effects of
scarcity of water
Answers
Answer:
scarcity effects
Water shortages have a great impact on human health, socio-economic development, and the environment:
1.Hunger, poverty and education
Apart from dehydration due to the obvious lack of drinking water, hunger is one the most serious effect of water scarcity. Why? Water shortages have a direct impact on crops and livestock, which can lead to food shortages and eventually starvation. As well, because of water shortages some people cannot shower, wash their clothes or clean their homes properly.
In the poorest countries, some children can’t go to school, because they are either too sick or they have to walk for a long time to reach a water source. Even when they can attend, many children cannot learn because of their fatigue, heavy responsibilities and worries for their families.
2.Sanitation issues and diseases
Water scarcity generates sanitation problems by forcing people to drink unsafe water. In fact, when water is scarce people tend to store it at home, which increases the risk of domestic water contamination and creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which transmit dengue and malaria.
Lack of water cause other diseases such as trachoma (an eye infection that can cause blindness), plague and typhus.
3.Conflicts
Having access to water has become a powerful global economic issue that could become one of the main causes of international tension. Local conflicts - sometimes resulting in warfare - are triggered over scarce water resources. With the burgeoning global population and growing needs, these tensions could multiply in the future.
4.Biodiversity loss
Water scarcity has different negative impacts on rivers, lakes, and other freshwater resources. It harms the environment in several ways including increased salinity, nutrient pollution, and the loss of floodplains and wetlands. Ecosystems and biodiversity (e.g. freshwater fish) are threatened by the scarcity of water resources.
by ARCHIT SRIVASTAVA
Answer:
DISAPPEARING WETLANDS
About half of the world’s wetlands have been destroyed since 1900. Some of the most productive habitats on the planet, wetlands support high concentrations of animals—including mammals, birds, fish and invertebrates—and serve as nurseries for many of these species. Wetlands also support the cultivation of rice, a staple in the diet of half the world’s population. And they provide a range of ecosystem services that benefit humanity, including water filtration, storm protection, flood control and recreation.
DAMAGED ECOSYSTEMS
When water becomes scarce, natural landscapes often lose out. The Aral Sea in central Asia was once the world’s fourth largest freshwater lake. But in only three decades, the sea has lost an area the size of Lake Michigan. It is now as salty as an ocean due to the excessive pollution and the diversion of water for irrigation and power generation. As the sea has retracted, it has left polluted land. This ecological catastrophe has created food shortages and resulted in a rise in infant mortality and a decrease in life expectancy for the nearby population.
Water scarcity has major effects on Health, Hunger, Education, and Poverty.
Health
water scarcity in many developing countries, people are forced to drink low quality water from flowing streams, many of which are contaminated. There are many water-borne diseases that people might catch.
water disease
Less water also means sewage does not flow, and mosquitoes are other insects breed on still (stagnant) dirty water. The result is deadly malaria and other infections.
Lack of water or quality water causes huge sanitation issues. Clinics, local restaurants, public places of convenience and many other places are forced to use very little water for cleaning. This compromises the health of the staff and people who use the facilities.
Hunger
It takes a lot of water to grow food and care for animals. Experts say that globally we use 70% of our water sources for agriculture and irrigation and only 10% on domestic uses.
Less water means farming and other crops that need water to grow have lower yield. It means farm animals will die and others will not do well without water. The result is constant hunger and thirst and low quality of life.
Education
It is a bit hard to see how water and education is related. For many people in other parts of the world children (and teen girls) have to be up at dawn to collect water for the family. They have to walk for several miles to get water. The children get tired and some have to miss school as a result. Doing this for many years take away school times and the cycle continues. In other places, girls and women are not allowed to go to school at all so that they can serve the family by getting water and taking care of other family needs.
Poverty
Access to quality water is key to economic prosperity and better living standards. Businesses and schools thrive when people come to work on time and not have to spend all morning looking for water. Restaurants, hotels and shopping places need to keep clean to attract tourists and foreign investments. Manufacturing activities, commercial farms, and mining processes all need a lot of water to thrive. Lack of water means no economic activities will happen and the people will be in constant poverty.