Ecological reflection, the water crisis in the world

The world water resources are under pressure because of the high population growth, the climatic change and the pollution. Already it can be observed that the world run quickly toward the global water crisis.
The earth’s hydrological cycle is being modified by the climatic change. The consequences are the reduction of the surface water availability and the groundwater recharge.
The precipitations patterns are the main victims of the climatic change causing severe droughts, floods and hurricanes worldwide. About 40 per cent of the precipitation that falls on land comes from ocean-derived vapour. The remaining 60 per cent come from land-based sources.1 The global warming is changing the oceans temperatures transforming the weather. By mean of the hydrological cycle the oceans transfers water to the ground and to the plants and since them to the atmosphere. The problem is that this natural process is everyday affected because of the temperature increase.
Only 2.5 per cent of the world water is integrated by freshwater. This means that 97.5 per cent of the world’s water belongs to the seas and oceans. 68.7 per cent of the freshwater is located in the glaciers and 30.1 per cent in the groundwater. The surface and atmospheric water –that include freshwater lakes, soil moisture, atmosphere, wetlands, plants and animals-- represents 0.4 per cent of the total water but it provide 80 per cent of the annually renewable surface and groundwater.
By effect of the global warming, the main glaciers of the world –including the poles—are melting. The Himalaya Glaciers are a clear example; they nurture five of the most important rivers of Asia. The same happen in the Alps Glaciers that feed the regional European rivers. The Italy south and the south-eastern Europe territories are already affected by the water stress. The glaciers of the Andes regions in South America are also threatened and the evidence is clearly appreciated in Bolivia and Peru. As a consequence of this fact it does not exist water in some regions of those countries and the situation will be worse when the melting of the Andes Glaciers increase.
Thursday 27 of March 2008, the world was surprised by news disclosed by the international agencies: the information said that an enormous ice block with a surface four times superior to the city of Paris detached from the Antarctica.
The gigantic ice block was 41 kilometers of length and 2.5 kilometers of width and separated from the Antarctica Isthmus and continues moving. This ice block was part of the Wilkins platform, which is a floating ice mass of 16,000 square kilometers, that is to say, as large as Northern Ireland.
Scientists have expressed concern because they have discovered that the permanently frozen layer of ice on the colder regions, and including Canada, Alaska, Russia, Northern Europe and Antarctica has begun to thaw. This layer of ice, known as permafrost, contains a large amount of CO2 and methane, two of the worst gas greenhouse gas emissions (green house). To thaw the permafrost, these gases are released into the atmosphere accelerating global warming. So the situation is truly alarming.
The Centre for Defence Information, one of the most qualified international agencies in this matter explains the consequences of the global warming in the following terms:
“Led by CDI Senior Advisor Philip Coyle, our new project on the international security implications of global climate change aims to study and expand awareness of the many security concerns global warming will create in the near future. For example, if sea levels rise just six meters -- this will happen if the Greenland glaciers melt but nothing more -- 93 million Chinese will be displaced. Massive population displacements due to loss of land mass would be expected elsewhere around the world in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Persian Gulf, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Other impacts would include the availability of fresh water, changing growing seasons, and the reach and geographical range of infectious disease. Over the course of the next year, CDI analysts will uncover the many aspects to this issue: including the direct impact on nations; the economic and agricultural impacts; the effect on the U.S. military at home and overseas, and the effects on fuel consumption by the military; as well as mitigation and adaptation options.2
In the first years of the 21st century, the signs of water scarcity have appeared in diverse countries and regions, include in the most developed countries as the United States. A very important part of the United States territory --the west, south-west and south-east—is impacted by the water stress and emblematic rivers as the Colorado River is suffering the consequences of the overexploitation of their waters. Some signs reveal the magnitude of the problem. For example, in Georgia, in the year 2007, was declared the water emergency and the water price for the consumers increased 150%. Other states of the US southeast as Alabama, Tennessee, and South Carolina are in the same situation. In the west coast, in California, the water crisis leads to severe restrictions and also the states of the southwest are seriously affected.
Too few countries have increased their water resources available as may be appreciated in the following tables. For example, between the most important developed countries only Russia enhanced their water availability. The United States and Australia was the most affected in the period 2000-2005.

The water crisis in the most populated nations, China and India, is already a reality and, as a consequence of this fact, the food production is in danger in those countries. China diminished their water resources availability in -5.27 and India in -6.91 between the year 2000 and the year 2005.
The situation in other countries of the Middle East and Asia is very difficult. Saudi Arabia, the most important petroleum producer of the world have a crisis of water and in the same situation are the other petroleum countries like Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The situation in the Palestinian Territories of Gaza and Israel are also complex. as may be verified in the next table.
Table 2
Water Availability Information. TARWR* Selected Countries of the Middle East and Asia

“Our water resources, irregularly distributed in space and time, are under pressure due to major population change and increased demand. Climate change is having a significant impact on weather patterns, precipitation and the hydrological cycle, affecting surface water availability, as well as soil moisture and groundwater recharge. The growing uncertainty of surface water availability and increasing levels of water pollution and water diversions threaten to disrupt social and economic development in many areas as the health of ecosystems.” 3
The situation is not different in America where may be appreciated that the most of the countries suffered an important reduction of their water availability as show the following table. In Caracas, the Venezuela’s capital, a severe program of water restrictions began since the first days of November 2009.

The forests raze worldwide reinforce the drought trend. The most important forest reserve that still survive, the Amazon region, everyday is devastated by miners and lumberjacks. There are regions in Asia and Africa where already do not exist forests because of the same cause.
“World Resources Institute WRI has estimated that 41 percent of the world's population, or 2.3 billion people, live in river basins under 'water stress,' meaning that per capita water supply is less than 1,700 m³/year (Revenga 2000). Water scarcity is partly due to the uneven geographic distribution of water, as determined by the Earth's climate system.
Water scarcity, whether due to physical, social, or infrastructural reasons, poses significant challenges. The 1.1 billion people without safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people who lack sanitation are particularly at risk for poor health. Globally, nearly 6000 children under the age of five die every day from diarrhoea-related diseases (UNICEF/WHO). Water scarcity issues also have relevance for food production, business, and livelihoods; globally, 70 percent of all water withdrawals are for agricultural purposes and 20 percent are for industrial purposes” 4
There are other facts that confirm the water crisis that affects the world: Egypt and Ethiopia, for example, are very close to have war conflicts because Egypt has increased its dependency of waters of the Nile River, whereas Ethiopia reduces the river’s volume.
The waters of the Panama Canal are losing depth and this puts in danger navigation.
The water-bearings of the border between the United States and Mexico are drying quickly, meanwhile the Ogallala, the most important aquifer of the United States, located between Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Texas is too suffering a quickly depletion.
The water-bearings of the western zone of Israel also undergo an intense and constant deterioration and this is one of the main sources of conflict with the Arab population ---the Palestinians--- that lives in those territories.
The water availability of freshwater is threatened by other circumstance: the pollution that contaminates the surface water, the rivers, the lakes and also the groundwater. The discharges of any kind of pollutants elements on the surface water reduce the drinking water availability. These contaminants elements pass to the groundwater and damage the aquifers. This phenomenon is common in the entire world. The contamination of the waters comes from the fertilizers and pesticides in the agriculture and from the industrial developments especially.
The facts presented reveal a trend: the diminishment of the water resources and their contamination worldwide. Without water the live is not possible. Man depends of water for drinking, for the agricultural and industrial use, for environment and sanitation proposals. The evidence show that every day there is less available water and the great challenge of the human being in the next years is what to do to survive in a world where the water and other essential natural resources every day are scarcer.
Meanwhile, the great military powers of the world prepare their strategies for scenarios of confrontation because of the water crisis.
1 AQUASTAT FAO 2005 2nd UN World Water Development Report 2006, “Water a shared responsibility”, page 123.
2 Centre for Defence Information, Washington, http://www.cdi.org/program/index.cfm?programid=1
3 2nd UN World Water Development Report 2006, “Water a shared responsibility,” page 120.
4 World Resources Institute. Earth Trends August 2006 Monthly Update: Water Scarcity. http://earthtrends.wri.org/updates/node/73 By Tom Damassa. Friday September 1 2006.