The water scarcity crisis is far worse than previously estimated. More than 75 percent of the population faces severe water shortages, at least a month every year. According to a new analysis, half a billion people on Earth experience the problem of lack of water all throughout the year.
Global water scarcity can be associated with improvement in living standards, the rise in world population, expansion of irrigation facilities in agriculture, and changing patterns of consumption. Over 500 million people reside in areas where the consumption is double the amount of the actual availability. Meanwhile, individual homes require only 1 to 4 percent of the total water.
India and China are two countries observing severe water scarcity every year. While some areas of India face water shortage crisis for 4 to 8 months, other areas battle water shortage all throughout the year making it an issue of primary concern.
Countries including Africa, Central and the Western United States, Australia along with London are also facing water problems. As per researchers, these issues will only elevate shortly due to increasing water use and population explosion. Water shortage is also on a high due to consumption of meat.
Previous studies estimated that around 1.3 to 3.1 billion people faced a water crisis. However, the number has increased to a whopping 4 billion after analyzing the data from 1996-2005. As per scientists, increasing water-use efficiency, placing caps on water use for river basins, and better sharing of freshwater resources can help fight the current situation.
The World Economic Forum rated water crises as one of three problems that pose a massive threat to economies and people in the next ten years. Mass Migration and Climate Change are the other two factors. In Syria, the drought of 2007-2010 which was caused by climate change resulted in the mass migration of several farming families into towns and cities.
(Main Image Credit: bluecommunity.info; Featured Image Credit: economictimes.com; Map & article Credit: guardian.com)
