Fresh Water Threats

The Biggest Threats to Fresh Water Supplies

Fresh water shortages are often associated with distant arid regions plagued by war and famine. But water shortages are now threatening many in the First World, although taps may not have gone dry as of yet. The water crisis is a global phenomenon, and will affect people from all walks of life if we continue to squander our resources and pollute our reserves. Here are some of the greatest threats to our precious water.

Population Growth

Growing populations are placing greater pressure on water sources and are also leading to greater pollution of the reservoirs that still exist. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Sub-Saharan Africa, which tends to top lists of places with endemic water scarcity.

According to National Geographic, in developing countries, 70 percent of industrial waste is dumped untreated into water bodies, polluting the usable water supply. Furthermore, excess fertilizer and pesticides from agriculture—an average 99 million pounds (45 million kilograms) of fertilizer and chemicals are used each year—are increasingly entering lakes and rivers as runoff or are seeping through soil into groundwater. For example, a study published recently in the journal The Lancet estimated that over 77 million people in Bangladesh had been exposed to unsafe levels of arsenic from tainted groundwater supplies. In another study, the Strategic Foresight Group found more than 30% of major Himalayan rivers to be “biologically dead” and unable to support life.

Due to relatively recent industrial development, places like China, India, and Indonesia—the most populous nations in the Asia—have unusually high rates of fresh water pollution. The Yellow River Conservancy Committee estimates that close to 40% of the Yangtze River is unfit for drinking and agriculture. India’s largest and most well-known river, the Ganges, has been a dumping ground for India’s waste for centuries. The Ganges’ main tributary, the Yamuna River, is also highly

In order to lessen our fresh water expenditure, the FAO suggests greater reliance on less water-hungry crops and a reduction in meat consumption. As an alternative, the FAO is even recommending greater consumption of insects, which are already popular in Africa and parts of Asia. This is because, pound-for-pound, insects can provide us with as much protein as cattle.

Global Warming

As temperatures across the globe rise, mountain snow caps and glaciers are shrinking and the rivers and lakes that they feed are fast drying up. The effects of global warming are already palpable in some of the world’s largest fresh water bodies including the North American Great Lakes, the Yangtze River in China, and the Himalayan and Tibetan Plateau glaciers—all have visibly declined in the last 50 years. The U.N. predicts that by 2050, perennial rivers like the Ganges and Yangtze, which support hundreds of millions of people, will become seasonal.

Learn more about how global warming impacts existing ecosystems