4,149
edits
☔️ Water series: Future extreme dynamics of water use: Difference between revisions
☔️ Water series: Future extreme dynamics of water use (view source)
Revision as of 19:12, 7 December 2020
, 7 December 2020no edit summary
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
The source of all our food which is also involved in most of the cooking techniques we use every day is, in fact, this basic molecule essential to life: water (H2O). It is also one of the major environmental concerns, when disputed as a ressource for humans or as a milieu for wild species. How water is the honorable “background” of every form of life on Earth, and how our relationship with it might change while facing global warming, are some of the questions that led us to this <b>“☔️ Water series”</b>, divided in 4 chapters: | The source of all our food which is also involved in most of the cooking techniques we use every day is, in fact, this basic molecule essential to life: water (H2O). It is also one of the major environmental concerns, when disputed as a ressource for humans or as a milieu for wild species. How water is the honorable “background” of every form of life on Earth, and how our relationship with it might change while facing global warming, are some of the questions that led us to this <b>“☔️ Water series”</b>, divided in 4 chapters: | ||
#[[☔️ Water series: The primordial soup of life: oceans water]] | #[[☔️ Water series: The primordial soup of life: oceans water]] | ||
| Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
==Water stress== | ==Water stress== | ||
[[File:Freshwater-withdrawals-as-a-share-of-internal-resources_2014ourworldindata.png|thumb|Thumbnailed image|World water stress: freshwater withdrawals as a share of internal resources ([https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-stress#water-stress-and-scarcity Our World in Data]).]] | |||
What we call “water stress” is measured by considering the amount of water used by a given country as a share of the actual renewable water resources that are available in this country (called “internal” water). When this share reaches around 10% of the total resource, the water stress is low; but above 40% it is described as high to extremely high at 80%. As water stress rises, less water is available for wild ecosystems and risks of groundwater depletion increases. If water use exceed 100% of the resource, this means that this country is either extracting beyond the rate at which aquifers can be replenished, or has very high levels of desalinisation<ref>Currently, 1% of the world drinking water comes from desalination, which is just a fraction of “blue water”. But this is growing every year. | What we call “water stress” is measured by considering the amount of water used by a given country as a share of the actual renewable water resources that are available in this country (called “internal” water). When this share reaches around 10% of the total resource, the water stress is low; but above 40% it is described as high to extremely high at 80%. As water stress rises, less water is available for wild ecosystems and risks of groundwater depletion increases. If water use exceed 100% of the resource, this means that this country is either extracting beyond the rate at which aquifers can be replenished, or has very high levels of desalinisation<ref>Currently, 1% of the world drinking water comes from desalination, which is just a fraction of “blue water”. But this is growing every year. | ||
source: https://iwa-network.org/desalination-past-present-future/ | source: https://iwa-network.org/desalination-past-present-future/ | ||
</ref> water generation (conversion of sea water to freshwater with energy). Several countries across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia already have an extremely high water stress level. Among them, most of the Middle Eastern countries extract more than 100% of their internal water, the world highest being Egypt with 4100% extracted in 2014, while the Netherlands lies on top of the Western rank with 97.45%. Still, a few countries were able to decrease their overall water stress since the 80’s. Unfortunately, water stress does not include what we described earlier as “virtual water”, which can be “imported” in the form of food from foreign countries.<ref>Our | </ref> water generation (conversion of sea water to freshwater with energy). Several countries across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia already have an extremely high water stress level. Among them, most of the Middle Eastern countries extract more than 100% of their internal water, the world highest being Egypt with 4100% extracted in 2014, while the Netherlands lies on top of the Western rank with 97.45%. Still, a few countries were able to decrease their overall water stress since the 80’s. Unfortunately, water stress does not include what we described earlier as “virtual water”, which can be “imported” in the form of food from foreign countries.<ref>Our World in Data, “Water Use Stress” webpage. | ||
source: https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-stress</ref> | source: https://ourworldindata.org/water-use-stress</ref> | ||