provided for them. More than three billion people, mostly children, are still dying each year because they don’t have access; their families don’t have access to a safe drinking water supply.
Water quality and water quantity are sort of two sides of the same coin. Many developing countries that have experienced rapid industrial growth have not had commensurate investments in pollution control in monitoring and controlling the pollution coming out of their factories and their municipal facilities and so on. From Eastern Europe, to Southeast Asia, Thailand, Indonesia, you have increased economic growth but deterioration of water quality because of the failure to invest in pollution control. Many rivers have dramatically declined in their quality of water and groundwater supplies as well.”
Sandra Postel Interview (Microsoft Word document)
Paul Simon, Former Illinois State Senator, currently a Professor at the Southern Illinois University:
“The United Nations says 14 thousand people die a day because of poor quality water; easily preventable deaths. Ninety-five hundred of them are children. At Columbine High School, we had a tragedy that stunned everyone in the United States, probably in other countries too. But everyday 630 times that many children die needlessly because of poor quality water. Deaths we could prevent and we hardly pay attention to.”
Paul Simon Interview (Microsoft Word document)
Water Quality
Association
http://www.wqa.org/
“Water
Programs”, Virginia Department of Environmental Quality,
http://www.deq.state.va.us/water/
Water
and Health Organization
http://www.waterandhealth.org/
North
Carolina Coastal Federation
http://www.nccoast.org/
Clean
Water For North Carolina Organization
http://www.cwfnc.org/
Water Wars / Competition for Water and Outside Influences
Battles over water are already taking place in some areas of the world. This usually happens when two areas share the same water system (i.e.: rivers) and in particular, where water resources are increasingly scarce. Israel and Palestine, as well as Ethiopia and Egypt are a few examples.
Water battles also happen in the United States, although it is usually with words or in courts, such as the case between Virginia and North Carolina, in the 15 year fight over the Lake Gaston pipeline.
Paul Simon, Former Illinois State Senator, currently a Professor at the Southern Illinois University:
“The greatest resource shortage in the world is not going to be oil, but water and regional conflicts are likely to take place over water.
We are facing what is an almost unbelievable kind of crisis, if we don’t plan, if we don’t move more aggressively than we are now moving. Because people can live for a reasonably long period of time with a limited amount of food, water is vital. A few days without water, you die and nations are going to go to war over water.
…Ethiopia and Egypt are on a collision course unless we are able to develop desalinated water from the Mediterranean. Otherwise, those two countries are headed toward war. There is no question about it…. The Middle East is a very graphic example of the kind of problem we face… In Amman, Jordan, a city of one million people, you turn the tap on one day a week and it is going to get worse. Israel’s water supply is gradually declining and as the aquifer, the underground water supply, for Israel declines you get more saline penetration; you have poor quality water.”
Paul Simon Interview (Microsoft Word document)
Sandra Postel, Director, Global Water Policy Project
“Pakistan for example is one of the countries where we’ve begun to see tensions arise between farmers, and cities over water… Water is very much more now on the international radar screen than it was even five or ten years ago. It’s also on the radar screen of our intelligence community in a way that it wasn’t ten years ago. There is increasing recognition in the foreign policy establishment that water scarcity can potentially be destabilizing regionally and within nations as well. I think it’s being taking much more seriously now as an issue of regional peace and security in a very broad sense than it was even ten years ago.”
Sandra Postel Interview (Microsoft Word document)
“Water
Wars of the Near Future” by Marq de Villiers
http://www.itt.com/waterbook/Wars.asp
Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit by Vandana
Shiva
Between the Lines Press, ISBN 0-89608-650-X
Water
Wars Network
http://water-wars.net/ww.php
Florida’s
Water Wars
http://www.geocities.com/flwaterwars/
Population growth, uneven distribution and overuse of water are some basic causes of water scarcity.
Colonel Ray Alexander, Wilmington District Engineer and Commander of the U.S. Corps of Engineers:
“We have taken a clean, abundant supply of ground water for granted and we now have to recognize that it’s a precious resource that could become critically scarce. What’s the Corps doing in response to that? We’re now shifting to a more holistic water basin wide approach as we assess water resource needs, with the goal being as we look at each one of our water basins and our projects associated with each. We are looking at the best possible way to manage the reservoirs we have, to maximize the environmental benefits and minimize potential for undesirable effects downstream in the river basin.”
Colonel Ray Alexander Interview (Microsoft Word document)
Jean Crews-Klein VP of Business Development and Natural Resources, North Carolina Economic Development Center Inc.:
“The question of whether there is lots of water out there and have we accessed it appropriately is one that I think as a state going forward we’ve got to grapple with…there are geographic areas of impact based on certain conditions, over-pumping of the aquifer system, over-pumping of wells individually. There is a belief among certain folks that there is plenty of water in aquifer systems that underlie the Central Coastal Plain. There are also communities a plenty that rely on run of river; there are several rivers that traverse that 15 county area, so to the eye there might appear to be lots of water. People turn on their kitchen faucet and water comes out. What we find is most folks aren’t concerned with where it comes from, they’re concern is simply that it’s there. When you combine those two things; a lack of awareness or the need to become more aware of where our water comes from, with the perception that there is a lot of water out there. Then stand that up against the reality that surface water, as we’re experiencing right now, can be depleted in a matter of months; given a good drought. Aquifers can be depleted in a matter of years given over-pumping.”
Jean Crews-Klein Interview (Microsoft Word document)
Dr. David Moreau, Professor, Environmental Quality Assessment and Water Resources, UNC- Chapel Hill:
“The water situation globally is one of matching population with availability. If you look at a map of the population distribution of the globe and look over the rainfall, the amount of rainfall patterns in the world, you will find them to almost coincide. There is enormous variability in the amount of water available per capita. In the Middle Eastern countries, North African countries, you’ve got a very, very, small amount of water available per capita. Say in the order of 100 cubic meters per year per person. In the United States, you have almost ten thousand cubic meters per year per person. While in Canada, you have almost 100 thousand cubic meters per person per year. So there’s an enormous variability…Clearly, you have some places that are in an extreme drought and cause enormous damage in very localized areas. So these are very, very general figures but as you would guess the Middle East and North Africa particularly have very water limited areas.”
David H. Moreau Interview (Microsoft Word document)
“Water
Scarcity” by Len Abrams
http://www.thewaterpage.com/drought_water_scarcity.htm
Overuse and Over Tappping Water Resources
Beneath the feet of the world’s population is Mother
Nature’s water bank - aquifers. Precipitation (rain) and surface water
make deposits into these aquifers. However, because the world’s demand
for water continues to increase, more water is being withdrawn than is being
deposited. This imbalance leads to depletion, in effect like an overdraft, in
our bank account. In fact, many of the world’s aquifers are already at
their limit or have been stretched beyond it. When the sustainable yield of
the aquifer has been surpassed, the end result is that the water table begins
to fall.
When the aquifer is depleted, the rate of pumping has to be reduced to the rate
of recharge. However we are now exceeding the natural rate of recharge in many
areas around the world.
Aquifer depletion can also be compared to mining – once a mine is exhausted, it is no longer feasible to make withdrawals, as the resource is no longer available. Another problem with aquifer depletion is that it allows saltwater to intrude into the aquifer where it was not previously prevalent, as well as affecting the quality and level of reservoirs.
John H. Morris, Director, Division of Water Resources, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources:
“What we have discovered over a period of decades is that we’ve taken out more water than it can recharge, so it’s like having a big bank account and a small income, one day your banker calls and says: “I’m sorry son but your going to be broke next week”. Now the solution to that is that we have to gradually reduce the amount of water we’re withdrawing from those aquifers and that is what the permit system does. The other equally important part of the solution is that these communities need to develop other water sources that will be sustainable for their future needs.”
John N. Morris Interview (Microsoft Word document)
Deforestation / Over-Development
This involves the progressive destruction or degradation of forests and vegetation cover, mainly in urban areas where they are experiencing growth. Overgrazing of rangelands, large-scale cutting of forests and woodlands, drought, wildfires and controlled burning of extensive areas all serve to degrade the land cover, as well as disturb groundwater levels in the area. The climatic impacts of this destruction leads to decreased precipitation, which in turn leads to less vegetation cover, increased atmospheric dust loading, which could lead to decreased monsoon rainfall and greater wind erosion and/or atmospheric pollution.
Bob Emory, Environmental Manager, Weyerhaeuser’s Southern Timberlands Operation agrees that deforestation and development can be detrimental, if not managed properly:
“Some of the impacts of the development, because obviously in a developed setting you’re going to get more surface water runoff, but the more trees that you have, helps to mitigate that surface water runoff. It’s not to the same degree as in a forest, but to a degree, those trees perform a similar function to the ones in the forest. They intercept some of the rainfall as it falls, they slow down the velocity of the rains as it falls and those tree roots once again help with underground storage, to slow down the movement of water to the stream. Therefore, trees play or can play a very important role in mitigating the water quality impacts of development and making developments more attractive and better places to live and shop.
Forests are the source of the best water quality that we have in any of our watersheds. And if you think about it, forests are also the source of our wildlife habitat they take carbon dioxide and make oxygen, they are the source of raw materials for over 5,000 forest products we use everyday so trees depend on water, and to a large degree we depend on trees for our water.
In any given river basin or waterbed, the best water quality comes from the forest. This is true whether it’s a national park where basically nothing is going on, or whether it’s a very heavily managed forest.”
Bob Emory Interview (Microsoft Word document)
Saltwater intrusion happens when the rate of pumping groundwater is high enough to cause seawater to invade freshwater aquifers, reservoirs, rivers and streams. This problem is occurring most often in coastal areas. This intrusion may also occur as the result of a natural process like a storm surge from a hurricane. More often, however, saltwater intrusion results from human activities: over-pumping aquifers and reservoirs, dredging and widening waterways, and rapid growth in population.
Dr. Courtney Hackney, Professor, Biological Sciences, UNCW:
“Saltwater intrusion is a phenomenon where the more saline saltwater rides underneath the river water that flows on the surface where the ocean meets the river. This is a fairly natural phenomenon, that’s correct, and, of course, we have tides interacting here too. So this whole thing moves back and forth with the tides, but as humans widen and develop estuaries and sea levels come up, we have more and more saltwater getting into the estuaries. Now it doesn’t just stay on the bottom, it, of course, mixes with the water and gets to the surface. The more salt that gets into the estuary, the more it becomes part of the ocean and less river like. From the human standpoint, in terms of using water, once it gets any salt in it all, then we don’t consider it potable anymore and it’s not used for drinking, irrigation or most other things that we think of freshwater being used for.”
Dr. Courtney Hackney Interview (Microsoft Word document)
Sandra Postel, Director, Global Water Policy Project:
“This is a very serious problem because once you contaminate a freshwater aquifer with saltwater, it is very difficult to get that salt back out; it’s very expensive to do desalination of that aquifer water to get the salt out. Because it’s an expensive solution, it’s a much better practice to try to not over pump those coastal aquifers to begin with.”
Sandra Postel Interview (Microsoft Word document)
Transboundary Issues, Upstream / Downstream and
Interbasin Transfers
Countries, states and cities share water resources throughout the world. For instance, a river that originates in one country (city, state) often flows through another or others. In fact, almost 40 percent of the world’s population lives in a country that shares a river basin with 1 or more countries. This causes transboundary issues to emerge, with everyone claiming ownership to the same water.
Transboundary issues are especially difficult for those on the downstream side of a river. This is because those who are upstream have the first opportunity to use the water. Unless the upstream users act in cooperation with the needs of those downstream, the water’s quantity and quality can be greatly depleted by the time it arrives downstream. This can lead to downstream users not having enough fresh water to meet their needs.
Twenty-two countries around the world are heavily dependent upon the flow of water originating in other upstream nations for a large part of their supply. States and cities also experience these challenges.
Cooperative management of these shared watercourses must be a priority. Without it, regional benefits falter, water-related disasters grow, and tensions increase leading to, in some cases, fighting.
Another transboundary issue occurring throughout the world is interbasin transfer. This is when water is taken from one basin, but discharged into a different one. This usually occurs when an area in need takes water from an area that has an abundant supply. The real issue arises because the water is not returned into the source basin.
North Carolina Governor Mike Easley:
“…local governments are responsible for their water systems. But it’s the state who has to give them the context. That is, what can you expect coming downstream, what’s going to be draining off before it gets to you? Then what are the expectations of what that river basin is going to be like as it gets beyond you; working its way downstream? One area can’t take all of the water and say, well, we’re safe here; we don’t have to worry about them out there. It affects the entire economy of the state.”
Governor Michael F. Easley Interview (Microsoft Word document)
Colonel Ray Alexander, Wilmington District Engineer and Commander of the U.S. Corps of Engineers:
“In its simplest form, interbasin transfer, from one community to another, from one water basin to another would certainly allow a resource to be tapped into at a time of need. That has pros and cons associated with it. While it may provide the resource at a needed time, how much longer in the future will that it available? What will be the impact on the water basin being tapped in to, what are the environmental effects, the economic impact etc? We are really just at the beginning of exploring the issues associated with that, but interbasin transfer will be an issue that is being looked into.”
Colonel Ray Alexander Interview (Microsoft Word document)
“Water
Issues”, Peace Group Plan,
http://www.peaceplangroup.assets.org.uk/water.htm
National
Ground Water Association
http://www.ngwa.org/
Unpredictable Weather Patterns
Aside from all the human influences on water, we also have Mother Nature to contend with. Floods, droughts, severe snowfalls or changes in temperature all have an impact on our natural resources.
Although it involves an excess of water, flooding can be just as devastating as a drought. It destroys crops and livestock, contaminates wells and other sources of water.
Drought is also debilitating. When there’s not enough water, it impacts agriculture, cities, industry, recreation and individuals, and it has a negative impact on the economy. According to Webster’s dictionary, a drought is defined as:
1: a period of dryness especially when prolonged that causes extensive damage to
crops or prevents their successful growth
2: a prolonged or chronic shortage or lack of something expected or desired
Ryan Boyles, Associate State Climatologist, State Climate Office of North Carolina:
“Drought is hard to define because it affects such a wide range of communities. An example based on available water supply; one community is in very bad drought conditions, the next community over, if it has a better water supply is not in drought at all. Drought is based on its impacts as well as just lack of rainfall... it’s tough to measure its impacts on a very local scale. Problems we have defining it is the specific impacts and then trying to aggregate those together to have a more broad reading definition that will make sense to everyone.
There are three areas that drought impacts. The first is economics such as agriculture. If there’s not enough water to make the crops grow, the crops fail. That’s an economic impact. The second is energy production. Water is used to make energy for all our households. Those are two big areas where drought affects us. There are many other examples. Environmental impacts, water quality, air quality is affected by drought. The local ecology of a community is affected by drought. Finally, you have social impacts, quality of life. If there’s not enough water for the general community, obviously the quality of life is dramatically affected. Also part of that quality of life is whether you have to fight for the water. The political conflicts and social conflicts over that water supply have an effect on the quality of life.”
Ryan Boyles Interview (Microsoft Word document)
Dr. David Moreau, Professor, Environmental Quality Assessment and Water Resources, UNC- Chapel Hill:
“The ability to withstand drought has certainly decreased with increased population. You have increased demand for food and drought failures, drought causing agricultural losses are clearly less tolerable as the population grows. As industrialization grows, the average per capita use in the United States for all purposes is something like 1,800 cubic meters per year. The countries of the Middle East and North Africa have less then 100 cubic meters per year availability. So they have almost 1/20th the availability of what we actually use.”
David H. Moreau Interview (Microsoft Word document)
North Carolina Governor Mike Easley:
“Fortunately, at least the farmers knew that the drought was here and they gave up on the crops that take a lot of water; like corn and took that and put it on the money making crops, like tobacco, so they’d still have some. However, at the same time, we lost livestock, because the pastures weren’t giving us a lot of yield. We had to bring in hay to seventy-three different counties. The other thing that people forget is the economic loss for business, not only nurseries and landscaping businesses; those things associated with water in that regard, but also our manufacturing businesses. So many of those that require water that’s not recycled had to cut back on the hours of their production. Then even if you weren’t in the Central Coastal Plain, Piedmont or down on the coast, where they have plenty of water or at least much more, the lack of water upstream was causing the saltwater to back up.”
Governor Michael F. Easley Interview (Microsoft Word document)
For information on drought, floods, the latest stages and flows, please visit the US Army Corps of Engineers web site for your area. The Wilmington District, Water Management Unit- Coastal, Hydrology and Hydraulics Section web site is: http://epec1.saw.usace.army.mil/index.htm
Drought Information
Center of NOAA
http://www.drought.noaa.gov/
Drought
Information, US Department of Agriculture
http://drought.fsa.usda.gov/
South
Carolina Drought Information Center
http://www.dnr.state.sc.us/climate/sco/drought.html
North
Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council
http://www.dwr.ehnr.state.nc.us/drought/
US
Coast Guard, North Carolina Drought Information
http://nc.water.usgs.gov/drought/
How Do We Value Water
Many people believe that water is infinite. At the very least, many think it is plentiful and there is no real issue of “running out of it”. However, with population growth and massive competition for water, the risk of water scarcity is a problem that affects us all. It already exists in many places in the world. However, because of our conscious and subconscious beliefs about water quantity, we often don’t conserve and manage water as we should.
Many people also feel that water is our inherent right. Perhaps this is because in the United States, water is relatively cheap. Do you know the average price of water in the United States is about $1.30 for 1,000 gallons? At that price, a gallon of water costs less than one penny.
As more and more areas of the world experience water shortages, many communities are starting to look at an increase in the rate we pay for water. This is due to many factors: construction expenses, changes to water quality monitoring requirements, and the increasing cost to purify water to meet our drinking needs. These costs will eventually be passed on to the consumers. Rural areas may be hardest hit, as there are less people and industry to spread the cost around.
Sandra Postel, Director, Global Water Policy Project:
“Increasingly, we are seeing cities and industries that can pay more for that water. The economic value is higher, so water tends to move out of agriculture and over to cities and industries. But how that reallocation happens varies from place to place and it can be quite contentious and quite competitive.”
Sandra Postel Interview (Microsoft Word document)
John H. Morris, Director, Division of Water Resources, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources:
“One thing that I have learned more vividly recently is how sensitive local governments are to the issue of water rates. Everybody gets a water bill and they know what it costs; they don’t want to see it go up. Many low-income and retired people are hard pressed to pay their water bills and their other necessary expenditures. As we develop new water sources, we will be buying land at what it costs in 2002 not 1950. The cost of energy and electricity is much higher, as well as the cost of chemicals for water treatment. It’s just inevitable that water will cost more.”
John N. Morris Interview (Microsoft Word document)