Water Crisis: Causes, Consequences, and Future Outlook

1. WATER

3. WORLD’S WATER DISTRUBUTION • Less than 0.007% of all the water on earth is available to drink. • The vast majority (97%) is undrinkable salt water in the oceans & most of the fresh water is trapped in Ice!

4. Over two thirds of the earth's surface is covered with water, 97.2% of which is contained in the five oceans. The Antarctic ice sheet, containing 90% of all fresh water on the planet, is visible at the bottom. Atmospheric water vapour can be seen as clouds.

5. World Water Gap • Roughly 20% of the world’s population don’t have access to safe drinking water. That’s more than 1.2 BILLION people! • According to a UN climate report, the Himalayan glaciers that are the sources of Asia's biggest rivers - Ganga, Sindhu, Brahmaputra, Yangtze, Mekong, Salween and Yellow River - could disappear by 2035 as temperatures rise. • In India, more than 80% fresh water available is used for agriculture, so water crisis impacts food availability in a big way.

6. Distribution of population and water resources

7. Major factors contributing to the crisis? • Population growth. In the 20th Century, the world population tripled! The use of water grew 6 times. • Food production. The increased population , the rise in living standards and a change in our eating habits have put huge pressure on agriculture for increased production. • Climate Change / Global warming • Pollution. Inadeqaute separation of sewage water from fresh water, unscrupulous dumping of waste water in rivers & lakes. • Deforestation. Leads to reduction in size & capacity of water catchment areas.

8. Effects of Water Crisis • Inadequate access to safe drinking water for more than 1 billion people. • Inadequate access to water for sanitation and waste disposal for around 3 billion people. • Excessive use of Ground water, leading to lower agricultural yields • Pollution of water resources leads to many diseases affecting humans. Overuse of water resources harms the bio-diversity. • Regional conflicts over scarce water resources. These conflicts can range in scope from neighbours squabbling over first use of the communal water, villages in direct conflict with cities for water being diverted there, to full-scale war between neighbouring countries over a shred water resource.

9. Water Scarcity - Effects • Health, education, and economic growth are impacted • World Water Forum estimates • 1.4 billion people lack clean drinking water • 2.3 billion people lack adequate sanitation • 7 million people die yearly from diseases linked to water • Half the world’s rivers and lakes are badly polluted • Shortages could create millions of refugees seeking homes in a location accessible to water

10. Water Scarcity - Effects • World Health Organization estimates: • 80% of all sickness in the world is attributable to unsafe water and sanitation • The leading causes of death in children under 5 are related to unclean water; there are about 5,000 child deaths every day • Without action, as many as 135 million people could die from water-related diseases by 2020 • Women and children can trek miles every day to retrieve water. This hard manual labor takes time that they might otherwise spend pursuing education or earning additional income

11. Water Scarcity in the future