“Do You Worry About Not Having Enough Water?”

By: Nibroos Aurore

February 28, 2024

Climate change, as we all know, will inevitably affect everyone. It plays a significant role in shaping our Earth. Consider the environment and forests, food security, and water availability. For over 20,000 years, human interaction (both intentional and unintentional) has impacted water availability: namely population growth, density, and urbanization. But besides our footprint, there is an additional factor influencing clean water security: global warming. 

Despite the existence of global agreements to address climate change, according to the United Nations, in 2020, 2 billion people did not have access to drinking water. Many of us are reading this article with a cup of coffee or tea at our table. Yep, lucky for us. However, what if water becomes a scarce resource in the future? Would we be willing to pay a fortune for access to water? If the answer is no, we should start preserving it right now.

Unfortunately, our nightmare could become our future. Water crises are expected to occur shortly in various parts of the world unless appropriate mitigation is implemented. Climate change is currently threatening water supplies in various parts of the world. Water availability has always and will continue to impact human life as we know it.

This is a global issue that must be addressed to ensure the future of humanity. On a global scale, climate uncertainty causes paradoxical disasters, both floods and droughts simultaneously. Water and climate have both a direct and indirect correlation. The higher the earth's temperature, the higher the sea level is going to rise. The rise in seawater increases the salinity of both surface and groundwater, resulting in the loss of clean water sources. The water crisis caused by climate change is far from over. Climate change not only reduces freshwater sources but also increases water demand due to elevated temperatures. The paradox of climate change and the water crisis continues to spin and unravel.  

What can we do to address this issue? This problem is most likely solvable when all parties work together. First, policymakers must support and implement regulations to solve this issue, namely rainwater management, wastewater recycling, harnessing groundwater, and protecting natural buffers. Aside from these massive-scale regulations, each needs to act as a community, where a drop of water is a valuable unit on a worldwide basis.

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References:

1. Montgomery, D. R. & Wohl, E. E. Rivers and riverine landscapes. Developments in Quaternary Sciences 1, 221–246 (2003). 

2. Ray Biswas, R., Sharma, R. & Gyasi-Agyei, Y. Urban water crises: Making sense of climate change adaptation barriers and success parameters. Clim Serv 27, (2022). 

3. Visser, W. P. A perfect storm: The ramifications of Cape Town’s drought crisis. The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa 14, (2018).