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Archives
April 16-30, 2000
Severe water scarcity to
strike one-third of world's population by 2025
Within the next 25 years, 2.7 billion
people will experience severe water scarcity, according
to a study conducted by the International Water Management
Institute, a research center of the Consultative Group
on International Argicultural Research (CGIAR). This
study, which also appeared on the March issue of a leading
journal on global water resources, studied the amount
of water consumed and the amount that returns to the
ground to recharge groundwater supplies. According to
the study, the water sources that supply the world's
wells, lake and rivers are disappearing. Consequently,
less water is available to recharge the groundwater
supplies.
To determine which part of the world will
be affected by this situation, the study categorized
the affected countries into four groups. The first category
classifies countries as facing absolute water scarcity.
They will experience the severest water scarcity by
2025. These countries will have inadequate water supply
for agriculture, industry, household and environmental
needs. Countries under the second category will experience
sufficient water resources but will have to exert extra
effort to extract water to sustain their supply. They
are classified as having economic water scarcity since
these countries will have difficulty finding financial
resources to build water development projects, i.e.
dams and irrigation systems.
The study suggested some solutions to
solve or at least ease the problem of water scarcity
for the next 25 years, which will impact most of the
food supplies of the poor. With regard to the groundwater
problem, the study suggests that groundwater aquifers
be replenished, and not to reduce irrigation. This way,
more above-the-ground water will be captured duirng
wet season. Another approach is to increase rice paddy
irrigation during wet season. The idea is that the deep
percolation losses of paddy irrigation recharge aquifers
and replenish steram flows.
Adapted from SAVANNA Press Release,
posted on http://www.futureharvest.org
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