WATER SCARCITY

NATHAN MENEZES,
ROLL NO 24, STD 12,
HOLY FAMILY JUNIOR COLLEGE
INTRODUCTION

Water scarcity can be defined as a lack of sufficient

water, or not having access to safe water supplies.

Water covers 70% of our planet. However, only 3% of

the world’s water is freshwater, and two-thirds of that
is tucked away in frozen glaciers or otherwise
unavailable for our use. Only 1% water is available
for use

As the population of the world grows and the

environment becomes further affected by climate
change, access to fresh drinking water is a grave
challenge, affecting communities in all continents.
 IMPORTANCE
● Clean water is an essential ingredient of a healthy human life, but
● 1.2 billion people lack access to water.
● Inadequate sanitation is a problem for 2.4 billion people.
● Two million people, mostly children, die each year from diarrheal diseases alone.
● By 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may be facing water shortages.
● Access to safe drinking water is a basic human right and a priority for global
development.
● However, given the challenges of population growth, water misuse, growing pollution
, and changes in weather patterns due to global warming, many countries worldwide,
faced increasing water scarcity in the 21st century.
● Water scarcity will lead to food shortage
● Cities of the future will have a hard time providing sufficient sanitation and
efficiently managing with less reliable water.
● Water conservation & proper water management systems need to be implemented
OBJECTIVE:

To study the key causes of

water scarcity, the impact and
the strategies required to
manage the same.
 MAJOR SOURCES OF WATER SCARCITY

● Overexploitation and wastage of water.

● Increased population & increased water

consumption.

● Pollution of existing water resources -

domestic (sewage), agricultural, industrial
and thermal pollution.
 MAJOR SOURCES OF WATER SCARCITY

● Uneven rainfall and distribution of

water resources
● Climate change - irregular
weather, less or very heavy
rainfall, droughts.
● Natural calamities such as
droughts and floods.
● A global rise in freshwater
demand.
● Overuse of aquifers and its
consequent slow recharge.
IMPACTS/ EFFECTS OF WATER
SCARCITY
● Hunger due to shortage of water for
farming, especially in arid and semi-arid
regions.
● Poor health due to low grade,
contaminated water causing water-
borne diseases like cholera, typhoid
and dysentery.
● Poor standards of living and high
economic losses.
● Water wars as people fight over limited
resources
IMPACTS/ EFFECTS OF
WATER SCARCITY
●Habitat Loss and Destruction to
Ecosystems contributing to
desertification, loss of plants and
Loss of marine life
death of wildlife and other animals.
●Loss of wetlands and its capability to
hold water

Loss of wetlands
 SOLUTIONS TO MITIGATE
WATER SCARCITY

● Water management - monitoring and limited use,

reduce wastage
● Water re-use & Effective Water Treatment
Technologies to reduce dependency of fresh
water Rain water harvesting
● Recharging aquifers to increase groundwater
● Rain water harvesting - trapping fresh rain water
into tanks or borewells and preventing it from
flowing out to sea.
● Controlling pollution of industrial, domestic &
agricultural waste into water bodies
● Desalination of water to produce
potable water from saline water
● Water efficient irrigation systems like
drip irrigation to avoid agriculture
water consumption
● Infrastructure repair and
maintenance to avoid wastage due to
leaky pipes and channels
Fractional distillation
● Water Conservation has become a
major environmental issue.

Drip irrigation
 Local solutions to mitigate water
scarcity:

The Central and State Governments have initiated quite a few

watershed development and management programmes in the
country

● India’s National Water Policy, 2002 - to provide surplus water

to the deficit areas. It aims to reduce water pollution and
improve water quality of rivers.
● Paani Foundation - organisation set up to make Maharashtra
drought free by people's participation in watershed
management, water conservation, creating awareness.
● Hariyali is an organisation by the central government that aims
to enable the rural population to conserve water for drinking,
irrigation, afforestation and farming.
Observation and Conclusion:
● Water is essential for life and its scarcity threatens
life in many ways.
● Our water resources, irregularly distributed in space
and time, are under pressure due to major
population change and increased demand.
● We can observe daily that scarcity of water is a
growing and concerning global issue.
● Water scarcity, is an issue that will greatly affect the
amount of crops grown and will determine whether
there is enough food to feed the world by 2050
● A holistic approach in the usage of both surface and
ground water resources should be encouraged and
supported by governments, non-governmental
organizations and community.
THANK
YOU.