California is one of the most heavily populated regions in the United States, and requires a tremendous amount of water. Unfortunately, most of California is arid, with little in the way of local water resources. Los Angeles and the farms of the Inland Empire are sustained with water that is imported, whether it is from distant snow packs or the Colorado River. Unfortunately, the California water crisis has demonstrated that the demand for clean water is rapidly out pacing available supplies.
This tiny fraction of freshwater is unevenly distributed throughout the world. So, some people have much, while others have almost none. In some countries like Nigeria and Mali, quantity is not a problem, but distribution and quality are. This is commonly so in developing nations. Each year, about 3.575 million people die from water-related disease. Million of people die globally from poor sanitation and contaminated water. Ninety per cent of the victims are children. Over a third of the world's population is seriously affected by water and sanitation crisis.
Before retirement, I was in the car wash business, and obviously water is quite important for work, and as cities hit Level II Droughts, generally the local municipalities, or county governments make car washes them severely ration the amount of water they get, and at Level III Drought, they are most often required to shut down. Imagine having your business shut down because there was no water, and you needed it to clean the cars? Indeed, that would be considered business disaster 101 crisis mode.
However, the over all supply of water has remained relatively static and is even declining as California's population increases. For example, snow pack levels have consistently been lower than predicted, which in turn reduces the amount of water available from runoff. More importantly, increasing population growth in other Southwestern states has reduced the amount of surplus Colorado River water available for California's use, aggravating the California water crisis.
Therefore, we must take considerable care, and we are going to have to be a little more diligent even here in the United States, a wealthy country, and create desalination infrastructure, lest we end up with one major crisis after another just like the rest of the world which struggles daily with freshwater supplies.
Whatever the use of freshwater (agriculture, industry, domestic use), huge saving of water and improving of water management is possible. Almost everywhere, water is wasted, and as long as people are not facing water scarcity, they believe access to water is an obvious and natural thing. With urbanization and changes in lifestyle and attitude, water consumption is bound to increase. However, changes in food habits, for example, may reduce the problem, knowing that growing 1kg of potatoes requires only 100 litres of water, whereas 1kg of beef requires 13 000 litres.
Trans-boundary Cooperation As far as trans-boundary conflicts are concerned, regional economic development and cultural preservation can all be strengthened by states cooperating on water-related issues. Instead of a trend towards war, water management can be viewed as a trend towards cooperation and peace. Many initiatives are launched to avoid crises. Institutional commitments like in the Senegal River are created.
This tiny fraction of freshwater is unevenly distributed throughout the world. So, some people have much, while others have almost none. In some countries like Nigeria and Mali, quantity is not a problem, but distribution and quality are. This is commonly so in developing nations. Each year, about 3.575 million people die from water-related disease. Million of people die globally from poor sanitation and contaminated water. Ninety per cent of the victims are children. Over a third of the world's population is seriously affected by water and sanitation crisis.
Before retirement, I was in the car wash business, and obviously water is quite important for work, and as cities hit Level II Droughts, generally the local municipalities, or county governments make car washes them severely ration the amount of water they get, and at Level III Drought, they are most often required to shut down. Imagine having your business shut down because there was no water, and you needed it to clean the cars? Indeed, that would be considered business disaster 101 crisis mode.
However, the over all supply of water has remained relatively static and is even declining as California's population increases. For example, snow pack levels have consistently been lower than predicted, which in turn reduces the amount of water available from runoff. More importantly, increasing population growth in other Southwestern states has reduced the amount of surplus Colorado River water available for California's use, aggravating the California water crisis.
Therefore, we must take considerable care, and we are going to have to be a little more diligent even here in the United States, a wealthy country, and create desalination infrastructure, lest we end up with one major crisis after another just like the rest of the world which struggles daily with freshwater supplies.
Whatever the use of freshwater (agriculture, industry, domestic use), huge saving of water and improving of water management is possible. Almost everywhere, water is wasted, and as long as people are not facing water scarcity, they believe access to water is an obvious and natural thing. With urbanization and changes in lifestyle and attitude, water consumption is bound to increase. However, changes in food habits, for example, may reduce the problem, knowing that growing 1kg of potatoes requires only 100 litres of water, whereas 1kg of beef requires 13 000 litres.
Trans-boundary Cooperation As far as trans-boundary conflicts are concerned, regional economic development and cultural preservation can all be strengthened by states cooperating on water-related issues. Instead of a trend towards war, water management can be viewed as a trend towards cooperation and peace. Many initiatives are launched to avoid crises. Institutional commitments like in the Senegal River are created.
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