adminIn our previous posts we’ve had a lot of discussion around the California drought. Unfortunately, California is not the only part of the world to be experience a lack of water. Every inhabited continent actually has areas that are quite thirsty. These are areas where more than 80% of the water supply is for businesses, farmers, among other consumers every year. Here’s a look into other parts of our globe that were or currently are struggling:
- Australia
Australia’s drought began in 1995 and continued countrywide until 2009. Crop production and industrial water use made reservoir levels fall quite a bit. Since they did not have plans for a drought, cities like Melbourne, Sydney and Perth all suffered immensely.
- Spain
Catalonia experienced such a large drought in 2008 that Barcelona began importing water by ship from France. 70% of Spain’s water ends up going to agriculture, and unfortunately a lot of that is wasted through inefficient irrigation systems or their crops unable to survive in this thirsty climate.
- India
Currently 54% of India faces high to extremely high water stress. If you were to beam up to space you would be able to see just how thirsty India really is. Yes, that’s right, all the way from space! This lack of water is being caused by large-scale irrigation.
- China
Northern China is very dry there’s no doubt about that, however they have been able to produce significant amounts of wheat and other grains from flood irrigation. Add in water use by industry, energy, and municipalities and China will soon find themselves in the same playing field as California.
China has recently started taking action by introducing their “three red lines” policy. Which you can read more about here: http://bit.ly/1FkPrZ7
- Syria
Syria suffered the worst drought and crop failure in the world from 2006-2011. Unfortunately this decrease in water storage has lead to a lot of unrest throughout the country.
It’s no secret that over the next few decades the global water picture if going to get worse and worse. With larger populations and growing economies the demand for water in some places will become too much to handle. Sustainable water management plans, clear government monitoring and management policies are wise and should be exercised by all countries around the world to make sure we can survive in the future. Small steps from consumers, like limiting water use around the home can help too! Please do your part.
– K
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