World Water Day

2013 has been declared the international year of water cooperation, as a burgeoning global human population continues to absorb every available drop of fresh water on the planet. Everyone needs it, but not everyone has it. Therein lies the rub.

Water shortage is also one of the Global Grand Challenges, as featured in a recent issue of E&T. The good news is that engineers and technologists now have some effective answers to the questions posed by water shortages.

Friday 21 March 2013 is World Water Day. Whatever it means to you, try using a little less water for one day at least.

*Source: http://engtechmag.wordpress.com/2013/03/21/worldwaterday-2013-and-engineering-solutions-to-water-shortage-an-annotated-graphic/

The future of water

• On current trends over the next 20 years humans will use 40% more water than they do now.
• An extra US$10 billion each year is needed to reach the target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe water and sanitation
• To reach the water target will require the provision of services to an additional 300,000 people a day over the next decade, requiring current efforts to be stepped up by almost one third.
• To reach the sanitation target means providing services to an additional 450,000 people a day until 2015. This calls for almost a doubling of the current efforts.

*Source http://www.pwf.co.im/watershortage.htm

Water usage facts

• The average amount of water needed to produce one kilogramme of potatoes is 1000 litres, wheat is 1450 litres and rice is 3450 litres. (Gleick 2001)
• The average European uses 200 litres of water every day. North Americans use 400 litres.
• It takes 2,400 litres to produce a hamburger and 11,000 litres to make a pair of jeans, including the water needed to grow the cotton.
• The average person in the developing world uses 10 litres of water every day for their drinking, washing and cooking. (Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC))
• An old lavatory uses at least nine litres of water a flush; a low-flush model uses as little as three litres. Each household in the UK uses about 50 litres a person a day for flushing – 35% of domestic water use. (Environment Agency)
• A normal individual uses from 135-140 litres of water daily.
• Filling a kettle consumes 2.5 litres of water, a bath takes 80 litres of water to be filled and by washing their clothes everyday an individual takes 65 litres of water to fill a washing machine up.
• Traditional baths use both more water and more energy than a shower does.
• Many businesses are literally pouring money down the drain by unnecessarily wasting water. If every business in the region leaves just one tap dripping for a day, a staggering 1.6 million litres of water would be wasted over the course of a year.
• To give you an idea: much of the company's waste water is now recycled in an automatic cleaning system and constitutes half of the cleaning water needed, while a moving beam cask washer reduced the amount of water required for cask cleaning by recycling the final rinse water.
• Each person in the UK currently uses about 150 litres of water every day. This has been rising by 1% a year since 1930. This consumption level is not sustainable in the long-term.
• Agriculture accounts for over 70% of the world's water consumption. (UN Environment Programme (UNEP))
• It takes at least 2,000 litres to produce enough food for one person for one day.
• Global water use is divided as follow: 70% Agriculture, 22% Industry, 8% Domestic.

*Sourcehttp://www.pwf.co.im/watershortage.htm

Water Shortage Facts

In the West, we take water for granted. Most people don’t actually think about the supply of water. Water is easy to ignore provided you can still turn on a tap and water comes out!

We still have the same amount of water in our ecosystem but the supply of freshwater faces a three-pronged attack from population growth, climate change and industrialization. As it currently stands, there’s not enough water to go around.

*Sourcehttp://www.pwf.co.im/watershortage.htm

Water Shortages Rising Across the Globe, But Especially India

By:Jaymi Heimbuch

Grail Research has just released a study on water shortages across the world. Fresh water is becoming increasingly scarce, and in countries like India and China that are rapidly growing, the scarcity will hit hardest as the culture moves towards consumerism. The study's findings illustrate how current reserves must be managed more effectively if scarcity is to be mitigated, but at the current rate, an estimated 3 billion people will live below the water stress threshold by 2025. Key findings from the study include:

By 2025, India, China and select countries in Europe and Africa will face water scarcity if adequate and sustainable water management initiatives are not implemented, and an estimated 3 Billion people will be living below the water stress threshold.

Although low and middle income developing countries currently have low per capita water consumption, rapid growth in population and inefficient use of water across sectors is expected to lead to a water shortage in the future. Developed countries will need to focus on reducing consumption through better management and practices.

By 2050, per capita water availability in India is expected to drop by about 44% due to growing populations and higher demand, as well as higher pollution levels.

The report takes a fascinating look at how water demands are changing, the policies currently in place, projected policies, and the future of fresh water across the planet, but with a very specific look at India. The numbers, while frightening, also show where change is possible and disaster avoidable...if the warning signs are heeded.

* Source  http://www.treehugger.com/clean-water/water-shortages-rising-across-the-globe-but-especially-india.html

Water Changes Everything

Almost a billion people live without clean drinking water. We call this the water crisis. It's a crisis because it only starts with water -- but water affects everything in life.

Health. Education. Food security. And the lives of women and children, especially.

We can end the water crisis in our lifetime. But first we have to let everyone know it's happening. Learn how water changes everything -- and share this with everyone you know. 

Written by charity: water + Jonathan Jarvis
Animation by Jonathan Jarvis
Voiceover by Kristen Bell
Score and sound effects by Douglas Kaufman

News from the world over on Water Issues

City is 'lurching from one water crisis to another'

DUBLIN is "lurching" from one water crisis to the next, it was claimed last night.As the city manager confirmed that restrictions affecting 1.5m people will be lifted on Thursday, councillors hit out at officials for their "lack of communication".

At a sometimes heated meeting of Dublin City Council, city manager Owen Keegan said there was still some way to go despite levels at the regional treated water storage plant increasing slightly.

He explained: "Water storage levels across the region have stabilised, with some increase over the last two days.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/city-is-lurching-from-one-water-crisis-to-another-29727899.html

Water Bills: Minister Urges Curb To Hikes

The Environment Secretary has urged water companies to "look closely" at whether price increases are necessary and urged them to introduce special tariffs for hard-pressed households.

In a letter to suppliers, Owen Paterson said they should recognise the financial strain that people were under.

The intervention came with Ofwat expected later this week to reject an application from Thames Water to increase bills by £29 in 2014-2015.

http://news.sky.com/story/1163981/water-bills-minister-urges-curb-to-hikes

Government asks water companies to reconsider price hikes

(Reuters) - The government has written to the country's biggest water companies, asking them to reconsider looming price hikes given that households are already struggling to meet rising utility bills, it said on Tuesday.

Water companies such as Pennon, Severn Trent and privately-owned Thames Water were permitted by industry regulator Ofwat in a 2009 review to raise prices by an average of 0.5 percentage points above inflation in 2014 and 2015.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/11/05/uk-britain-water-idUKBRE9A400520131105

Los Angeles Water Supply May Not Be Enough In A Few Decades

A century ago, Los Angeles opened an epic waterway that ran 233 miles from the eastern Sierra to sate the thirst of its expanding city. But the L.A. Aqueduct wasn't enough.

Another line later tapped into the Colorado River, but it also wasn't enough to sustain the growth boom across Southern California. Yet another then dipped into the sensitive Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta, but its southern stream now has been cut by a third.

The semiarid Southland imports more than half its water from hundreds of miles away through some of the modern world's largest aqueducts. But water officials now say that in the decades ahead, it may not be enough -- that more must be done to conserve and develop more water supplies here at home.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/04/los-angeles-water-supply_n_4212323.html