Final Group Assignment

Water Shortage

Water shortage is not simply found in the developing world.”More than one in six people or, 1.1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water, while 2.6 billion people lack sanitation” (Water Crisis). In addition, 3900 children die from water borne diseases every day. Changes in lifestyle have been causing the per capita use to increase. Aside from this, the global population has also been increasing steadily as well (Water Crisis).These factors have caused the proportion of water for human use to increase.

 Both the temporal and spatial variations in the availability of water make the water available for consumption scarce. As a result, the supply of water for food and industrial processes is now decreasing (Water Crisis).The increasing water consumption of humans also causes a lot of problems in other aspects of life. One example is that it also reduces the water that is available for agricultural and industrial developments. Aside from this, the scarcity of water also affects the aquatic ecosystems and all species dependent on this balance. This causes the environmental balances to be disturbed (Water Crisis).”The problem of water crises is now a very serious one. According to the World Bank, 80 countries now experience shortages in water. This problem threatens both human health and national economies” (Global Water Shortage Looms In New Century). However, water problems nowadays are becoming serious both at the national and international levels (Global Water Shortage Looms In New Century).

According to The Water Project, “The problem of water scarcity is a growing one. As more people put ever increasing demands on limited supplies, the cost and effort to build or even maintain access to water will increase. And water's importance to political and social stability will only grow with the crisis” (Water Scarcity: The Importance of Water & Access).The main cause of the increasing concern for the water problems is the continuous increase in the population of the world. This increase in population also increases the water demands of industrial and agricultural aspects. The world - wide demand for water is already doubling every twenty one years, according to the World Bank. The current water supply cannot keep up anymore with the increasing demand (Global Water Shortage Looms In New Century). However, the growth in population is not the only factor that affects the increase of demand for water. The rising standards of living can also be associated with this greater usage in water. An example of this is the decreasing amount of grain in diets (Global Water Shortage Looms In New Century). According to an article in CBS News, the Americans are the biggest water consumers in the world. Their average consumption just after taking a shower, using the bathroom, brushing their teeth, and having a cup of coffee is already more than 30 gallons of water. After these, they still do a lot of activities that also consumes water. At the end of the day, their average water consumption is already 150 gallons (Strassmann, 2012). In order to compare how big the water consumption of America is, the average water consumption of big countries was also determined. The United Kingdom only uses a quarter of America’s water consumption. Their average water consumption is only 40 gallons of water a day. On the other hand, China only uses about 22 gallons a day. In other poor countries such as Kenya, the people use only 13 gallons of water a day (Strassmann, 2012). According to an article in Natural News, thirty six states in the United States of America are expected to have problems regarding water shortages in the next five years, as estimated by the United States government.The reason that they are looking at this issue is the rising temperatures and droughts in the country. This causes the available freshwater supplies to decrease. They are also taking into consideration the increase in the population in the United States (Gutierrez, 2008).ost Americans are not aware of this major problem that is now arising in the United States. Some of their states such as California, New Mexico, and Texas, already have problems regarding water shortage. Another problem is that the Southern part of the United States is currently experiencing extreme drought. Some countries are already relying on underground, non renewable supplies (Gordy, 2011).

One of the solutions that can be implemented is the process of sea water desalination. The main purpose of a desalination plant is to part saline water into two streams. The first one is called the fresh water stream which is composed of a low concentration of dissolved salts. The other one is called the brine stream. This is also called the concentrate because it contains the remaining dissolved salts. Desalination has been called the Holy Grail of water supply. This is because it can offer us unlimited supply of potable water from oceans and other sources of water (Heather Cooley).There have also been research which proves the potential of the desalination of treated wastewater, which is applicable for use in industry. This may help in reducing industry’s demand for public water. Also, this will be a great help to the environment because it will reduce the amount of treated wastewater. Some areas in the world which already employ desalination for public use are found in the Middle East, North Africa, the Caribbean, Southern Europe, China, USA, and Singapore (Dubai to build mega-desalination and power plant, 2007).

Group members:
Haji Sultan AlQubaisi
Sultan AlMahri
Abudalrahman AlHosani