The Effects of Water Shortages in the Last Decade Essay Example for Free

The Effects of Water Shortages in the Last Decade Essay The effects of water shortages in the last decade. New water purification technologies This oral presentation will be divided into few parts. The first one will deal with how the water supplies available to the people, have gradually decreased in the last decade; statistical data will be presented, together with some pictures and graphs. Also, it will make a projection of what could be the impact of the water shortages in the near future and will examine how devastating the need for drinking water could become if certain measures for retaining it are taken very soon. The next part will be about some of the innovations in the water purifications technologies. The last part will be a discussion, where your questions you will be welcomed and I will also ask a couple of questions. It is quite popular to refer to our planet Earth as the Blue Planet and probably all of us are aware why this nickname is given. That’s because of earth’s surface is 70% covered by water. Unfortunately, only around 2% of this is drinking water and the question are we using this small quantity responsively is getting more and more discussed recently. The shortest answer to this question is â€Å"No†; humanity needs too much fresh water and shortages have become highly noticeable. It’s needless to say that water is crucial for all life on earth. It plays an essential role for our health, economy, food production, and environment. Also, drinking fresh water is a compulsory element of the development of the public health, since 21 of the 37 primary diseases are related to water and sanitation. With the growing world population (over 7 billion so far), water consumption rate doubles every 20 years, a pace that is double the rate of population growth. If population and consumption trends persist, it is estimated that the demand for water will surpass its availability by 56%, and 1. 8 billion people will be living in regions of water scarcity by 2025. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that developing countries, already experiencing water-stress, often have the highest population growth rates—bringing more people into a region that already cannot support them. Here it’s important to explain the terms â€Å"water-stressed countries† and â€Å"water-scarce regions†, given the fact that in the near future they will become part of the geographical description of further more parts of the world. Water-stressed countries are regions with fewer than 1,700 m3 of water per capita per year. People living in water-stressed regions must make painful decisions about using water for personal consumption, agriculture, or industry. Regions with fewer than 1,000 m3 per person per year are defined as water-scarce. Water-scarcity hinders economic development, strains the environment, and drastically limits food availability. The 2009 World Water Development report revealed that nearly half of the global population will be living in regions of high water stress by 2030.