Global Water: Our Limited Resource

Erika Shaid, Aria Amrom, Sara Goldstein, Samara Gordon

The Problems:The two major problems that affect the amount of available fresh water are the growing Population and resulting Pollution

First, lets take a look at…

THE GROWING POPULATION

Population vs. Water Withdrawals

World Population

– expected to rise by 2.53 billion people, a total of 9.1 billion in 2050

– food production will only meet consumption demands for the next two decades

"World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision Population Database." Web. 04 Feb. 2010. <http://esa.un.org/unpp/>.

http://www.umweltbundesamt.de/uba-info-e/wah20-e/grafik/Tafel1_2.jpg

"PE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" Data360 Homepage." X page @1-F2E601E6-- Data 360. Web. 04 Feb. 2010. <http://www.data360.org/index.aspx>.

"Nearly all of world population growth is now concentrated in the world's poorer countries, even the small amount of overall

growth in the wealthier nations will largely result from immigration.”

- Bill Butz, PRB’s president

"The differences between Italy and the Democratic Republic of the Congo illustrate this widening demographic divide, on one side are mostly poor countries with high birth

rates and low life expectancies. On the other side are mostly wealthy countries with low

birth rates and rapid aging.”-Mary Mederios Kent, co-author of this year’s

Data Sheet

Issues For Under-developed Countries

– limited financial means– inadequate political & managerial resources

– 18 percent of the population is undernourished

Homepage Cousteau. Web. 04 Feb. 2010. <http://www.cousteau.org/>.

Issues for Highly-developed Countries

• Population uses too much water• Industry causes pollution

Population Projections for HDCs

-little change over the next 41 years -will remain at about 1.2 billion

"World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision Population Database." Web. 04 Feb. 2010. <http://esa.un.org/unpp/>.

Population Projections in UDCs

• Projected to increase significantly• Most growth of world population will take

place in UDCs• 2050 projection:

– Africa= 1,766,000,000– US=392,000,000

www.un.org

Example of HDC-JapanBreakdown of Japan’s Water Use

Annual Use– 16.2 billion m3 for domestic use– 12.1 billion m3 for industrial use– 55.2 billion m3 for agricultural use

Groundwater– 3.7 billion m3 for domestic use – 3.8 billion m3 for industrial use– 3.3 billion m3 for agricultural use

"Water Resources in JAPAN." Web. 04 Feb. 2010. <http://www.mlit.go.jp/tochimizushigen/mizsei/water_resources/contents/current_state2.html>.

Japan; Mineral Water

• The total amount of domestic production and import of mineral water increased by 13 times from that in 1990 to approximately 2.3 billion liters (in 2006)

• price is about 550-fold of tap water

"Water Resources in JAPAN." Web. 04 Feb. 2010.

<http://www.mlit.go.jp/tochimizushigen/mizsei/water_resources/contents/current_state2.html>.  

Example of UDC-Nicaragua

• water availability of 35,000 cubic meter/capita/year

– agriculture (84% of withdrawals)– domestic use (14%)– industry (2%)Nicaragua Water Supply and Sanitation Investment Program Loan Proposal. Inter-

American Development Bank, Report No. NI-L1017, 2006

Japan Nicaragua US DRC

Population mid-2009

127,568,000 5,669,000 306,805,000 68,693,000

Population 2050 (projected)

100,593,000 8,143,000 439,010,000 189,311,000

Life expectancy 83 years 71 Years 78 years 53 years

Percent of Population undernourished

2.5% 27% Less than 2.5%

74%

Population with Access to Improved Water Sources

100% 79% 99% 46%

Population using Improved Drinking Water Sources

Urban- 100%Rural- 100%

Urban-90%Rural-63%

Urban- 100%Rural- 94%

Urban- 82%Rural- 29%

Home - Population Reference Bureau. Web. 04 Feb. 2010. <http://www.prb.org/>. 

"Population Trends: Rapid Growth in Less Developed Regions: Population & Development : UNFPA." UNFPA - United Nations Population Fund. Web. 04 Feb. 2010. <http://www.unfpa.org/pds/trends.htm>.

Suggestions for the World

• Education • Provide Incentive • Pollution Prevention• Conservation Plans• Aid with Implementation

Suggestions to Control Population

• Contraception• Abstinence• Abortion• Birth Control• Regulatory Laws (National Level)

Global Water’s Population Control Wish

• “There should be access to birth control education and materials so people in developing countries have that as a choice. They are not available today.”

-Ted Kuepper of Global Water

Example for Population Control

• One Child Policy: -The population control policy of China -Restricts number of children married

urban couples can have to 1

The Resulting Problem:

POLLUTION

Pollution CirculatesDarby CreekDelaware RiverOceanSurrounding countries  

Gulf Stream Current- up through Europe, Down to Equator, and back up and around

The Ocean Currents

Diseases from Polluted Water

• about 250 million cases of water-related diseases per year

– Cholera– Typhoid– Schistosomiasis– dysentery – diarrheal diseases(http://www.grinningplanet.com/2005/07-26/water-pollution-facts-article.htm)

http://www.keepbanderabeautiful.org/pollution_sources_chart.jpghttp://www.umich.edu/~gs265/society/pollution_report.gif

Sources of Pollution

Point Source Pollution

• enter a waterway through a discrete conveyance like a pipe or ditch

• U.S. Clean Water Act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_pollution

Non-point Source Pollution

• Contamination that does not originate from a single discrete source

• Example: leaching out of nitrogen compounds from agricultural land which has been fertilized

• Urban Runoff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_pollution

Ways to Prevent Water Pollution on a Local Level

• Recycle• Environmentally friendly household products• Natural fertilizers and pesticides• Conserve water by turning off the tap when running water is not necessary• Reuse Automobile oil

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/ways-to-prevent-water-pollution.html

Global Water’s Solutions

• More access to safe water supplies is more important than conservation in the developing world

• GW spreads awareness through website and through students and others

• Use literature to give presentations to students• Funding projects in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Peru, Kenya,

Botswana

EPA’s Solutions

• regulating point sources that discharge pollutants

• Works with state and local authorities – monitor pollution levels in U.S. water– status and trend information

• variety of ecosystems

http://www.epa.gov/ebtpages/watewaterpollution.html 

The United States’ Solution

• Federal Water Pollution Control Act (1972)• Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act (1972)• Safe Drinking Water Act (1974) • Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, as amended in 1988• $10 billion was spent on water and wastewater treatment. (1996)

http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/sci/A0861893.html

International Cooperation With U.S.

• promoted by the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultive Organization (IMCO)

• Limitation of ocean dumping proposed at 80-nation London Conference (1972)

• 12 European nations in Oslo (1972) – rules to regulate dumping in the North Atlantic

Millennium Development Goals

• 2000 UN Millennium Summit– 189 world leaders from rich and poor countries – eight time-bound targets to end extreme poverty worldwide by 2015

http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

• Many high-level conferences• need for international cooperation • address the issue of access water and sanitation

http://www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/globaled/go/cache/offonce/pid/16

Global Conference

• Leaders from each country gather together to establish global goals of reducing water pollution, reducing population, and sharing water equally

• The conference will be divided into three parts: education, suggestion, and goals/future

Education

• Teach people about water conservation and availability

• Teach them about the important of lessening the gap between HDCs and UDCs

• Population Pollution

Suggestions

• Bring in different organizations’ plans, use these as models

• Teach countries methods of sustainability, conservation, lessing pollution, and desalination

Goals/Plans for the future

• Meet in 5 years to view progress• Yearly updating report • Each country needs to create a

proposal of what they are going to do using the suggestions that we give

UN Resolution

• Through a series of goals, resolutions and declarations adopted by member nations of the United Nations, the world has a set of commitments, actions, and goals to fix the problem of decreasing fresh water availability

-www.un.org

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American Development Bank, Report No. NI-L1017, 2006