Threat - 2
Global Water Scarcity
Sinking Water Table and Diminishing Rainfall
Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.
- W.H. Auden
Dawn of a Thirsty Century
In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference. By 2015, according to estimates from the United Nations and the United States government, at least 40 percent of the world's population, or about three billion people, will live in countries where it is difficult or impossible to get enough water to satisfy basic needs.
Water covers about two-thirds of the Earth's surface, admittedly. But most of it is too salty to use. Only 2.5% of the world's water is not salty, and two-thirds of that is locked up in the icecaps and glaciers. Of what is left, about 20% is in remote areas, and much of the rest arrives at the wrong time and place, as monsoons and floods. Humans have availability of less than 0.08% of all the Earth's water. Yet over the next two decades our use is estimated to increase by about 40%.
In 1999 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported that 200 scientists in 50 countries had identified water shortage as one of the two most worrying problems for the new millennium (the other was global warming).
Water covers about two-thirds of the Earth's surface, admittedly. But most of it is too salty to use. Only 2.5% of the world's water is not salty, and two-thirds of that is locked up in the icecaps and glaciers. Of what is left, about 20% is in remote areas, and much of the rest arrives at the wrong time and place, as monsoons and floods. Humans have availability of less than 0.08% of all the Earth's water. Yet over the next two decades our use is estimated to increase by about 40%.
In 1999 the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reported that 200 scientists in 50 countries had identified water shortage as one of the two most worrying problems for the new millennium (the other was global warming).
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“That time is coming. It is predicted in the Srimad-Bhagavatam that anavrsti and kara-piditah. People gradually being godless, they will be suffering from these three principles. There will be no more rainfall. Therefore last time when I was in Europe -- I do not know what has happened now -- there was scarcity of rain, and England was making plan to import water. So this is scientist's program. There is enough water in the sea, but they cannot use it. So that is hand of God. Unless God helps, Krsna helps, mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram... [Bg. 9.10]. The vast ocean, although the water is there, you cannot use one drop. You are so controlled.” |
Water Is Life and Water Is Death
The direst, direct effects of water scarcity will undoubtedly be on health. The presence of water can be a bane as well as a benefit.
Waterborne diseases and the absence of sanitary domestic water are one of the leading causes of death worldwide. For children under age five, waterborne diseases are the leading cause of death. At any given time, half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from waterborne diseases. According to the World Bank, 88 percent of all diseases are caused by unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Year 2025 forecasts state that two thirds of the world population will be without safe drinking water and basic sanitation services.
Waterborne illnesses, such as gastric infections leading to diarrhea, are caused by drinking contaminated water; vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and schistosomiasis, are passed on by the mosquitoes and small snails that use water to breed. Millions contract such diseases.
Water is one of the most basic of all needs -- we cannot live for more than a few days without it. And yet, most people take water for granted. We waste water needlessly and don't realize that clean water is a very limited resource. More than 1 billion people around the world have no access to safe, clean drinking water, and over 2.5 billion do not have adequate sanitation service. Over 4 million people die each year because of unsafe water, 10 times the number killed in wars around the globe - and most of them are children. In fact a child dies every eight seconds from drinking contaminated water, and the sanitation trend is getting sharply worse, mostly because of the worldwide drift of the rural peasantry to urban slums.
For many of us, water simply flows from a faucet, and we think little about it beyond this point of contact. We have lost a sense of respect for the river, for the complex workings of a wetland, for the intricate web of life that water supports. Children of a culture born in a water-rich environment, many of us have never really learned how important water is to us and how the destruction of aquatic ecosystem health, and the increasing water scarcity, are some of the most pressing environmental problems facing humankind. Water is being depleted many, many times faster than nature can replenish it.
Waterborne diseases and the absence of sanitary domestic water are one of the leading causes of death worldwide. For children under age five, waterborne diseases are the leading cause of death. At any given time, half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from waterborne diseases. According to the World Bank, 88 percent of all diseases are caused by unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene. Year 2025 forecasts state that two thirds of the world population will be without safe drinking water and basic sanitation services.
Waterborne illnesses, such as gastric infections leading to diarrhea, are caused by drinking contaminated water; vector-borne diseases, such as malaria and schistosomiasis, are passed on by the mosquitoes and small snails that use water to breed. Millions contract such diseases.
Water is one of the most basic of all needs -- we cannot live for more than a few days without it. And yet, most people take water for granted. We waste water needlessly and don't realize that clean water is a very limited resource. More than 1 billion people around the world have no access to safe, clean drinking water, and over 2.5 billion do not have adequate sanitation service. Over 4 million people die each year because of unsafe water, 10 times the number killed in wars around the globe - and most of them are children. In fact a child dies every eight seconds from drinking contaminated water, and the sanitation trend is getting sharply worse, mostly because of the worldwide drift of the rural peasantry to urban slums.
For many of us, water simply flows from a faucet, and we think little about it beyond this point of contact. We have lost a sense of respect for the river, for the complex workings of a wetland, for the intricate web of life that water supports. Children of a culture born in a water-rich environment, many of us have never really learned how important water is to us and how the destruction of aquatic ecosystem health, and the increasing water scarcity, are some of the most pressing environmental problems facing humankind. Water is being depleted many, many times faster than nature can replenish it.
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"Of all the social and natural crises we humans face, the water crisis is the one that lies at the heart of our survival and that of our planet Earth." |
Water Crisis Closing In On Agriculture
It takes 1,000 tons of water to produce 1 ton of grain. As water becomes scarce and countries are forced to divert irrigation water to cities and industry, they will import more grain. As they do so, water scarcity will be transmitted across national borders via the grain trade. Aquifer depletion is a largely invisible threat, but that does not make it any less real. Water deficits are already spurring heavy grain imports in numerous smaller countries, may soon do the same in larger countries, such as China or India. The water tables are falling in scores of countries (including Northern China, the US, and India) due to widespread overpumping using powerful diesel and electric pumps. Other countries affected include Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. This will eventually lead to water scarcity and cutbacks in grain harvest. Even with the overpumping of its aquifers, China is developing a grain deficit. When this happens, it will almost certainly drive grain prices upward. Most of the 3 billion people projected to be added worldwide by mid-century will be born in countries already experiencing water shortages. After China and India, there is a second tier of smaller countries with large water deficits — Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Mexico, and Pakistan. Four of these already import a large share of their grain. Only Pakistan remains largely self-sufficient. But it will also likely soon turn to the world market for grain.
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Srimad-Bhagavatam instructs us solely on this subject from the very beginning to the end. Human life is simply meant for self-realization. The civilization which aims at this utmost perfection never indulges in creating unwanted things, and such a perfect civilization prepares men only to accept the bare necessities of life or to follow the principle of the best use of a bad bargain. Our material bodies and our lives in that connection are bad bargains because the living entity is actually spirit, and spiritual advancement of the living entity is absolutely necessary. Human life is intended for the realization of this important factor, and one should act accordingly, accepting only the bare necessities of life and depending more on God's gift without diversion of human energy for any other purpose, such as being mad for material enjoyment. The materialistic advancement of civilization is called "the civilization of the demons," which ultimately ends in wars and scarcity. |
Freshwater: Lifeblood of The Planet
Clean water is a necessity that we can no longer take for granted. Each year more people die of water related diseases than any other cause of death on this planet, with a higher rate of suffering and mortality than diabetes, cancer, high cholesterol, or war; or any two combined for that matter. An entire economy is growing around water.
To the naked eye, our oceans are beautiful. But scientists tell us that all of the world's fisheries will collapse by 2040, unless we change how we manage them. Water, like religion and ideology, has the power to move millions of people. Since the very birth of human civilization, people have moved to settle close to it. People move when there is too little of it. People move when there is too much of it. People journey down it. People write, sing and dance about it. People fight over it. And all people, everywhere and every day, need it. We can use our scientific knowledge to improve and beautify the earth, or we can use it to poison the air, corrupt the waters, blacken the face of the country, and harass our souls with loud and discordant noises. "Polluted Water—No Swimming" has become a familiar sign on too many beaches and rivers. A lake that has served many generations of men now can be destroyed by man in less than one generation. Robert F. Kennedy once said "We in Government have begun to recognize the critical work which must be done at all levels—local, State and Federal—in ending the pollution of our waters." Industrial agriculture now accounts for over half of America's water pollution.
To the naked eye, our oceans are beautiful. But scientists tell us that all of the world's fisheries will collapse by 2040, unless we change how we manage them. Water, like religion and ideology, has the power to move millions of people. Since the very birth of human civilization, people have moved to settle close to it. People move when there is too little of it. People move when there is too much of it. People journey down it. People write, sing and dance about it. People fight over it. And all people, everywhere and every day, need it. We can use our scientific knowledge to improve and beautify the earth, or we can use it to poison the air, corrupt the waters, blacken the face of the country, and harass our souls with loud and discordant noises. "Polluted Water—No Swimming" has become a familiar sign on too many beaches and rivers. A lake that has served many generations of men now can be destroyed by man in less than one generation. Robert F. Kennedy once said "We in Government have begun to recognize the critical work which must be done at all levels—local, State and Federal—in ending the pollution of our waters." Industrial agriculture now accounts for over half of America's water pollution.
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As we watch the sun go down, evening after evening, through the smog across the poisoned waters of our native earth, we must ask ourselves seriously whether we really wish some future universal historian on another planet to say about us: "With all their genius and with all their skill, they ran out of foresight and air and food and water and ideas," or, "They went on playing politics until their world collapsed around them." |
If we're to have any hope of satisfying the food and water needs of the world's people in the years ahead, we will need a fundamental shift in how we use and manage water. A nation that fails to plan intelligently for the development and protection of its precious waters will be condemned to wither because of its shortsightedness. The hard lessons of history are clear, written on the deserted sands and ruins of once proud civilizations.
Water Water Everywhere, Nor Any Drop To Drink
The total amount of water available on earth has been estimated at 1.4 billion cubic kilometers, enough to cover the planet with a layer of about 3-km deep. About 97.5% of the earth’s water is in the oceans, which is unfit for human consumption and other use because of its high salt content. As mentioned earlier, only 0.8% of water is available as fresh water in rivers, lakes, and streams, which is suitable for human consumption. What is available, in lakes, rivers, aquifers (ground water) and rainfall runoff, is now increasingly coming under pressure from several directions at once. This highlights the significance of the need to preserve our fresh water resources.
A big difficulty with water is that, at least in the rich West, it is largely taken for granted. After all, it is the most widely-occurring substance, but reality is quite different.
A big difficulty with water is that, at least in the rich West, it is largely taken for granted. After all, it is the most widely-occurring substance, but reality is quite different.
raso 'ham apsu kaunteya
I am the taste of water.
- Krishna (Gita 7.8)
Water Scarcity Is The Biggest Crisis of All - World Water Development Report By UN
Mankind's most serious challenge in the 21st century might not be war or hunger or disease or even the collapse of civic order, a UN report says; it may be the lack of fresh water.
Population growth, pollution and climate change, all accelerating, are likely to combine to produce a drastic decline in water supply in the coming decades, according to the World Water Development Report by UN. And of course that supply is already problematic for up to a third of the world's population.
At present 1.1 billion people lack access to clean water and 2.4 billion lack access to proper sanitation, nearly all of them in the developing countries. Yet the fact that these figures are likely to worsen remorselessly has not been properly grasped by the world community, the report says. "Despite widely available evidence of the crisis, political commitment to reverse these trends has been lacking."
Population growth, pollution and climate change, all accelerating, are likely to combine to produce a drastic decline in water supply in the coming decades, according to the World Water Development Report by UN. And of course that supply is already problematic for up to a third of the world's population.
At present 1.1 billion people lack access to clean water and 2.4 billion lack access to proper sanitation, nearly all of them in the developing countries. Yet the fact that these figures are likely to worsen remorselessly has not been properly grasped by the world community, the report says. "Despite widely available evidence of the crisis, political commitment to reverse these trends has been lacking."
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Commenting on Srila Prabhupada's mood in Mayapur, Bhavananda Goswami said if a water tap on the land was dripping only once every three hours, then Srila Prabhupada would come at exactly the time it dripped, see it, and say, "Just see, Krsna's energy is being wasted." |
Faced with "inertia at the leadership level and a world population not fully aware of the scale of the problem", the global water crisis will reach unprecedented heights in the years ahead, the report says, with growing per capita scarcity in many parts of the developing world. And that means hunger, disease and death.
The report makes an alarming prediction. By the middle of the century, it says that, in the worst case, no fewer than seven billion people in 60 countries may be faced with water scarcity, although if the right policies are followed this may be brought down to two billion people in 48 nations.
The report makes an alarming prediction. By the middle of the century, it says that, in the worst case, no fewer than seven billion people in 60 countries may be faced with water scarcity, although if the right policies are followed this may be brought down to two billion people in 48 nations.
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The trouble with water—and there is trouble with water—is that they're not making any more of it. They're not making any less, mind, but no more either. There is the same amount of water in the planet now as there was in prehistoric times. People, however, they're making more of—many more, far more than is ecologically sensible—and all those people are utterly dependent on water for their lives (humans consist mostly of water), for their livelihoods, their food, and increasingly, their industry. Humans can live for a month without food but will die in less than a week without water. Humans consume water, discard it, poison it, waste it, and restlessly change the hydrological cycles, indifferent to the consequences: too many people, too little water, water in the wrong places and in the wrong amounts. |
The report was intended as an alarm call, launched in advance of the World Water Forum meet which took place in Kyoto, Japan. It was hoped that governments and policy makers would make a new commitment to get to grips with the water problem internationally. That sadly did not happen as the United States and Britain had just invaded Iraq and the world was convulsed by war.
Non-conventional Demands & Pollution
Demand of course, comes not just from the need to drink, the need to wash and the need to deal with human waste, enormous though these are; the really great calls on water supply come from industry in the developed world, and in the developing world, from agriculture. Irrigating crops in hot dry countries accounts for 70 per cent of all the water use in the world.
Pollution, from industry, agriculture and not least, human waste, adds another fierce pressure. About two million tons of waste are dumped every day into rivers, lakes and streams, with one liter of waste water sufficient to pollute about eight liters of fresh water. Reports estimate that across the world there are about 12,000 cubic kilometers of waste water, which is more than the total amount contained in the world's 10 largest river basins at any given moment. Therefore, it suggests, if pollution keeps pace with population growth, the world will in effect lose 18,000 cubic kilometers by 2050 – almost nine times the amount all countries currently use for irrigation.
All that's bad enough. But increasing the stress on water supply still further will be climate change, which UN scientists calculate will probably account for about a fifth of the increase in water scarcity. While rainfall is predicted to get heavier in winter in high latitudes, such as Britain and northern Europe, in many drought-prone countries and even some tropical regions it is predicted to decrease further; and water quality will worsen with rising pollution levels and water temperatures.
Production of biofuels will further deplete the world's water supply.
Pollution, from industry, agriculture and not least, human waste, adds another fierce pressure. About two million tons of waste are dumped every day into rivers, lakes and streams, with one liter of waste water sufficient to pollute about eight liters of fresh water. Reports estimate that across the world there are about 12,000 cubic kilometers of waste water, which is more than the total amount contained in the world's 10 largest river basins at any given moment. Therefore, it suggests, if pollution keeps pace with population growth, the world will in effect lose 18,000 cubic kilometers by 2050 – almost nine times the amount all countries currently use for irrigation.
All that's bad enough. But increasing the stress on water supply still further will be climate change, which UN scientists calculate will probably account for about a fifth of the increase in water scarcity. While rainfall is predicted to get heavier in winter in high latitudes, such as Britain and northern Europe, in many drought-prone countries and even some tropical regions it is predicted to decrease further; and water quality will worsen with rising pollution levels and water temperatures.
Production of biofuels will further deplete the world's water supply.
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Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans. |
Water Under Pressure From Urban Living
Yet another difficulty will be the growing urbanization of the world: at present, 48 per cent of the Earth's population lives in towns and cities; by 2030 this will be 60 per cent. Urban areas often have more readily available water supplies than rural ones; their problem is that they concentrate wastes. Where good waste management is lacking, urban areas are among the world's most life-threatening environments.
Water & Environment - The Double-edged Sword
The world's soaring demand for fresh water is also causing increasing environmental stress; the stream flows of about 60 per cent of the world's largest rivers have been interrupted by dams and, of the creatures associated with inland waters, 24 per cent of mammals and 12 per cent of birds are threatened. About 10 per cent of freshwater fish species have been studied in detail and about a third of these are thought to be threatened.
Water picture is a distinctly gloomy one – of a vital but limited human resource subject to increasingly insatiable demands.
Water picture is a distinctly gloomy one – of a vital but limited human resource subject to increasingly insatiable demands.
You may be great scientist and calculate so much hydrogen and so much oxygen, mixed up, there is water. Now mix up and bring water where there is no rain.
So these so-called scientists, philoso..., all of them are rascals.
-Srila Prabhupada ( Lecture, Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.10.4 -Mayapura, June 19, 1973)
Water - China To California
China
About 300 million Chinese drink unsafe water tainted by chemicals and other contaminants according to a new report from the Chinese government. A leading government official said the greatest non-drought threat to China's water resources, is chemical pollutants and other harmful substances that contaminate drinking supplies for 190 million people.
California
At current rates, California's demand for water will increase by 40 percent over the next 25 years, warns a new study from the Public Policy Institute of California. The nonprofit group projects that California will add fourteen million more people by 2030, each of whom will be using 232 gallons a day. Much of the water will be used for landscaping, especially in the drier interior areas where much of the state's population growth is occurring. About half of all the water used by inland homeowners goes to irrigating yards.
About 300 million Chinese drink unsafe water tainted by chemicals and other contaminants according to a new report from the Chinese government. A leading government official said the greatest non-drought threat to China's water resources, is chemical pollutants and other harmful substances that contaminate drinking supplies for 190 million people.
California
At current rates, California's demand for water will increase by 40 percent over the next 25 years, warns a new study from the Public Policy Institute of California. The nonprofit group projects that California will add fourteen million more people by 2030, each of whom will be using 232 gallons a day. Much of the water will be used for landscaping, especially in the drier interior areas where much of the state's population growth is occurring. About half of all the water used by inland homeowners goes to irrigating yards.
Melting Glaciers
Global Warming is melting glaciers in every region of the world, putting millions of people at risk from floods, droughts and lack of drinking water. Glaciers are ancient rivers of compressed snow that creep through the landscape, shaping the planet's surface. They are the Earth's largest freshwater reservoirs, collectively covering an area the size of South America. Glaciers have been retreating worldwide since around 1850, but in recent decades glaciers have begun melting at rates that cannot be explained by historical trends.
Data from close to 30 reference glaciers in nine mountain ranges indicate that between the years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 the average rate of melting and thinning more than doubled. The findings come from the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), a centre based at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and supported by UNEP.
Data from close to 30 reference glaciers in nine mountain ranges indicate that between the years 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 the average rate of melting and thinning more than doubled. The findings come from the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), a centre based at the University of Zurich in Switzerland and supported by UNEP.
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"I have little need to remind you that water has become one of our major national concerns." |
Another report circulated at a conference on climate change by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kathmandu says that global warming has pushed up the temperature of the Himalayas by up to 0.6 degrees Celsius in the past 30 years.
"It is extremely serious," said Surendra Shrestha, regional director at the United Nations Environment Programme for Asia and the Pacific. "It is going to change fundamentally the way we live. If the temperature continues to rise as it is, there will be no snow and ice in the Himalayas in 50 years."
Thousands of glaciers in the Himalayas are the source of water for nine major Asian rivers whose basins are home to 2.4 billion people from Pakistan to Myanmar, including parts of India and China. As per Andreas Schild, ICIMOD's director general, the disappearance of glaciers would mean a reduction in the mountains' natural water storage capacity.
"It is extremely serious," said Surendra Shrestha, regional director at the United Nations Environment Programme for Asia and the Pacific. "It is going to change fundamentally the way we live. If the temperature continues to rise as it is, there will be no snow and ice in the Himalayas in 50 years."
Thousands of glaciers in the Himalayas are the source of water for nine major Asian rivers whose basins are home to 2.4 billion people from Pakistan to Myanmar, including parts of India and China. As per Andreas Schild, ICIMOD's director general, the disappearance of glaciers would mean a reduction in the mountains' natural water storage capacity.
Tsunami - From Up In The Mountains
Melting glaciers will have an adverse impact on biodiversity, hydropower, industries and agriculture and make Himalayan basin region dangerous to live in. The melting causes lakes to form at the base of glaciers, lakes which can subsequently burst their banks as temperatures continue to rise. This can have devastating effects downstream.
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Now by your talent, you are producing nice food, but producing food, tilling the ground some way or other, by machine or by this way... But there must be rain, and so many other conditions. But time will come when there will be no rain. Then what you will do with your tractor and machine? You'll have to eat the tractor. (laughter) |
In the opinion of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, if there is a small earthquake all that water is going to come down and because of the altitude it will pick up debris and speed... it is like a big bulldozer that wipes everything out. It is a silent tsunami.
Officials estimate that there are more than 3,200 glaciers in Nepal -- 14 of which have lakes which are at risk of bursting. According to Om Bajracharya, a senior Nepali government hydrologist, the Khumbhu glacier in the Everest region frequented by thousands of climbers and trekkers every year, receded by 30 meters between 1978 and 1995.
Officials estimate that there are more than 3,200 glaciers in Nepal -- 14 of which have lakes which are at risk of bursting. According to Om Bajracharya, a senior Nepali government hydrologist, the Khumbhu glacier in the Everest region frequented by thousands of climbers and trekkers every year, receded by 30 meters between 1978 and 1995.
Rivers Might Bid Us Goodbye
According to another UN climate report, the Himalayan glaciers that are the sources of Asia's biggest rivers - Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween and Yellow - could disappear by 2035 as temperatures rise. Approximately 2.4 billion people live in the drainage basin of the Himalayan rivers. India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Myanmar could experience floods followed by droughts in coming decades. In India alone, the Ganges provides water for drinking and farming for more than 500 million people. The west coast of North America, which gets much of its water from glaciers in mountain ranges such as the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada, also would be affected.
A Truly Global Problem: One In Three Faces Water Scarcity
One in three people is enduring one form or another of water scarcity, according to a new report from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI).
The assessment, carried out by 700 experts from around the world over the last five years, was released at World Water Week in Stockholm, a conference exploring the management of global water resources. The scarcity figures were higher than previous estimates.
The assessment, carried out by 700 experts from around the world over the last five years, was released at World Water Week in Stockholm, a conference exploring the management of global water resources. The scarcity figures were higher than previous estimates.
“Water is life's matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water.”
~Albert Szent-Gyorgyi
Desertification - Green Earth Turning Into Sand
Desertification is the degradation of land in arid areas, resulting primarily from human activities and influenced by climatic variations. A major impact of desertification is biodiversity loss and loss of productive capacity. Examples can be cited from various parts of the world. Semi-arid regions of southern California are turning into desert. In Madagascar's central highland plateau, 10% of the entire country has been lost to desertification due to slash and burn agriculture by indigenous peoples. In Africa, if current trends of soil degradation continue, the continent might be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025, according to UNU's Ghana-based Institute for Natural Resources in Africa.
It is a common misconception that droughts by themselves cause desertification. While drought is a contributing factor, the root causes are all related to man's overexploitation of the environment. There is no geological evidence that deserts expanded significantly before the advent of civilization.
Human overpopulation is leading to destruction of tropical wet forests and tropical dry forests, due to widening practices of slash-and-burn and other methods of subsistence farming. A sequel to the deforestation is typically large scale erosion, loss of soil nutrients and sometimes total desertification. Examples of this extreme outcome can be seen on Madagascar's central highland plateau, where about seven percent of the country's total land mass has become barren, sterile land.
It is a common misconception that droughts by themselves cause desertification. While drought is a contributing factor, the root causes are all related to man's overexploitation of the environment. There is no geological evidence that deserts expanded significantly before the advent of civilization.
Human overpopulation is leading to destruction of tropical wet forests and tropical dry forests, due to widening practices of slash-and-burn and other methods of subsistence farming. A sequel to the deforestation is typically large scale erosion, loss of soil nutrients and sometimes total desertification. Examples of this extreme outcome can be seen on Madagascar's central highland plateau, where about seven percent of the country's total land mass has become barren, sterile land.
Marching Deserts And Advancing Oceans - Sandwiching Civilization
Our twenty-first century civilization is being squeezed between advancing deserts and rising seas. Measured by the land area that can support human habitation, the earth is shrinking. Mounting population densities, are now also fueled by the relentless advance of deserts and the rise in sea level.
The newly established trends of expanding deserts and rising seas are both of human origin. The former is primarily the result of overstocking grasslands and overplowing land. Rising seas result from temperature increases set in motion by carbon released from the burning of fossil fuels.
The newly established trends of expanding deserts and rising seas are both of human origin. The former is primarily the result of overstocking grasslands and overplowing land. Rising seas result from temperature increases set in motion by carbon released from the burning of fossil fuels.
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A river is more than an amenity, it is a treasure. |
Gobi Desert Has Marched To Within 150 Miles of Beijing
The heavy losses of territory to advancing deserts in China and Nigeria, the most populous countries in Asia and Africa respectively, illustrate the trends for scores of other countries. China is not only losing productive land to deserts, but it is doing so at an accelerating rate. From 1950 to 1975 China lost an average of 1,560 square kilometers of land to desert each year. By 2000, nearly 3625 square kilometers were going to desert annually.
A U.S. Embassy report entitled “Desert Mergers and Acquisitions” describes satellite images that show two deserts in north-central China expanding and merging to form a single, larger desert overlapping inner Mongolia and Gansu provinces. To the west in Xinjiang Province, two even larger deserts—the Taklimakan and Kumtag—are also heading for a merger. Further east, the Gobi Desert has marched to within 150 miles (241 kilometers) of Beijing, alarming China’s leaders. Chinese scientists report that over the last half-century, some 24,000 villages in northern and western China were abandoned or partly depopulated as they were overrun by drifting sand.
A U.S. Embassy report entitled “Desert Mergers and Acquisitions” describes satellite images that show two deserts in north-central China expanding and merging to form a single, larger desert overlapping inner Mongolia and Gansu provinces. To the west in Xinjiang Province, two even larger deserts—the Taklimakan and Kumtag—are also heading for a merger. Further east, the Gobi Desert has marched to within 150 miles (241 kilometers) of Beijing, alarming China’s leaders. Chinese scientists report that over the last half-century, some 24,000 villages in northern and western China were abandoned or partly depopulated as they were overrun by drifting sand.
nityam udvigna-manaso durbhiksa-kara-karsitah
niranne bhu-tale rajan anavrsti-bhayaturah
In the age of Kali, people's minds will always be agitated. They will become emaciated by famine and taxation, my dear King, and will always be disturbed by fear of drought.
-Srimad Bhagavatam 12.3.39
All the countries in central Asia—Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—are losing land to desertification. Kazakhstan has abandoned nearly half of its cropland since 1980.
In Afghanistan, a country with a population of 31 million, the desert is migrating westward, encroaching on agricultural areas. A UN Environment Programme (UNEP) team reports that “up to 100 villages have been submerged by windblown dust and sand.” In the country’s northwest, sand dunes are moving onto agricultural land, their path cleared by the loss of stabilizing vegetation from firewood gathering and overgrazing. The UNEP team observed sand dunes nearly 50 feet high blocking roads, forcing residents to establish new routes. More than 80% of Afghanistan's and Pakistan's land could be subject to soil erosion and desertification.
Iran, which has 70 million people and 80 million goats and sheep, the latter the source of wool for its fabled rug-making industry, is also losing its battle with the desert. Mohammad Jarian, who heads Iran’s Anti-Desertification Organization, reported in 2002 that sand storms had buried 124 villages in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, forcing their abandonment. Drifting sands had covered grazing areas, starving livestock and depriving villagers of their livelihood.
In Afghanistan, a country with a population of 31 million, the desert is migrating westward, encroaching on agricultural areas. A UN Environment Programme (UNEP) team reports that “up to 100 villages have been submerged by windblown dust and sand.” In the country’s northwest, sand dunes are moving onto agricultural land, their path cleared by the loss of stabilizing vegetation from firewood gathering and overgrazing. The UNEP team observed sand dunes nearly 50 feet high blocking roads, forcing residents to establish new routes. More than 80% of Afghanistan's and Pakistan's land could be subject to soil erosion and desertification.
Iran, which has 70 million people and 80 million goats and sheep, the latter the source of wool for its fabled rug-making industry, is also losing its battle with the desert. Mohammad Jarian, who heads Iran’s Anti-Desertification Organization, reported in 2002 that sand storms had buried 124 villages in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, forcing their abandonment. Drifting sands had covered grazing areas, starving livestock and depriving villagers of their livelihood.
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When I first went to Hyderabad they said that for three, four years there was no rain. Is it not? But since Hare Krsna mantra is being chanted, there is rainfall. So they do not know the secret of rainfall. Yajnad bhavanti parjanyah. If you perform yajna, then there will be cloud. Parjanyad anna-sambhavah. Annad bhavanti bhutani parjanyad anna-sambhavah [Bg. 3.14]. This prescription is there. As soon as you stop performing yajna -- you take pleasure in sporting, no yajna... Now big, big cities, they have got big, big Olympian sporting, but no yajna performance. So why there shall not be scarcity of rain? And as soon as there is scarcity of rain, there is scarcity of food grains. |
Africa, too, is plagued with expanding deserts. In the north, the Sahara Desert is pushing the populations of Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria northward toward the Mediterranean. In a desperate effort to halt the advancing Sahara, Algeria is geographically restructuring its agriculture, replacing grain in the south with orchards and vineyards.
In countries from Senegal and Mauritania in the west to Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia in the east, the growing human and livestock demands are converting land into desert.
Nigeria, slightly larger than Texas, is losing 3510 square kilometers of rangeland and cropland to desertification each year. With the food needs of its people forcing the plowing of marginal land and the forage needs of livestock exceeding the carrying capacity of its grasslands, the country is slowly turning to desert.
In Latin America, deserts are expanding in both Brazil and Mexico. In Mexico, with a large share of arid and semiarid land, the degradation of cropland now forces some 700,000 Mexicans off the land each year in search of jobs in nearby cities or in the United States. In scores of countries, the growth in human and livestock numbers that drives desertification is continuing unabated.
While deserts are now displacing millions of people, rising seas promise to displace far greater numbers in the future given the concentration of the world’s population in low-lying coastal cities and rice-growing river deltas. During the twentieth century, sea level rose by 15 centimeters. In its 2001 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected that during this century seas would rise by 10 to 85 centimeters. Since 2001, record-high temperatures have accelerated ice melting making it likely that the future rise in sea level will be even greater.
In countries from Senegal and Mauritania in the west to Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia in the east, the growing human and livestock demands are converting land into desert.
Nigeria, slightly larger than Texas, is losing 3510 square kilometers of rangeland and cropland to desertification each year. With the food needs of its people forcing the plowing of marginal land and the forage needs of livestock exceeding the carrying capacity of its grasslands, the country is slowly turning to desert.
In Latin America, deserts are expanding in both Brazil and Mexico. In Mexico, with a large share of arid and semiarid land, the degradation of cropland now forces some 700,000 Mexicans off the land each year in search of jobs in nearby cities or in the United States. In scores of countries, the growth in human and livestock numbers that drives desertification is continuing unabated.
While deserts are now displacing millions of people, rising seas promise to displace far greater numbers in the future given the concentration of the world’s population in low-lying coastal cities and rice-growing river deltas. During the twentieth century, sea level rose by 15 centimeters. In its 2001 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projected that during this century seas would rise by 10 to 85 centimeters. Since 2001, record-high temperatures have accelerated ice melting making it likely that the future rise in sea level will be even greater.
“When the Well's dry, we know the Worth of Water.”
Benjamin Franklin
Rising Sea Levels
The earth’s rising temperature is raising sea level both through thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of glaciers and ice sheets. Scientists are particularly concerned by the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, which has accelerated sharply in recent years. If this ice sheet, a mile thick in some places, were to melt entirely it would raise sea level by 23 feet, or 7 meters.
Even a one-meter rise would inundate vast areas of low-lying coastal land, including many of the rice-growing river deltas and floodplains of India, Thailand, Viet Nam, Indonesia, and China. A World Bank map shows a one-meter rise in sea level inundating half of Bangladesh’s rice land. Some 30 million Bangladeshis would be forced to migrate, either internally or to other countries.
Hundreds of cities, including some of the world’s largest, would be at least partly inundated by a one-meter rise in sea level, including London, Alexandria, and Bangkok. More than a third of Shanghai, a city of 15 million people, would be under water. A one-meter rise combined with a 50-year storm surge would leave large portions of Lower Manhattan and the National Mall in Washington, D.C., flooded with seawater.
If the Greenland ice sheet should melt, the resulting 23-foot rise in sea level would force the abandonment of thousands of coastal cities and communities. Hundreds of millions of coastal residents would be forced to migrate inland or to other countries, spawning conflicts over land and living space. Together, rising seas and desertification will present the world with an unprecedented flow of environmental refugees—and the potential for civil strife.
During this century we must deal with the effects of the trends—advancing deserts and rising seas—that we set in motion during the last century. The rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide that are destabilizing the earth’s climate are driven by the burning of fossil fuels.
Even a one-meter rise would inundate vast areas of low-lying coastal land, including many of the rice-growing river deltas and floodplains of India, Thailand, Viet Nam, Indonesia, and China. A World Bank map shows a one-meter rise in sea level inundating half of Bangladesh’s rice land. Some 30 million Bangladeshis would be forced to migrate, either internally or to other countries.
Hundreds of cities, including some of the world’s largest, would be at least partly inundated by a one-meter rise in sea level, including London, Alexandria, and Bangkok. More than a third of Shanghai, a city of 15 million people, would be under water. A one-meter rise combined with a 50-year storm surge would leave large portions of Lower Manhattan and the National Mall in Washington, D.C., flooded with seawater.
If the Greenland ice sheet should melt, the resulting 23-foot rise in sea level would force the abandonment of thousands of coastal cities and communities. Hundreds of millions of coastal residents would be forced to migrate inland or to other countries, spawning conflicts over land and living space. Together, rising seas and desertification will present the world with an unprecedented flow of environmental refugees—and the potential for civil strife.
During this century we must deal with the effects of the trends—advancing deserts and rising seas—that we set in motion during the last century. The rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide that are destabilizing the earth’s climate are driven by the burning of fossil fuels.
Chad - A Shrinking African Lake
Lake Chad, once one of Africa's largest freshwater lakes, has shrunk dramatically in the last 40 years. Two researchers from the University of Wisconsin, have been working to determine the causes.
In 1963, the lake covered about 9,700 square miles (25,000 square kilometers). Today it is one-twentieth of that size. In a report published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, they conclude that human activities are to blame for the shrinking of Lake Chad.
The lake's decline probably has nothing to do with global warming, report the two scientists, who based their findings on computer models and satellite imagery made available by NASA. They attribute the situation instead to human actions related to climate variation, compounded by the ever increasing demands of the population.
Humans in the system are the big actors here and what has happened to Lake Chad may be an illustration of where we're heading. Lake Chad is in the Sahel, a vast savanna bordered by the rain forests of the west coast of Africa on one side and the Sahara desert to the north. Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon are neighboring countries.
The lake is probably at least 20,000 years old and has shrunk and expanded over thousands of years. But the recent decline is by far the greatest.
In 1963, the lake covered about 9,700 square miles (25,000 square kilometers). Today it is one-twentieth of that size. In a report published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, they conclude that human activities are to blame for the shrinking of Lake Chad.
The lake's decline probably has nothing to do with global warming, report the two scientists, who based their findings on computer models and satellite imagery made available by NASA. They attribute the situation instead to human actions related to climate variation, compounded by the ever increasing demands of the population.
Humans in the system are the big actors here and what has happened to Lake Chad may be an illustration of where we're heading. Lake Chad is in the Sahel, a vast savanna bordered by the rain forests of the west coast of Africa on one side and the Sahara desert to the north. Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Cameroon are neighboring countries.
The lake is probably at least 20,000 years old and has shrunk and expanded over thousands of years. But the recent decline is by far the greatest.
Corporations: Cashing In On Water Crisis
Multinational companies now run water systems for 7 per cent of the world's population and analysts say that figure could grow to 17 per cent by 2015. Private water management is estimated to be a $200 billion business, and the World Bank projects it could be worth $1 trillion by 2021. The potential for profits is staggering: in May 2000 Fortune magazine predicted that water is about to become 'one of the world's great business opportunities', and that 'it promises to be to the 21st century what oil was to the 20th'.
Global water consumption rose sixfold between 1900 and 1995 - more than double the rate of population growth - and goes on growing as farming, industry and domestic demand all increase. Here the issue seems to be not overpopulation but overconsumption.
As important as quantity is quality -with pollution increasing in some areas, the amount of usable water declines. And the wider effects of water shortages are just as chilling as the prospect of having too little to drink. Seventy percent of the water used worldwide is used for agriculture.
And consumption will soar further as more people expect Western-style lifestyles and diets - one kilogram of grain-fed beef needs at least 15 cubic meters of water, while a kilo of cereals needs only up to three cubic meters.
As important as quantity is quality -with pollution increasing in some areas, the amount of usable water declines. And the wider effects of water shortages are just as chilling as the prospect of having too little to drink. Seventy percent of the water used worldwide is used for agriculture.
And consumption will soar further as more people expect Western-style lifestyles and diets - one kilogram of grain-fed beef needs at least 15 cubic meters of water, while a kilo of cereals needs only up to three cubic meters.
Bottling The World Up
Corporations like Coke, Nestle, and Pepsi have manufactured demand for bottled water through years of misleading advertising – building a market by eroding confidence in public tap water. In reality, many times the tap water is just as good or better and doesn’t generate billions of pounds of plastic waste.
It has become trendy to walk around with or sip on Fiji water to show that you are truly fashionable, but its time we stop to think about the repercussions of such actions. Most of the time, bottled water is just tap water with a really fancy label because laws all over world do not require bottled water to go through a vigorous testing process. In fact, by law, bottled water only has to be as “good” as tap water to be acceptable - legally speaking. Most bottle are also made out of crude oil - over 1.5 million tons of crude oil go to making plastic bottles. Scary fact is that almost 80% of water bottles do not get recycled. Its quite silly to pay $4 for a small bottle of water labeled Fiji.
In India, Coke promotes its brand with the slogan “can’t live without it.” Ironically, Coke continues to pump millions of gallons in drought stricken areas for marketing in cities, where agriculture and people’s lives depend on local water resources – resources that are now drying up.
It has become trendy to walk around with or sip on Fiji water to show that you are truly fashionable, but its time we stop to think about the repercussions of such actions. Most of the time, bottled water is just tap water with a really fancy label because laws all over world do not require bottled water to go through a vigorous testing process. In fact, by law, bottled water only has to be as “good” as tap water to be acceptable - legally speaking. Most bottle are also made out of crude oil - over 1.5 million tons of crude oil go to making plastic bottles. Scary fact is that almost 80% of water bottles do not get recycled. Its quite silly to pay $4 for a small bottle of water labeled Fiji.
In India, Coke promotes its brand with the slogan “can’t live without it.” Ironically, Coke continues to pump millions of gallons in drought stricken areas for marketing in cities, where agriculture and people’s lives depend on local water resources – resources that are now drying up.
‘Flow’ - A film
Flow is a passionate and fact-filled film portraying issues facing the planet’s water today. Focusing on human rights, environmental destruction and corporate greed, ‘Flow’ shows how many communities are fighting back for control over their most essential resource. Set in countries across the globe, the film is an inspiration and a call to action.
Water Wars
This is a term devised by environmentalists for a type of conflict (most probably a form of guerrilla warfare) due to an acute shortage of water for drinking and irrigation. About 40 per cent of the world’s population is already affected to some degree, but climate change and rise in living standards will worsen the situation: the UN Environment Agency warns that almost 3 billion people will be severely short of water within 50 years. Possible flash points have been predicted in the Middle East, parts of Africa and in many of the world’s major river basins.
There are approximately 260 different river systems worldwide, where conflicts exist crossing national boundaries. While Helsinki Rules help to interpret intrinsic water rights among countries, there are some conflicts so bitter or so related to basic survival that strife and even warfare are inevitable. In many cases water use disputes are merely an added dimension to underlying border tensions founded on other bases.
The Tigris-Euphrates River System is one example where differing national interests and withdrawal rights have been in conflict. The countries of Iran, Iraq and Syria each present valid claims of certain water use, but the total demands on the riverine system surpass the physical constraints of water availability. As early as 1974 Iraq massed troops on the Syrian border and threatened to destroy Syria’s al-Thawra dam on the Euphrates.
There are approximately 260 different river systems worldwide, where conflicts exist crossing national boundaries. While Helsinki Rules help to interpret intrinsic water rights among countries, there are some conflicts so bitter or so related to basic survival that strife and even warfare are inevitable. In many cases water use disputes are merely an added dimension to underlying border tensions founded on other bases.
The Tigris-Euphrates River System is one example where differing national interests and withdrawal rights have been in conflict. The countries of Iran, Iraq and Syria each present valid claims of certain water use, but the total demands on the riverine system surpass the physical constraints of water availability. As early as 1974 Iraq massed troops on the Syrian border and threatened to destroy Syria’s al-Thawra dam on the Euphrates.
annad bhavanti bhutani
parjanyad anna-sambhavah
yajnad bhavati parjanyo
yajnah karma-samudbhavah
All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are produced by performance of yajna [sacrifice], and yajna is born of prescribed duties.
-Bhagavad-gita 3.14
In 1992 Hungary and Czechoslovakia took a dispute over Danube River water diversions and dam construction to the International Court of Justice. This case represents a minority of disputes where logic and jurisprudence may be the path of dispute resolution. Other conflicts involving North and South Korea, Israel and Palestine, Egypt and Ethiopia, India and Pakistan, may prove more difficult tests of negotiation. International leaders, notably former Czech President Vaclav Havel, have suggested that the supply of clean water for drinking and sanitation is essential for peace in the Middle East.
War over water would be an ultimate obscenity. And yet, unfortunately it is conceivable. Water has been a source, over so many years, of erosion of confidence, of tension, of human rights abuses.
While draught and desertification are intensifying around the world, the water wars of the twenty-first century may match, or even surpass, the oil wars of the twentieth century.
Mostafa Tolba, former head of the United Nations Environment Program says, “We used to think that energy and water would be the critical issues for the next century. Now we think water will be the critical issue.” Last few decades have witnessed hundreds of violent conflicts over water sharing issues.
War over water would be an ultimate obscenity. And yet, unfortunately it is conceivable. Water has been a source, over so many years, of erosion of confidence, of tension, of human rights abuses.
While draught and desertification are intensifying around the world, the water wars of the twenty-first century may match, or even surpass, the oil wars of the twentieth century.
Mostafa Tolba, former head of the United Nations Environment Program says, “We used to think that energy and water would be the critical issues for the next century. Now we think water will be the critical issue.” Last few decades have witnessed hundreds of violent conflicts over water sharing issues.
Kenyan Tribes Battling Over Water
The battle for water in the drought-hit north of Kenya has sparked tribal conflicts leaving hundreds dead with mounting death toll.
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Fierce national competition over water resources has prompted fears that water issues contain the seeds of violent conflict. |
On the arid northern plains, strewn with the decomposing carcasses of cattle, people are preparing for a battle. There are plenty of weapons in this remote corner of the country: homemade spears, bows and arrows, and guns smuggled in from southern Sudan. And now, there is a motive too. Kenya is suffering a severe drought that has dried up watering holes and turned grazing lands into sand. More than 70 per cent of the region's 260,000 cattle have died, devastating the thousands of nomadic communities that depend on them for wealth, milk and food.
Watery Issues For Nuclear Armed India & Pakistan
In November 2008, Pakistan Indus Water Commissioner Jamaat Ali Shah accused India of trying to make Pakistan a barren land in the next six years by blocking its water through construction of dams in violation of the Indus Water Treaty. Shah said India had constructed dams at various rivers and continued doing so in violation of the Indus Water Treaty.
As per Pakistan, the Treaty allowed New Delhi to generate electricity on the flow of the river but water to Pakistan cannot be stopped. India, on the other hand claimed that it had stopped Pakistan's water only for a week in August but Pakistani side rubbished this claim.
Sharing of rivers’ water remains a bone of contention for the two heavily armed nations and time will tell where it will lead them to.
As per Pakistan, the Treaty allowed New Delhi to generate electricity on the flow of the river but water to Pakistan cannot be stopped. India, on the other hand claimed that it had stopped Pakistan's water only for a week in August but Pakistani side rubbished this claim.
Sharing of rivers’ water remains a bone of contention for the two heavily armed nations and time will tell where it will lead them to.
Catastrophic Floods
Poorly planned water management and deforestation is responsible for rising incidents of floods all over the world. Many a times, dams are ill-conceived. The number of people displaced by dams is estimated at between 40 million and 80 million, most of them in China and India. Some designed to reduce flooding have made it worse, and there were many unexpected environmental disadvantages. Half the world's wetlands have been lost because of dams.
Water is the only drink for a wise man.
-Henry David Thoreau
Recently in Bihar, India, a breach developed in Kosi dam and the resulting floods killed thousands and displaced many millions. Many dams have been constructed due to financial and political considerations and they are time-bombs ticking away. One such example is Tehri dam in Himalayas. Indian government ignored the opinion of many experts and constructed a massive dam in an earthquake prone area. If ever it cracks, India’s capital New Delhi will be wiped out.
In America, more than 5,500 large dams impede running waters, leaving less than 2 percent of the country's 3.1 million miles of rivers and streams flowing free. In the wake of these river alterations trails a record list of endangered aquatic species.
In America, more than 5,500 large dams impede running waters, leaving less than 2 percent of the country's 3.1 million miles of rivers and streams flowing free. In the wake of these river alterations trails a record list of endangered aquatic species.
Damage To Biodiversity
Vegetation and wildlife are fundamentally dependent upon adequate freshwater resources. In the case of wetlands, considerable area has been taken from wildlife use to feed and house the human population. But other areas have suffered reduced productivity from gradual diminishing of freshwater inflow, as upstream sources are diverted for human use. In seven states of the U.S. over 80 percent of all historic wetlands were occupied by 1980.
In Europe extensive loss of wetlands has also occurred with resulting loss of biodiversity. On Madagascar’s central highland plateau, a massive transformation occurred that eliminated virtually all the heavily forested vegetation in the period 1970 to 2000. The slash and burn agriculture eliminated about ten percent of the total country’s native biomass and converted it to a barren wasteland. Adverse effects included widespread erosion that in turn produced heavily silted rivers that “run red” decades after the deforestation. This eliminated a large amount of usable fresh water and also destroyed much of the riverine ecosystems. Several fish species have been driven to the edge of extinction and some coral reef formations in the Indian Ocean are effectively lost.
In Europe extensive loss of wetlands has also occurred with resulting loss of biodiversity. On Madagascar’s central highland plateau, a massive transformation occurred that eliminated virtually all the heavily forested vegetation in the period 1970 to 2000. The slash and burn agriculture eliminated about ten percent of the total country’s native biomass and converted it to a barren wasteland. Adverse effects included widespread erosion that in turn produced heavily silted rivers that “run red” decades after the deforestation. This eliminated a large amount of usable fresh water and also destroyed much of the riverine ecosystems. Several fish species have been driven to the edge of extinction and some coral reef formations in the Indian Ocean are effectively lost.
'Water Police' Crack Down In Australia
Australia is in the grip of its worst-ever drought. In several of its cities, we can find cars which at first glance look like a police car – a white vehicle with a black-and-yellow checkerboard stripe but when we read black bold lettering across its trunk: "Water Restrictions” its purpose becomes clear. Yes, this is ‘Water Police’ trying to enforce water conservation measures as country endures a long drought made worse by global warming.
Under strict water-conservation measures in force in several cities, cars must not be washed with hoses, only buckets. Watering lawns and gardens with hoses or drip-irrigation systems is allowed on two days a week. A special permit is required to fill a swimming pool. Breaking any of these rules incurs a spot fine of A$220 for householders and A$500 for businesses. Profligate shower-takers may find their water supply cut to a trickle.
The water crisis is no longer about desperate farmers watching their crops wither or cattle perish. Over the past six years, it has extended its grip to the cities and is changing the way Australians regard a resource they once took for granted. The water Police cars cruise city streets around the clock, every day of the week, sniffing out water wastage.
Climate scientists agree that Australia's drought is linked to global warming. Director of the Australian Research Centre for Water in Society says, "There's a lot of climate-model evidence that says that the drought is, at least in part, human-induced."
Under strict water-conservation measures in force in several cities, cars must not be washed with hoses, only buckets. Watering lawns and gardens with hoses or drip-irrigation systems is allowed on two days a week. A special permit is required to fill a swimming pool. Breaking any of these rules incurs a spot fine of A$220 for householders and A$500 for businesses. Profligate shower-takers may find their water supply cut to a trickle.
The water crisis is no longer about desperate farmers watching their crops wither or cattle perish. Over the past six years, it has extended its grip to the cities and is changing the way Australians regard a resource they once took for granted. The water Police cars cruise city streets around the clock, every day of the week, sniffing out water wastage.
Climate scientists agree that Australia's drought is linked to global warming. Director of the Australian Research Centre for Water in Society says, "There's a lot of climate-model evidence that says that the drought is, at least in part, human-induced."
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I’m coming from London, Paris, and Tehran. All fields yellow. And Europe, so much scorching heat and sunshine, I never seen. Especially in London. This time I saw everything has become yellow. Greenness gone. |
Data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology show that, since 1970, rainfall has increased in the barely developed northwestern corner of the continent. But it has decreased in the densely populated east and southeast, the areas where it matters most.
Australians are increasingly bombarded with pleas to conserve their most precious resource. Last year, the government asked people to refrain from singing, daydreaming, and engaging in other "nonessential activities" in the shower to save power and water. Exhortations range from installing a rainwater tank in the backyard to eating less meat, on the grounds that rearing livestock requires far more water than growing crops.
Australians are increasingly bombarded with pleas to conserve their most precious resource. Last year, the government asked people to refrain from singing, daydreaming, and engaging in other "nonessential activities" in the shower to save power and water. Exhortations range from installing a rainwater tank in the backyard to eating less meat, on the grounds that rearing livestock requires far more water than growing crops.
Ghost Cities of Future Perth: The World's First Ghost City?
Ghost city refers to a city which has been abandoned for some reasons. The Australian of the year 2007, environmentalist Tim Flannery, has predicted that Perth in Western Australia could become the world's first ghost metropolis, its population forced to abandon the city due to lack of water.
Perth is likely to become a ghost city within decades as rising global temperatures turn the wheatbelt into a desert and drive species to the brink of extinction.
According to Tim Flannery, Perth is a city on the edge - isolated, dependent on energy and declining water supplies and more likely to feel the effects of global warming. This assertion has forced the city to wake up to the fact its water is running out and that it can no longer rely on its natural supply.
A metropolis of two million residents, Perth prides itself on being a garden city and is quickly draining its underground aquifers to keep its lawns green. "There is a joke doing the rounds : the good news is we'll all soon be drinking recycled sewage. The bad news is there will not be enough to go around.
Perth is likely to become a ghost city within decades as rising global temperatures turn the wheatbelt into a desert and drive species to the brink of extinction.
According to Tim Flannery, Perth is a city on the edge - isolated, dependent on energy and declining water supplies and more likely to feel the effects of global warming. This assertion has forced the city to wake up to the fact its water is running out and that it can no longer rely on its natural supply.
A metropolis of two million residents, Perth prides itself on being a garden city and is quickly draining its underground aquifers to keep its lawns green. "There is a joke doing the rounds : the good news is we'll all soon be drinking recycled sewage. The bad news is there will not be enough to go around.
India Facing A Drier Future
The drinking water crisis in many Indian cities is reaching alarming proportions. Urban population is suffering from irregular water supply, sometimes leading to clashes among them. A recent joint study conducted by United Nations International Children Education Fund (UNICEF) and the World Wide Fund (WWF) for Nature revealed the alarming situation of fresh water depletion in the country. They opined that the fall in the quality and quantity of available water resources is due to the following reasons:
- Pollution of water sources
- Improper water resources management
- Shortcomings in the design and implementation of legislation and regulations, which address these problems.
More number of similar cases can be expected from many of the developing countries. The per capita water availability in India is projected to decline to about 1,000 cubic meters by 2025 from 1,820 cubic meters per year recorded in 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated in a report. The fall in the per capita water supply would be the result of both climate change and changing life style.
The warning comes at a time when the country is already recording a spate of water wars between different states. Indian government has done little to address the massive water shortage problem and its impact on overall infrastructure of the nation.
India's famous Keoladeo National Park at Bharatpur in Rajasthan is facing de-recognition from the list of Unesco's world heritage site after a two-member team of the world organisation pointed out the persistent water crisis in the sanctuary. Unesco has pointed out repeatedly in the last five years that Indian Government is neglecting the water management and augmentation schemes. The irrigation is getting affected. Soil erosion is high. Drinking water contamination is spreading spreads disease as common people settle for contaminated water.
If there is a big drought, which is cyclically very probable in the next five years, Indian irrigation can collapse. The impact on the economy will be very severe.
- Pollution of water sources
- Improper water resources management
- Shortcomings in the design and implementation of legislation and regulations, which address these problems.
More number of similar cases can be expected from many of the developing countries. The per capita water availability in India is projected to decline to about 1,000 cubic meters by 2025 from 1,820 cubic meters per year recorded in 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated in a report. The fall in the per capita water supply would be the result of both climate change and changing life style.
The warning comes at a time when the country is already recording a spate of water wars between different states. Indian government has done little to address the massive water shortage problem and its impact on overall infrastructure of the nation.
India's famous Keoladeo National Park at Bharatpur in Rajasthan is facing de-recognition from the list of Unesco's world heritage site after a two-member team of the world organisation pointed out the persistent water crisis in the sanctuary. Unesco has pointed out repeatedly in the last five years that Indian Government is neglecting the water management and augmentation schemes. The irrigation is getting affected. Soil erosion is high. Drinking water contamination is spreading spreads disease as common people settle for contaminated water.
If there is a big drought, which is cyclically very probable in the next five years, Indian irrigation can collapse. The impact on the economy will be very severe.
By God's arrangement one can have enough food grains, enough milk, enough fruits and vegetables, and nice clear river water. But now I have seen, while traveling in Europe, that all the rivers there have become nasty. In Germany, in France, and also in Russia and America I have seen that the rivers are nasty. By nature's way the water in the ocean is kept clear like crystal, and the same water is transferred to the rivers, but without salt, so that one may take nice water from the river. This is nature's way, and nature's way means Krsna's way.
-Srila Prabhupada (Teachings of Queen Kunti 23)
A Parched Punjab - Case Study
The water table in 66% of Punjab has declined drastically during the past 25 years in the aftermath of Green Revolution, which made the state self-sufficient in food grains but at the same time, led to a huge decline in the water level and depletion of soil nutrients.
Situation is particularly grim in many districts where the water table is falling at an alarming rate of 40 cm per year. Punjab Agriculture University experts point out that the primary reason for extraction of groundwater is agriculture, particularly water-intensive crops such as wheat and rice. About 60 to 70% of the total cultivated land in Punjab is under wheat-rice cultivation. The dependence on groundwater is alarming. The PAU projections are that by 2010, entire central Punjab will have a water table below 16 m depth. And to add to the problems, a number of mega housing projects are coming up in the state, which would further tax the ground water.
Situation is particularly grim in many districts where the water table is falling at an alarming rate of 40 cm per year. Punjab Agriculture University experts point out that the primary reason for extraction of groundwater is agriculture, particularly water-intensive crops such as wheat and rice. About 60 to 70% of the total cultivated land in Punjab is under wheat-rice cultivation. The dependence on groundwater is alarming. The PAU projections are that by 2010, entire central Punjab will have a water table below 16 m depth. And to add to the problems, a number of mega housing projects are coming up in the state, which would further tax the ground water.
Delhi's Water Crisis Set To Explode
A new study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) has warned that water is becoming a scarce commodity in the Indian capital that is home to some 16 million people and the crisis is going to worsen in the coming years, leading to more conflicts and pollution.
The nation's capital is perpetually in the grip of a water crisis, more so in the dry season, when the situation gets particularly worse. The study also points out that despite the current shortage of water, the city also sees huge wastage of water, estimated at over 40 percent, against 10-20 percent in cities of other developing countries.
The distribution losses are due to leakages in a network of nearly 9,000-km-long main water supply chains and theft through unauthorized connections.
The study says that water pollution is another area of concern even though the water in Yamuna reaches the national capital relatively clean after its 395-km descent from the Himalayas. As it leaves the city, the river becomes the principal drain for Delhi's waste as residents pour about 950 million gallons of sewage into it each day. Coursing through the capital, the river becomes a noxious black thread.
Let alone drinking, fecal coliform in the Yamuna (a measure of filth) is 20 percent, or 100,000 times the safe limit for even bathing, with raw sewage floating on top and methane gas gurgling on the surface.
Thus water availability, both in terms of quality and quantity, has declined to such an extent that many parts of India, rural and urban, today face a drought-like situation. And when drought actually sets in, as it did in Gujarat and other parts of the country most recently in the year 2000, scarcity takes on a frightening visage.
The nation's capital is perpetually in the grip of a water crisis, more so in the dry season, when the situation gets particularly worse. The study also points out that despite the current shortage of water, the city also sees huge wastage of water, estimated at over 40 percent, against 10-20 percent in cities of other developing countries.
The distribution losses are due to leakages in a network of nearly 9,000-km-long main water supply chains and theft through unauthorized connections.
The study says that water pollution is another area of concern even though the water in Yamuna reaches the national capital relatively clean after its 395-km descent from the Himalayas. As it leaves the city, the river becomes the principal drain for Delhi's waste as residents pour about 950 million gallons of sewage into it each day. Coursing through the capital, the river becomes a noxious black thread.
Let alone drinking, fecal coliform in the Yamuna (a measure of filth) is 20 percent, or 100,000 times the safe limit for even bathing, with raw sewage floating on top and methane gas gurgling on the surface.
Thus water availability, both in terms of quality and quantity, has declined to such an extent that many parts of India, rural and urban, today face a drought-like situation. And when drought actually sets in, as it did in Gujarat and other parts of the country most recently in the year 2000, scarcity takes on a frightening visage.
The Terrible Impact of Meat Diet On Water
Water experts calculate that currently half of the available fresh water on the planet is being appropriated by humans and nearly half of the total water usage in developed nations is used to raise animals for food. Producing food for a meat based diet requires much more water than it does to produce food for a vegetarian diet. It takes 2500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat, but only 60 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat. A plant based diet requires a total of 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat based diet requires more than 4000 gallons of water per day. Thus livestock sector is a key player in increasing water use.
Animals raised for food produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population put together, for a total of 87,000 pounds per second. This enormous quantiy of waste products from livestock production exceeds the capacity of the planet to absorb it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that livestock waste has polluted more than 27,000 miles of rivers.
It is probably the largest sectoral source of water pollution, contributing to eutrophication, “dead” zones in coastal areas, degradation of coral reefs, human health problems, emergence of antibiotic resistance and many others. The major sources of pollution are from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and pesticides used for feedcrops, and sediments from eroded pastures.
Animals raised for food produce 130 times more excrement than the entire human population put together, for a total of 87,000 pounds per second. This enormous quantiy of waste products from livestock production exceeds the capacity of the planet to absorb it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that livestock waste has polluted more than 27,000 miles of rivers.
It is probably the largest sectoral source of water pollution, contributing to eutrophication, “dead” zones in coastal areas, degradation of coral reefs, human health problems, emergence of antibiotic resistance and many others. The major sources of pollution are from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and pesticides used for feedcrops, and sediments from eroded pastures.
A Thirsty World Resorting To Desalination And Sewage Recycling
Desalination is removal of salt and other impurities from sea water to make it drinkable.
A January 17, 2008, article in the Wall Street Journal states, "Worldwide, 13,080 desalination plants produce more than 12 billion gallons of water a day, according to the International Desalination Association." However, given the energy intensive nature of desalination, with associated economic and environmental costs, desalination is generally considered a last resort.
A January 17, 2008, article in the Wall Street Journal states, "Worldwide, 13,080 desalination plants produce more than 12 billion gallons of water a day, according to the International Desalination Association." However, given the energy intensive nature of desalination, with associated economic and environmental costs, desalination is generally considered a last resort.
A Tall, Cool Drink of ... Sewage?
Many cities of the world are establishing sewage recycling plants to provide potable water to the residents. Bangalore in India, is spending Rs. 1800 crores on one such plant. Should ongoing feasibility tests prove successful, Vivendi Water has plans to start commercial production of recycled sewerage water in Malaysia using membrane technology. The French water giant, already involved in more than a dozen local projects.
World's Largest “Toilet-to-Tap" System
The Orange County Sewage Recycling System in California is the largest of its type in the world. It cost $480 million to build. It works in this way. When some one flushes in Santa Ana, the waste makes its way to the sewage-treatment plant nearby in Fountain Valley, then flows not to the ocean but to a plant that filters the liquid until it is clean. The “new” water is then pumped 13 miles north and discharged into a small lake, where it percolates into the earth. Local utilities pump water from this aquifer and deliver it to the sinks and showers of 2.3 million customers. It is now drinking water. Depending on the mind set, some call it indirect potable reuse, while others call it toilet to tap.
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“Brush your teeth with the best toothpaste, then rinse your mouth with industrial waste." |
It's Time To Drink Toilet Water
For decades, cities throughout the world have used recycled wastewater for nonpotable needs, like agriculture and landscaping but now the pressure is building up to use it for drinking and shower purposes as well.
A public outcry against toilet-to-tap in 2000 forced the city of Los Angeles to shut down a $55 million project that would have provided enough water for 120,000 homes. Similar reluctance among San Diego residents led Mayor Jerry Sanders to veto the city council's approval in November of a pilot program to use recycled water to supplement that city's drinking water.
But San Diego is in the midst of a severe water crisis. The city imports 90 percent of its water, much of that from the Colorado River, which is drying up. The recent legal decision to protect the ecosystem of the San Joaquin Delta in Northern California—San Diego's second-leading water source—will reduce the amount coming from there as well. Add to that rising population and an ongoing drought, and the situation looks quite bleak: 3 million people in a region that has enough water, right now, for 10 percent of them. Water supplied even right now contains several contaminants, including ibuprofen, the bug repellents and the anti-anxiety drug meprobamate.
Looks like if we don't learn to deal with drinking toilet water, people are going to be mighty thirsty. The Ogallala Aquifer— North America's largest, stretching from Texas to South Dakota— is steadily being depleted. And Americans water footprint has been estimated to be twice the global average.
Despite the public's concerns, quite a few U.S. cities have already started to use recycled wastewater to augment drinking water. In El Paso, Texas, indirect potable reuse supplies 40 percent of the city's drinking water; in Fairfax, Va., it supplies 5 percent. Elsewhere in several places in the world like the African nation of Namibia, this system is already in use.
It is said that in several European countries, it was a common practice to make prisoners drink toilet-water and several of them who did so decided to leave the continent. Thus America's forefathers embarked on a perilous journey across the sea and settled in a wild land so that they would not have to drink poop water ever again. But the history seems to be repeating itself.
With the demand for water growing, water tables dropping faster than they are replenished, glaciers thinning and climate change predicted to make dry places even drier, water managers around the world are contemplating similar schemes. However revolting it may sound, turning sewage into drinking water is where lies our cities’ future.
A public outcry against toilet-to-tap in 2000 forced the city of Los Angeles to shut down a $55 million project that would have provided enough water for 120,000 homes. Similar reluctance among San Diego residents led Mayor Jerry Sanders to veto the city council's approval in November of a pilot program to use recycled water to supplement that city's drinking water.
But San Diego is in the midst of a severe water crisis. The city imports 90 percent of its water, much of that from the Colorado River, which is drying up. The recent legal decision to protect the ecosystem of the San Joaquin Delta in Northern California—San Diego's second-leading water source—will reduce the amount coming from there as well. Add to that rising population and an ongoing drought, and the situation looks quite bleak: 3 million people in a region that has enough water, right now, for 10 percent of them. Water supplied even right now contains several contaminants, including ibuprofen, the bug repellents and the anti-anxiety drug meprobamate.
Looks like if we don't learn to deal with drinking toilet water, people are going to be mighty thirsty. The Ogallala Aquifer— North America's largest, stretching from Texas to South Dakota— is steadily being depleted. And Americans water footprint has been estimated to be twice the global average.
Despite the public's concerns, quite a few U.S. cities have already started to use recycled wastewater to augment drinking water. In El Paso, Texas, indirect potable reuse supplies 40 percent of the city's drinking water; in Fairfax, Va., it supplies 5 percent. Elsewhere in several places in the world like the African nation of Namibia, this system is already in use.
It is said that in several European countries, it was a common practice to make prisoners drink toilet-water and several of them who did so decided to leave the continent. Thus America's forefathers embarked on a perilous journey across the sea and settled in a wild land so that they would not have to drink poop water ever again. But the history seems to be repeating itself.
With the demand for water growing, water tables dropping faster than they are replenished, glaciers thinning and climate change predicted to make dry places even drier, water managers around the world are contemplating similar schemes. However revolting it may sound, turning sewage into drinking water is where lies our cities’ future.
Travelling Spiritual Performers Bring Rain To Australia For the last six years Australians have suffered the worst drought in a thousand years, say leading agriculturalists. As a result the price of food has nearly doubled in some areas. Water conservation schemes are mandated by local governments across the predominantly arid continent. Declared by politicians to be a national crisis, the situation is a recurring theme in the media and in citizens’ minds.
Is it just coincidence that one of the longest uninterrupted streaks of wet weather broke at the same time Indradyumna Swami and his traveling spiritual festival team arrived on Australian shores?
Billed as ‘Le Carnaval Spirituel’ this vivid stage performance brings forth the timeless spiritual wisdom of ancient India’s Vedic art and culture; culminating in a rousing full audience participation kirtana (call and response chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra). The European troupe of performing artists present eastern spirituality fused with a twist of the contemporary. Le Carnaval Spirituel, established in France in 1979, has for many years entertained audiences in Europe’s largest music festival “Woodstock” which annually attracts crowds in excess of 250,000 people.
(From The West Australian)
