Water Scarcity:
Major Crisis In The Making
By Melati Mohd Ariff
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 (Bernama) -- Talk to any environmental activist these days and you will surely hear a resounding "Yes, it's REAL, we're heading for a major water crisis!"
But just how many of us are fully aware of the nature and the magnitude of the problem looming before us and the fact that the world is simply running out of fresh water. For most of us, there is abundant water supply.
In 2003, the United Nations (UN) issued a warning saying that the world's water shortage was so severe that it could take almost 30 years to eradicate hunger.
The warning was based on a report prepared by the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) which combined the efforts of 23 UN agencies. It was a Unesco (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) undertaking.
The report titled "Water for People, Water for Life" was meant for the Third World Water Forum, held in Kyoto, Japan the same year.
The report states that "by 2020, the average water supply per person worldwide is expected to shrink by one third compared to now" and that "25,000 people will die daily from hunger with an estimated 815 million people suffering from malnutrition".
MORE ALARMING STATISTICS
Realising the urgent need to address the global water crisis, the UN chose water as its theme for the 2003 World Environment Day " Water - Two Billion People are Dying for It!"
The world body in the same year also issued some key facts about water which by right should have raised alarm bells across all walks of life around the globe.
Some of the startling facts include, that within 25 years, half of the world's population could have problem finding enough freshwater for drinking and irrigation.
Currently, over 80 countries, representing 40 per cent of the world's population are subject to serious water shortages. According to the UN, conditions may get worse in the next 50 years as the population numbers grow and global warming disrupts rainfall patterns.
West Asia, the UN said faced the greatest threat whereby over 90 per cent of the region's population was experiencing severe water stress, with water consumption exceeding 10 per cent of renewable freshwater resources.
On the home turf, with severe floods hitting several states in Malaysia, especially Johor which was hit twice in less than a month, the water crisis may be far from anybody's mind right now.
SHRINKING RESOURCE
"Definitely water is a shrinking resource," Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) executive director Dr Loh Chi Leong told Bernama here recently.
He said people seemed to think that there was plenty of water around.
"Even though water covers 75 per cent of the earth's surface, 97.5 per cent of it is salt water, and only 2.5 per cent of the world's water is actually fresh water and even that most of is frozen and some underground.
"It is generally accepted that less than one per cent is readily available for human use. That is what we call potable water, easily accessible. Most of it would be in the form of surface water which are rivers, lakes and so forth and 50 per cent of that is polluted," added Loh.
In some countries, water is fast becoming a regional contention especially when countries share a river, raising the question who has the right to take the water first.
"There is no international agreement on how to deal with water supply when a river flows into different countries. There is possibility that when a crisis occurs, countries may well forget that they are neighbours. That is why the United Nations predict that there will be a war over water. Let's hope that things won't get to that extent but that itself should be a warning," said Loh.
GLOBAL WARMING
Climate change affects our life in many strange ways. Take the glaciers, for example. Many of the world's rivers such as in Asia, the Mekong and the Indus are fed by glaciers.
Normally, glaciers will receive a build-up of snow and ice during the winter months and this will melt slowly in the spring and summer, providing a steady flow of water in the rivers.
What is happening now is that winter snow and glacial ice are melting more rapidly with higher spring temperatures, causing higher spring water levels that can cause flooding and resulting in less water flow in the summer.
"This trend is already happening and it has been in the news in the last three years," said Loh.
As for Malaysia and the surrounding region, he said, some climatologists predicted as much as 20 per cent more rain based on a 1-3 degree increase in global temperature.
However, the extra rain will occur in the form of severe thunderstorms.
"More rain in the form of thunderstorms means there is more surface runoff into rivers, increasing the risk of flooding but less water retained in the soil and vegetation also means less drinking water available," said Loh.
At the same, he said, in combination with the El Nino effects, meteorologists had predicted that 2007 would see the highest global temperatures on record.
"I think this year people will begin to see a lot of weather-related spectacles around the world," he cautioned.
EL NINO IS BACK
Early this month, scientists predicted that 2007 "is likely to be the warmest year on record globally, beating the current record set in 1998".
According to a report in the Environment News Service (ENS) website, scientists at the British Meteorological Office in revealing the "startling forecast" said the potential for a record 2007 would arise from an El Nino warming pattern already established in the Pacific Ocean.
The scientists believe the El Nino will persist through the first few months of 2007.
Echoing the same concern, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) was quoted as saying that the El Nino probably would be most pronounced in the first half of 2007.
El Nino is a weather phenomenon characterised by major temperature fluctuations in surface waters of the tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean. The phenomenon usually occurs around Christmas time in the Pacific Ocean and lasts for several months, but may persist into May and June.
The direct effects of El Nino include drier conditions that could translate into prolonged drought in parts of southeast Asia and Northern Australia, increasing bush fires and worsening haze and decreasing air quality.
El Nino is also blamed for a string of supertyphoons.
Global warming and El Nino in particular may well be at our doorstep, but the worst scenario of climatic change including the water crisis can be prevented if we ACT now! - BERNAMA
Major Crisis In The Making
By Melati Mohd Ariff
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 22 (Bernama) -- Talk to any environmental activist these days and you will surely hear a resounding "Yes, it's REAL, we're heading for a major water crisis!"
But just how many of us are fully aware of the nature and the magnitude of the problem looming before us and the fact that the world is simply running out of fresh water. For most of us, there is abundant water supply.
In 2003, the United Nations (UN) issued a warning saying that the world's water shortage was so severe that it could take almost 30 years to eradicate hunger.
The warning was based on a report prepared by the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) which combined the efforts of 23 UN agencies. It was a Unesco (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) undertaking.
The report titled "Water for People, Water for Life" was meant for the Third World Water Forum, held in Kyoto, Japan the same year.
The report states that "by 2020, the average water supply per person worldwide is expected to shrink by one third compared to now" and that "25,000 people will die daily from hunger with an estimated 815 million people suffering from malnutrition".
MORE ALARMING STATISTICS
Realising the urgent need to address the global water crisis, the UN chose water as its theme for the 2003 World Environment Day " Water - Two Billion People are Dying for It!"
The world body in the same year also issued some key facts about water which by right should have raised alarm bells across all walks of life around the globe.
Some of the startling facts include, that within 25 years, half of the world's population could have problem finding enough freshwater for drinking and irrigation.
Currently, over 80 countries, representing 40 per cent of the world's population are subject to serious water shortages. According to the UN, conditions may get worse in the next 50 years as the population numbers grow and global warming disrupts rainfall patterns.
West Asia, the UN said faced the greatest threat whereby over 90 per cent of the region's population was experiencing severe water stress, with water consumption exceeding 10 per cent of renewable freshwater resources.
On the home turf, with severe floods hitting several states in Malaysia, especially Johor which was hit twice in less than a month, the water crisis may be far from anybody's mind right now.
SHRINKING RESOURCE
"Definitely water is a shrinking resource," Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) executive director Dr Loh Chi Leong told Bernama here recently.
He said people seemed to think that there was plenty of water around.
"Even though water covers 75 per cent of the earth's surface, 97.5 per cent of it is salt water, and only 2.5 per cent of the world's water is actually fresh water and even that most of is frozen and some underground.
"It is generally accepted that less than one per cent is readily available for human use. That is what we call potable water, easily accessible. Most of it would be in the form of surface water which are rivers, lakes and so forth and 50 per cent of that is polluted," added Loh.
In some countries, water is fast becoming a regional contention especially when countries share a river, raising the question who has the right to take the water first.
"There is no international agreement on how to deal with water supply when a river flows into different countries. There is possibility that when a crisis occurs, countries may well forget that they are neighbours. That is why the United Nations predict that there will be a war over water. Let's hope that things won't get to that extent but that itself should be a warning," said Loh.
GLOBAL WARMING
Climate change affects our life in many strange ways. Take the glaciers, for example. Many of the world's rivers such as in Asia, the Mekong and the Indus are fed by glaciers.
Normally, glaciers will receive a build-up of snow and ice during the winter months and this will melt slowly in the spring and summer, providing a steady flow of water in the rivers.
What is happening now is that winter snow and glacial ice are melting more rapidly with higher spring temperatures, causing higher spring water levels that can cause flooding and resulting in less water flow in the summer.
"This trend is already happening and it has been in the news in the last three years," said Loh.
As for Malaysia and the surrounding region, he said, some climatologists predicted as much as 20 per cent more rain based on a 1-3 degree increase in global temperature.
However, the extra rain will occur in the form of severe thunderstorms.
"More rain in the form of thunderstorms means there is more surface runoff into rivers, increasing the risk of flooding but less water retained in the soil and vegetation also means less drinking water available," said Loh.
At the same, he said, in combination with the El Nino effects, meteorologists had predicted that 2007 would see the highest global temperatures on record.
"I think this year people will begin to see a lot of weather-related spectacles around the world," he cautioned.
EL NINO IS BACK
Early this month, scientists predicted that 2007 "is likely to be the warmest year on record globally, beating the current record set in 1998".
According to a report in the Environment News Service (ENS) website, scientists at the British Meteorological Office in revealing the "startling forecast" said the potential for a record 2007 would arise from an El Nino warming pattern already established in the Pacific Ocean.
The scientists believe the El Nino will persist through the first few months of 2007.
Echoing the same concern, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) was quoted as saying that the El Nino probably would be most pronounced in the first half of 2007.
El Nino is a weather phenomenon characterised by major temperature fluctuations in surface waters of the tropical Eastern Pacific Ocean. The phenomenon usually occurs around Christmas time in the Pacific Ocean and lasts for several months, but may persist into May and June.
The direct effects of El Nino include drier conditions that could translate into prolonged drought in parts of southeast Asia and Northern Australia, increasing bush fires and worsening haze and decreasing air quality.
El Nino is also blamed for a string of supertyphoons.
Global warming and El Nino in particular may well be at our doorstep, but the worst scenario of climatic change including the water crisis can be prevented if we ACT now! - BERNAMA
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