I would like to write about a crisis we are and probably will experience sometime in our lives. Something many of us takes for granted, that of water availability and purity. There are 37 nations globally that are experiencing extreme water stress today. Seven of these nations are Caribbean. Water Resource Groups estimate that by 2030, if no action is taken, with the projected population and economic growth rates, water demand will outpace global supply by 40%.
There is a dire situation existing today, affecting every aspect of our lives, but not fully explained to the citizenry for many reasons. The commodity known as natural clean fresh water(H20) may join the dodo bird on a list of rare things. What’s going on here you may ask. World Droughts have expanded in time and history throughout the world.
In Africa, the northern deserts expand southward while droughts and lack of rain create massive regional dead zones where man and beast cannot survive. The very shores of North Africa are eroding by 50 meters a day, with the salt waters of the ocean winning the day. South Africa is attempting to drill over 5,000 freshwater sources to supply their citizenry with needed water, finding out that the water table has been depleted due to lack of rain. Wildlife is under siege from both the natural elements as well as the encroachment of humanity. There have been attempts to apply technology to find a solution to this continent’s problems, but desalinization of the surrounding seawater is far too expensive. A poor continent will continue to ship farther into the poverty of its people and natural resources. The United Nations has found many examples of criminality in Africa, where Toxic and man-made wastes have been buried in the sands of Africa illegally, and where these toxins have and continue to poison whatever freshwater Africans have. Interpol points its fingers at corrupt corporations and their criminal partners in France, Italy, China and the EU. Since corruption cannot be dealt with by corrupt national organizations these illegal environmental threats continue.
EU has experienced unheard-of droughts so extreme that major rivers are drying up revealing Europe’s history and denying Europeans fresh water. Massive forest fires burn presently in Spain, Portugal and southern France, destroying historic forests and many people’s livelihoods. Extreme Heat has been with us always, but with a population explosion as Europe has experienced in the past hundred years, the demand for mere basics of life such as water has put the EU under great pressure. The very water Europeans drink has been affected by aged pipes, low water sources and the introduction of microplastic pollution. Is the water Europeans drink safe to consume? Statistics tell us the portion of plastics is well over the accepted levels. The public domain tells Europeans their water is safe, yet control measures throughout the continent to limit drinking this water have increased annually.
Latin and Central America have some of the most freshwater supplies in the world and yet are the most threatened. Criminals inject toxic waste into the Amazon, and burn both legally and illegally the forests of the Amazon in mass burnings, creating farmland for crops and livestock. The freshwater of Brazil is being depleted, while in Argentina a decades-old drought continues to grow. Chile is thinking about selling its waters to its neighbours suffering from drought while attempting to create some form of water conservation system. Many of these nations are too poor to initiate water purification and maintenance programs.
The Caribbean has prime examples of small nations taking water maintenance seriously. There is a movement within Caribbean Governmental Organizations to unite their efforts before it is too late to do so. Caribbean nations have been introducing and expanding upon their water supply pipelines, and further water technologies. Social efforts to teach and encourage protection and conservation of their water supply continue. The Caribbean faces a future of water scarcity, demanding creative investments in its conservation methods.
Asia has been badly hit by water depletion and historic droughts bringing about the destruction of its regional farming communities in Afghanistan, China, Mountain Highlands and The Middle East while the climate damages India, Pakistan and other nations with Monsoon like flooding. Pakistan is lacking clean water while 1/3 of its landmass is underwater presently. The schizophrenic nature of Climate Change has placed this continent in peril. Lack of or far too much water damages this area’s freshwater system, the population and its environment for a long period of time.
North America has an abundance of freshwater while certain regions are lacking and in historic drought situations such as Mexico, California, Arizona and the midwest. Various attempts to conserve what water they have has failed due to extreme weather patterns annually applied. To further threaten water supply is the historic challenges of ageing pipelines, microplastic pollution and regional governments who let their population down by not investing in new water technologies and distribution methods, from source to home. America has shown a true lack of imagination and planning with regard to its future water and resource needs, failing to invest multi-billions of dollars into aged systems that simply do not work. While Lake Mead evaporates, Arizonian Citizens fear the loss of their fresh water supply. American corporations and their government have eyes on Canada’s freshwater supply. Water supply was a speed bump in the Free Trade Conversations of the past, where Canadians attempted to protect their precious water supply and America attempts to trade off one commodity for another.
It has become obvious to many that the very way we view our water supply must change. Australian Citizens have dealt with a lack of fresh water for decades, putting rain collection systems on each roof, showering and flushing toilets only once during the day, and watering lawns sparingly. Waist not-Want not. At a time when washing your hands is essential(Pandemic), the very thought of managing how long your tap flows, showering instead of bathing, filling your pool, watering your lawn for hours, flushing your toilets often(1.6 gallons, but depending on the manufacturer as much as 5-7 gallons). Thinking about the water you drink, its purity(?) and what are you also swallowing along with that water?
1. How can we collect the water mother nature throws at us in hurricanes, monsoons and floods?
2. Can safe water be synthetically created?
3. Can the science of weather creation be developed, where a rain cloud can be introduced to a drought-filled area?
4. How can we clean and purify salt water economically?
5. Is regional desalinization an essential service?
6. How can we maintain natural sources of water such as the Arctic, and South Poles? Can we manipulate water into energy? A dream not yet realized. One can only hope.
The five nations with the largest freshwater supply are Brazil, Russia, the USA, Canada and China. All these nations face massive water management challenges of their own while attempting to assist other nations in need. One can only help oneself before extending their hands out to others in need. Will water become the new world currency of the future? One can live without money, but without water, life ends. Some nations are globe-trotting buying up large sources of natural resources, be they mineral or indeed water. Water is becoming a tool of diplomacy and military strategy. Water is going to become the new politic in the near future, wait and see. Or perhaps do not wait, but start conserving your water reserves before it’s too late. National and Regional Governments must make water management, conservation and sourcing a political necessity, and a public goal.
Despite its growing scarcity and preciousness to life, ironically water is the most misgoverned, inefficiently allocated and wasted natural resource globally.
Steven Kaszab
Bradford, Ontario
[email protected]
