In 20 years water demand will exceed supply by 40 percent
By Boonsri Dickinson
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It takes so much water to make everything we produce and own. The hidden use of water is known as virtual water. Nearly 90 percent of the consumption of the [url=http://discovermagazine.com/2010/mar/29-how-big-is-your-water-footprint]world’s fresh water supply[/url] is used for producing food and energy.
You might not realize this but it takes 1.5 tonnes of water to make a computer and six tonnes to make a pair of jeans. So it’s not surprising that the [url=http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-02/cwn-crg022211.php]annual global virtual water trade[/url] is the equivalent of 10 Nile Rivers.
Sadly our unsustainable use of water is running in short supply.
Why is there such a poor outlook for our global water supply exactly? Well there are two reasons: blame population growth and climate change.
Water supplies will be sought after like oil is.
The development of complex agro-industrial energy-intensive societies globally over the last two centuries has deepened our connection to ever-more extensive water management. The intensification of water use has come with a rapid expansion of water infrastructure on a massive scale; over 40000 large dams exist in the USA alone most built within the last
century. The rapidly developing nations of South America Asia and Africa are now entering their own era of rapid water infrastructure development fueled in part by the push for low-carbon energy sources. As a result few large rivers still flow free and unobstructed to the sea.
Matthews reminds us that “managing water is not new to human societies. In many ways we are a water engineering species.”