Waterless World

Research has been done that shows water levels in many major rivers have fallen greatly in the past 50 years. This is due to both human interference and climate change. Rising temperatures are changing precipitation patterns and increasing evaporation. The water in over 900 of the world's rivers has decreased, however there are rivers like the Yangtze in China and the Brahmaputra in South America that have increased water levels. The increase in these rivers adds to the crisis because it is thought to be caused by melting glaciers in the Himilayan mountains. Some rivers no longer even reach the sea.

Humans need access to 20 Litres of water a day to drink and wash with. Many nations do not have enough water to supply its population. In these nations it is common for each person to only have 5 litres of water a day. The UN says that the nations with little water is due to poverty not because of physical availability. For example, Japan and Cambodia are close in latitudes and have the same average precipitation however Japananese people have a much greater availability to water. The richer countries will be better off when the water crisis strikes. They will be able to afford going to extremes to bring water to its populations. They could do this by building huge channels to bring water, changing paths of rivers, carrying water on ships, etc.

The main concern is how much more scarce water is going to be in the future with population growth and climate change greatly depleting our fresh water sources. With a shift towards a warmer climate we would also expect to receive more rainfall because warm air can hold more water. However with this shift we also might see a shift in which area receive the rainfall.

UPDATE:
I completely agree that we need to be proactive and start thinking of ways to increase water or ways to live off sea water. Rich countries could get a desalination plant which is an expensive way to produce large amounts of water. All parts of the world will be affected differently. BBC news has a map that shows where they predict the worst stress. In 2020 up till 2070 is shows no stress for the Northeast USA. There is a little part on the coast that is expected to experience moderate to high stress by 2070. As our populations grow, water availability will decrease.
They are already being progressive in aiding rivers return to normal. They have to dredge the mouths of many rivers every year to make sure they dont dry up. Dredging is a process in which sediments from the bottom of waters are deposited elsewhere, which would allow for the river to be deeper.

Posted by Willow Alves