World Faces Water Crisis By 2040

Report: World Faces Water Crisis By 2040

The world will face “insurmountable water crises” by 2040 if it does not move away from water-intensive power production. Two new studies released this week predict the world will have to choose between drinking water and energy demand in the next three decades.

The two studies—“Capturing Synergies Between Water Conservation and Carbon Dioxide Emissions in the Power Sector” and “A Clash of Competing Necessities”—have been published by researchers from Denmark’s Aarhus University, Vermont Law School and the CNA Corporation, a non-profit research and analysis organisation.

“It’s a very important issue. Water used to cool power plants is the largest source of water withdrawals in the United States,” says lead study author Paul Faeth, Director of Energy, Water, & Climate at CNA Corporation in a press release on the two new reports. “The recommendations in these reports can serve as a starting point for leaders in these countries, and for leaders around the world, to take the steps needed to ensure the reliability of current generating plants and begin planning for how to meet future demands for electric power,” says Faeth.

The reports suggest there has been a three-fold population increase in the past century and a six-fold increase in water consumption globally. If trends in population and energy use continue, it could leave a 40 per cent gap between water supply and demand by the year 2030, the reports say.

End of excerpt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With all due respect to those who have performed this study, I would say the world is already facing a water crisis. By 2040 it will be a CATASTROPHE. No matter what continent you look at water is becoming scarcer, more polluted and more in demand due to dirty and radioactive energy sources especially with India, China and other developing countries driving more cars and with oil consumption actually climbing in the US outpacing China. Seems the message regarding the consequences of our addiction are falling on deaf ears until catatastrophe strikes and it is too late? We humans have now precipitated the greatest crisis we will face in this century.

Take a look around and everywhere you now see wars being fought in places where natural gas is plentiful and water not so much. Population increases, climate destruction, corruption, greed, waste all culminating in the perfect storm of human extinction... Oh my, did I just type the words human extinction? Yes, I did. Think it isn't possible?... think again. With extinction rates now 1,000 times faster than they would be without human influence it is inevitable that at some point it will hit us and with the added stresses of water loss, loss of access and poisoning it to the point that even if you have it you really don't have it- humans cannot survive on this planet on the trajectory we are traveling on for too much longer. Water Is Life is not a cliche'd phrase- it is a FACT.

Our oceans are in peril already from using them as a toilet bowl. Garbage gyres, overfishing, radiation, oil, fertilizers, poisons, all coming together to the point of extinctions in our oceans along with the added stess of acidification due to the burning of fossil fuels increasing calcification. Water is a part of the dirty energy cycle from beginning to end. From extraction to sale. In a world of drought that is not only illogical it is immoral. This is also why the current Obama "All Of The Above" energy policy is a betrayal to our water present and future. Is it really worth it to bring about the end of humanity all because we couldn't wean ourselves off oil for a few fleeting hours of electricity when there are better ways of doing it to preserve our lifeblood? This is not a question of your politics or anything else about you- it is a question of our ultimate collective survival... and it is now in peril.

Imagine one day in say 2025, you wake up and go into your shower where you stand every morning from ten to twenty minutes using more water in that time than a family in Africa uses in a week. You turn the faucet on and nothing comes out and it isn't because of a glitch. You don't have anymore because the aquifer was sucked dry by "frackers" and climate destruction has amplified the hydro logic cycle to the point where your area is not getting enough rain to replenish what you sucked out and evaporated.... or sucked out by NESTLE or some other corporation that thinks it owns it because you were too distracted to see them steal it right out from under your feet. Imagine going to a grocery store and not seeing any food-because there is no water to grow it or process it or it's so exhorbitantly expensive you still go hungry. Imagine a day when you have to be the one taking huge buckets down to your local bay or water source if there is one (in my case ewwww) in order to hope you can get enough water to even meet the needs of your children let alone yourself and hope that you aren't robbed or worse on your way back by those desperate for water ... and after using it hoping your children don't get sick or die. Imagine the governments of the world have now managed to kill off much of the populations in the areas where water is scarce to now own it all- at a VERY HIGH PRICE to those who remain alive and war is now perpetual and brutal- all for a drink of water. These are not scenarios from some far away place and time. They are all happening now.

There really is no other way to phrase it- unless we stop wasting and polluting water and find ways to provide electricity that are not water intensive- we will run out of water to grow food, to drink, to live. And if you think this can't happen, just look at California. There are talks already of perhaps having to migrate people out of California because of the intense drought they are still enduring- mostly let's face it of their own making in league with the effects of climate destruction that is now on track to affect agriculture and water sources globally at an accelerating pace. The longer we continue to play politics with this and give credence to those who deny facts the more we slip into the abyss.

This crisis is not something that "could" or "might" happen- it is happening NOW. In the end it comes back to the same main precept: MORAL COURAGE and putting your present fleeting selfish wants behind the needs of all collectively now and in the future. It is about humanity. It is about respecting the lifeblood. Do we have the capacity as a whole to do that? Or will it take that final catastrophe to wake us up?

Also see:

Dry Planet

World Bank Wants Water Privatized-Despite Risks

1 In 10 People To Face Water Scarcity If Greenhouse Gas Emissions Continue

Oceans In Critical State From Cumulative Impacts

Our Carbon Debt, Our Moral Duty

Water In The Anthropocene