Percentage of fresh water on earth. Water reserves in russia. The importance of sustainable use
Currently, water, especially fresh water, is an extremely important strategic resource. In recent years, water consumption in the world has increased, and there are fears that there will simply not be enough water for everyone. According to the World Commission on Water, today each person needs 20 to 50 liters of water every day for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene.
However, about a billion people in 28 countries around the world do not have access to so many vital resources. About 2.5 billion people live in areas with moderate to severe water stress. It is assumed that by 2025 this number will increase to 5.5 billion and will make up two-thirds of the world's population.
, in connection with the negotiations between the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic on the use of transboundary waters, made a rating of 10 countries with the largest reserves of water resources in the world:
10 Place
Myanmar
Resources - 1080 cubic meters km
Per capita - 23.3 thousand cubic meters. m
The rivers of Myanmar - Burma are subject to the country's monsoon climate. They originate in the mountains, but feed not on glaciers, but on precipitation.
More than 80% of the annual river supply is rain. In winter, the rivers become shallow, some of them, especially in central Burma, dry up.
There are few lakes in Myanmar; the largest of them is the Indoji tectonic lake in the north of the country with an area of 210 sq. km.
9 Place
Venezuela
Resources - 1,320 cubic meters km
Per capita - 60.3 thousand cubic meters. m
Nearly half of Venezuela's 1,000 rivers run off the Andes and the Guiana Highlands into the Orinoco, Latin America's third largest river. Its pool covers an area of about 1 million square meters. km. The Orinoco drainage basin covers approximately four-fifths of Venezuela's territory.
8 Place
India
Resources - 2085 cubic meters km
Per capita - 2.2 thousand cubic meters. m
India has a large amount of water resources: rivers, glaciers, seas and oceans. The most significant rivers are the Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Godavari, Krishna, Narbada, Mahanadi, Kaveri. Many of them are important as sources of irrigation.
Eternal snows and glaciers in India occupy about 40 thousand square meters. km of territory.
7 Place
Bangladesh
Resources - 2,360 cubic meters km
Per capita - 19.6 thousand cubic meters. m
There are many rivers flowing in Bangladesh, and large rivers can flood for weeks. Bangladesh has 58 transboundary rivers, and the issues arising from the use of water resources are very acute in discussions with India.
6 Place
Resources - 2,480 cubic meters km
Per capita - 2.4 thousand cubic meters. m
The United States occupies a vast territory with many rivers and lakes.
5 Place
Indonesia
Resources - 2,530 cubic meters km
Per capita - 12.2 thousand cubic meters. m
On the territories of Indonesia, a fairly large amount of precipitation falls all year round, because of this, the rivers are always full-flowing and play an essential role in the irrigation system.
4 Place
China
Resources - 2 800 cubic meters km
Per capita - 2.3 thousand cubic meters. m
China has 5-6% of the world's water reserves. But China is the most populous country in the world, and its water distribution is extremely uneven.
3rd place
Canada
Resources - 2,900 cubic meters km
Per capita - 98.5 thousand cubic meters. m
Canada is one of the richest countries in the world with lakes. On the border with the United States, the Great Lakes (Upper, Huron, Erie, Ontario) are located, connected by small rivers into a huge basin with an area of more than 240 thousand square meters. km.
Less significant lakes lie on the territory of the Canadian Shield (Big Bear, Big Slave, Athabasca, Winnipeg, Winnipegosis), etc.
2nd place
Russia
Resources - 4500 cubic meters km
Per capita - 30.5 thousand cubic meters. m
Russia is washed by the waters of 12 seas belonging to three oceans, as well as the inland Caspian Sea. On the territory of Russia there are over 2.5 million large and small rivers, more than 2 million lakes, hundreds of thousands of swamps and other water resources.
1st place
Brazil
Resources - 6,950 cubic meters km
Per capita - 43.0 thousand cubic meters. m
The rivers of the Brazilian Highlands have significant hydropower potential. The largest lakes in the country are Mirim and Patos. Main rivers: Amazon, Madeira, Rio Negro, Parana, São Francisco.
Also list of countries by total renewable water resources(based on the CIA Directory of the World).
The aim of the wars in the second half of the 20th century, according to many analysts, was the desire to control resources, mainly hydrocarbons. Somehow such an important component of the life of human society as fresh water remained in the shadows. It would seem that there is no particular point in fighting because of her, here she is - turned on the tap and use it. Unfortunately, not all peoples are admitted to this great blessing. And soon, literally in a few decades, there may generally come a disaster of thirst on a planetary scale.
How much water is on Earth
There is a lot of water on Earth, more than two-thirds of the planet's surface is covered by it. Its total volume is an impressive figure of 1386 million cubic kilometers. The problem is not quantity, but quality. The reserves of fresh water around the world are only a fortieth part of its total mass (approximately 35 million cubic km), everything else is unsuitable for drinking and use in various sectors of consumption (agricultural, industrial, domestic) due to the high content of table salt (HCl ) and other impurities.
In addition, it should be noted that only one hundredth of all reserves are considered readily available. The rest of the volume requires serious labor and material costs for extraction, cleaning and delivery to the consumer.
But this is not a problem either: with the correct use of these resources and their rational renewal, even the existing volumes would be sufficient for a long time. The fact is that fresh water is unevenly distributed in the world, its reserves are consumed, that is, they are decreasing, and the planet's population is growing. Currently, the planet is home to about six and a half billion people, while, according to the most modest forecasts, it will exceed 9 billion by 2050. Already, one third of the world's population is experiencing an acute shortage of water.
Geopolitical aspects
Part of the world's population belongs to the so-called "golden billion" and has access to all the benefits of civilization, which are considered normal for us (electricity, communications, television, water supply, sewerage, etc.).
Given the limited availability of almost all resources and striving to maintain a high level of consumption of material goods, countries with developed economies are taking measures to prevent an increase in living standards in the rest of the world. Fresh water even today in some regions is more expensive than oil, and soon it will turn into a strategic commodity. The war unleashed in Libya, according to many estimates, occurred for several reasons of an economic nature. In particular, along with the introduction of the gold standard for the dinar, the project of a large-scale water conduit - if fully implemented - could withdraw the entire North African region from the zone of influence of the United States and Western Europe. Thus, it can be assumed that the abundant resources of fresh water currently pose a risk of military invasion no less than oil fields.
What is water used for
Water is a substance so universal that it can rightfully be called, if not the source of all human benefits, then certainly their indispensable condition. Without it, it is impossible to grow agricultural plant products. For example, a kilogram of grain "costs" 0.8 - 4 tons of moisture (depending on the climate), and rice - 3.5 tons. But there is also animal husbandry, the production of which is growing. Consumes water and food industry. A kilogram of sugar - if you please, 400 liters. In general, with rather modest physiological needs (just two or three liters a day is enough for a person to drink), a resident of a developed country indirectly, along with food, consumes up to three tons of water used for their production. It is daily.
In general, the planet's fresh water is spent as follows:
- the agricultural industry - 70% of this valuable resource;
- all industry - 22%;
- household consumers - 8%.
But this is, of course, an average ratio. There are many countries whose population is not spoiled by gastronomic delights, where the problem of fresh water is so acute that sometimes people simply have nothing to eat or drink.
Water quality in third countries
Today, according to international standards, a person needs forty liters of water a day for all his needs, including hygiene. Approximately one billion of the planet's inhabitants, however, can only dream of it, and another 2.5 billion are experiencing, to one degree or another, a shortage of it. According to various forecasts, already in 2025 the number of those in need will reach a critical proportion, when fresh water will become a luxury for two out of every three earthlings.
We, in our wealth, sometimes cannot even imagine what kind of water the inhabitants of the “third world” wash and what they drink. Three million people die each year from illnesses caused by poor sanitation. The main one is diarrhea. Every year three thousand children die from it all over the world (most often in Africa).
Eight out of every ten pathologies are caused by pollution and lack of fresh water.
Environmental Implications for Biofuel Production
Water is not only drunk, it is used in almost every branch of activity. Moreover, our planet is a closed ecosystem, and therefore a lot of interdependent and cross-linkages are formed in it. By developing or renewing one of the important resources, humanity usually expends another, which seems to be still a lot. This is the case, for example, in the production of synthetic hydrocarbons designed to replace petroleum products. An alternative fuel, as which it is planned to increasingly use ethanol (aka ethyl alcohol, or alcohol), of course, is much safer in the environmental sense than gasoline, diesel fuel or kerosene, but in order to produce a ton of this product, fresh water, and in an amount thousands of times more. The fact is that biomaterial of plant origin serves as a raw material for synthesis, and the technology itself is impossible without hydro resources.
Theoretical and practical sources
The availability of water resources in different countries and entire regions of the planet varies significantly. The fresh water problem is felt most strongly in Africa and the Middle East. It is possible to assess its scale by considering separately the sources from which consumption is carried out, as well as possible methods of extracting moisture. Almost all water used for irrigation, industry and domestic needs comes from surface or groundwater bodies, which are considered renewable (replenished) due to the natural cycle. There are also fossil reserves, which include, for example, the Libyan deposit. They make up about a fifth of all the world's water resources. They are not renewable, practically nothing comes back to them, but in regions experiencing a shortage, there is no alternative to them. The planet also has ice, snow and deposits in the form of glaciers. In general, the potential fresh water resources can theoretically be divided into the following categories:
1. Ice and snow - 24.1 million cubic meters. km (68.7%).
2. Groundwater - 10.5 million cubic meters. km (30.1%).
3. Lakes - 91 thousand cubic meters. km (0.26%).
4. Soil moisture - 16.5 thousand cubic meters. km (0.05%).
5. Swamps - 11.5 thousand cubic meters. km (0.03%).
6. Rivers - 2.1 thousand cubic meters. km (0.006%).
The practice of use, however, differs significantly from the theoretical possibilities. The availability of the resource and the cost of bringing it to consumption are of great importance. Glaciers, which make up the largest supply of fresh water on Earth, today remain unused due to the high cost of mining. Even desalination technologies are cheaper.
Distillation
Desalination, with all the energy intensity and high cost of the product, has become widespread in the countries of the Middle East (Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates), which had sufficient budgetary funds to implement large-scale projects. In general, this strategy pays off, but some unexpected technological barriers create significant problems. For example, the Omani water intake systems were recently clogged with poisonous algae, which paralyzed the operation of distillation plants for a long time.
At the same time, Turkey has become the largest regional supplier of fresh water, which has made significant investments in this specific sector of the economy. The country does not experience problems in water supply and sells the surplus to Israel and other states, transporting them in special tankers.
How water sources are destroyed
As is often the case, the problem is not so much a lack of resources, but rather a lack of frugality and irrational use of what we have. The largest rivers are turning into giant gutters, poisoned by toxic industrial effluents and household waste. But pollution of fresh waters, with all its perniciousness and obviousness, is not the whole problem.
In search of cheap ways to generate electricity, they are blocked with dams, which slows down their natural course and violates the temperature and dynamic characteristics of evaporation-reduction processes. As a result, the rivers become shallower. Such phenomena are observed everywhere. The level drops in Colorado, Mississippi, Volga, Dnieper, Yellow River, Ganges and other great rivers, and smaller ones dry up completely. An ecological disaster was caused by artificial interference in the hydro-circulation of the Aral Sea.
Who has water and who uses it
Of all the available volume, the largest supply of fresh water on the planet (about a third) is located in South America. Asia still has a quarter. 29 countries, united not by geography, but by economic grounds (free market and Western-style democracy) in the OECD organization, own one fifth of the available volume of water resources. The states of the former USSR - more than twenty percent. Everything else, roughly about 2%, falls on the Middle East and North Africa. However, things are pretty bad and in most of the entire territory of the Black Continent.
In terms of consumption, the highest levels are observed in India, China, USA, Pakistan, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Mexico and Russia.
At the same time, most of all water is consumed not always in those countries where its reserves are really large. There is an urgent need for it in China, India and the United States.
Situation with water resources in Russia
Russia is rich in everything, including water. The most striking example of what treasures our country possesses is Lake Baikal, in which one-fifth of the entire water supply of the planet is locally concentrated, besides being of excellent quality. But most of the population of the Russian Federation lives in its European part. Baikal is far away, you have to drink water from the nearest reservoirs, of which, fortunately, there are also many. True, the not always balanced and rational attitude to water (as well as to all other) resources, so characteristic of the Soviet period, has not completely outlived its usefulness even now. It is hoped that this situation will be rectified over time.
In general, at the moment and in the foreseeable future, Russians are not threatened with thirst.
Water reserves in the world. List of countries by water resources
A list of 173 countries of the world is presented, sorted by the volume of total renewable water resources according to [. Data include long-term average renewable water resources (in cubic kilometers of precipitation, renewable groundwater, and surface inflows from neighboring countries.
Brazil has the largest renewable water resources - 8,233.00 cubic kilometers. Russia has the largest reserves in Europe and the second in the world - 4,508.00. Further, the USA - 3,069.00, Canada - 2,902.00 and China - 2,840.00. Full table - see below.
Fresh water. Stocks[Source - 2].
Fresh water- the opposite of sea water, encompasses that part of the Earth's available water in which salts are contained in minimal quantities. Water, the salinity of which does not exceed 0.1%, even in the form of steam or ice, is called fresh. Ice masses in polar regions and glaciers contain the largest portion of the earth's fresh water. In addition, fresh water exists in rivers, streams, groundwater, freshwater lakes, as well as in the clouds. According to various estimates, the share of fresh water in the total amount of water on Earth is 2.5-3%.
About 85-90% of fresh water reserves are contained in the form of ice. The distribution of fresh water across the globe is extremely uneven. In Europe and Asia, where 70% of the world's population lives, only 39% of river waters are concentrated.
Russia takes the leading place in the world in terms of surface water resources. About 20% of the world's fresh lake water reserves and more than 80% of Russia's reserves are concentrated in the unique Lake Baikal alone. With a total volume of 23.6 thousand km³, about 60 km³ of rare natural water is reproduced in the lake every year.
According to the UN, at the beginning of the 2000s, more than 1.2 billion people live in conditions of constant shortage of fresh water, about 2 billion suffer from it on a regular basis. By the middle of the XXI century, the number of people living with constant water shortages will exceed 4 billion people. In such a situation, some experts say that the main advantage of Russia in the long term is water resources.
Fresh water reserves: atmospheric vapor - 14,000 or 0.06%, fresh river water - 200 or 0.005%, total Total 28,253,200 or 100%. Sources - Wikipedia:,.
List of countries by water resources[Source - 1]
| № | Country | The total volume is renewed. water resources (cubic km) | Date inform mation |
| 1 | Brazil | 8 233,00 | 2011 |
| 2 | Russia | 4 508,00 | 2011 |
| 3 | United States | 3 069,00 | 2011 |
| 4 | Canada | 2 902,00 | 2011 |
| 5 | China | 2 840,00 | 2011 |
| 6 | Colombia | 2 132,00 | 2011 |
| 7 | European Union | 2 057.76 | 2011 |
| 8 | Indonesia | 2 019,00 | 2011 |
| 9 | Peru | 1 913,00 | 2011 |
| 10 | Congo, DR | 1 283,00 | 2011 |
| 11 | India | 1 911,00 | 2011 |
| 12 | Venezuela | 1 233,00 | 2011 |
| 13 | Bangladesh | 1 227,00 | 2011 |
| 14 | Burma | 1 168,00 | 2011 |
| 15 | Chile | 922,00 | 2011 |
| 16 | Vietnam | 884,10 | 2011 |
| 17 | Congo, Republic | 832,00 | 2011 |
| 18 | Argentina | 814,00 | 2011 |
| 19 | Papua New Guinea | 801,00 | 2011 |
| 20 | Bolivia | 622,50 | 2011 |
| 21 | Malaysia | 580,00 | 2011 |
| 22 | Australia | 492,00 | 2011 |
| 23 | Philippines | 479,00 | 2011 |
| 24 | Cambodia | 476,10 | 2011 |
| 25 | Mexico | 457,20 | 2011 |
| 26 | Thailand | 438,60 | 2011 |
| 27 | Japan | 430,00 | 2011 |
| 28 | Ecuador | 424,40 | 2011 |
| 29 | Norway | 382,00 | 2011 |
| 30 | Madagascar | 337,00 | 2011 |
| 31 | Paraguay | 336,00 | 2011 |
| 32 | Laos | 333,50 | 2011 |
| 33 | New Zealand | 327,00 | 2011 |
| 34 | Nigeria | 286,20 | 2011 |
| 35 | Cameroon | 285,50 | 2011 |
| 36 | Pakistan | 246,80 | 2011 |
| 37 | Guyana | 241,00 | 2011 |
| 38 | Liberia | 232,00 | 2011 |
| 39 | Guinea | 226,00 | 2011 |
| 40 | Mozambique | 217,10 | 2011 |
| 41 | Romania | 211,90 | 2011 |
| 42 | Turkey | 211,60 | 2011 |
| 43 | France | 211,00 | 2011 |
| 44 | Nepal | 210,20 | 2011 |
| 45 | Nicaragua | 196,60 | 2011 |
| 46 | Italy | 191,30 | 2011 |
| 47 | Sweden | 174,00 | 2011 |
| 48 | Iceland | 170,00 | 2011 |
| 49 | Gabon | 164,00 | 2011 |
| 50 | Serbia | 162,20 | 2011 |
| 51 | Sierra Leone | 160,00 | 2011 |
| 52 | Germany | 154,00 | 2011 |
| 53 | Angola | 148,00 | 2011 |
| 54 | Panama | 148,00 | 2011 |
| 55 | United Kingdom | 147,00 | 2011 |
| 56 | Centre. African. Rep. | 144,40 | 2011 |
| 57 | Ukraine | 139,60 | 2011 |
| 58 | Uruguay | 139,00 | 2011 |
| 59 | Iran | 137,00 | 2011 |
| 60 | Ethiopia | 122,00 | 2011 |
| 61 | Suriname | 122,00 | 2011 |
| 62 | Costa Rica | 112,40 | 2011 |
| 63 | Spain | 111,50 | 2011 |
| 64 | Guatemala | 111,30 | 2011 |
| 65 | Finland | 110,00 | 2011 |
| 66 | Kazakhstan | 107,50 | 2011 |
| 67 | Croatia | 105,50 | 2011 |
| 68 | Zambia | 105,20 | 2011 |
| 69 | Hungary | 104,00 | 2011 |
| 70 | Mali | 100,00 | 2011 |
| 71 | Tanzania | 96.27 | 2011 |
| 72 | Honduras | 95.93 | 2011 |
| 73 | Netherlands | 91,00 | 2011 |
| 74 | Iraq | 89.86 | 2011 |
| 75 | Ivory Coast | 81.14 | 2011 |
| 76 | Butane | 78,00 | 2011 |
| 77 | Austria | 77,70 | 2011 |
| 78 | North Korea | 77.15 | 2011 |
| 79 | Greece | 74.25 | 2011 |
| 80 | South Korea | 69,70 | 2011 |
| 81 | Portugal | 68,70 | 2011 |
| 82 | Taiwan | 67,00 | 2011 |
| 83 | Uganda | 66,00 | 2011 |
| 84 | Afghanistan | 65.33 | 2011 |
| 85 | Sudan | 64,50 | 2011 |
| 86 | Georgia | 63.33 | 2011 |
| 87 | Poland | 61,60 | 2011 |
| 88 | Belarus | 58,00 | 2011 |
| 89 | Egypt | 57,30 | 2011 |
| 90 | Switzerland | 53,50 | 2011 |
| 91 | Ghana | 53,20 | 2011 |
| 92 | Sri Lanka | 52,80 | 2011 |
| 93 | Ireland | 52,00 | 2011 |
| 94 | South Africa | 51,40 | 2011 |
| 95 | Slovakia | 50,10 | 2011 |
| 96 | Uzbekistan | 48.87 | 2011 |
| 97 | Solomon islands | 44,70 | 2011 |
| 98 | Chad | 43,00 | 2011 |
| 99 | Albania | 41,70 | 2011 |
| 100 | Senegal | 38,80 | 2011 |
| 101 | Cuba | 38.12 | 2011 |
| 102 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 37,50 | 2011 |
| 103 | Latvia | 35.45 | 2011 |
| 104 | Mongolia | 34,80 | 2011 |
| 105 | Azerbaijan | 34.68 | 2011 |
| 106 | Niger | 33.65 | 2011 |
| 107 | Slovenia | 31.87 | 2011 |
| 108 | Guinea-Bissau | 31,00 | 2011 |
| 109 | Kenya | 30,70 | 2011 |
| 110 | Morocco | 29,00 | 2011 |
| 111 | Fiji | 28.55 | 2011 |
| 112 | Benin | 26.39 | 2011 |
| 113 | Equatorial Guinea | 26,00 | 2011 |
| 114 | Salvador | 25.23 | 2011 |
| 115 | Lithuania | 24,90 | 2011 |
| 116 | Turkmenistan | 24.77 | 2011 |
| 117 | Kyrgyzstan | 23.62 | 2011 |
| 118 | Tajikistan | 21.91 | 2011 |
| 119 | Bulgaria | 21,30 | 2011 |
| 120 | Dominican Republic | 21,00 | 2011 |
| 121 | Zimbabwe | 20,00 | 2011 |
| 122 | Belize | 18.55 | 2011 |
| 123 | Belgium | 18,30 | 2011 |
| 124 | Namibia | 17.72 | 2011 |
| 125 | Malawi | 17.28 | 2011 |
| 126 | Syria | 16,80 | 2011 |
| 127 | Somalia | 14,70 | 2011 |
| 128 | Go | 14,70 | 2011 |
| 129 | Haiti | 14,03 | 2011 |
| 130 | Czech Republic | 13,15 | 2011 |
| 131 | Estonia | 12,81 | 2011 |
| 132 | Burundi | 12,54 | 2011 |
| 133 | Burkina Faso | 12,50 | 2011 |
| 134 | Botswana | 12,24 | 2011 |
| 135 | Algeria | 11,67 | 2011 |
| 136 | Moldova | 11,65 | 2011 |
| 137 | Mauritania | 11,40 | 2011 |
| 138 | Rwanda | 9,50 | 2011 |
| 139 | Jamaica | 9,40 | 2011 |
| 140 | Brunei | 8,50 | 2011 |
| 141 | Gambia | 8,00 | 2011 |
| 142 | Armenia | 7,77 | 2011 |
| 143 | Macedonia | 6,40 | 2011 |
| 144 | Eritrea | 6,30 | 2011 |
| 145 | Denmark | 6,00 | 2011 |
| 146 | Tunisia | 4,60 | 2011 |
| 147 | Swaziland | 4,51 | 2011 |
| 148 | Lebanon | 4,50 | 2011 |
| 149 | Trinidad and Tobago | 3,84 | 2011 |
| 150 | Luxembourg | 3,10 | 2011 |
| 151 | Lesotho | 3,02 | 2011 |
| 152 | Mauritius | 2,75 | 2011 |
| 153 | Saudi Arabia | 2,40 | 2011 |
| 154 | Yemen | 2,10 | 2011 |
| 155 | Israel | 1,78 | 2011 |
| 156 | Oman | 1,40 | 2011 |
| 157 | Comoros | 1,20 | 2011 |
| 158 | Jordan | 0.94 | 2011 |
| 159 | Cyprus | 0.78 | 2011 |
| 160 | Libya | 0,70 | 2011 |
| 161 | Singapore | 0,60 | 2011 |
| 162 | Cape Verde | 0,30 | 2011 |
| 163 | Djibouti | 0,30 | 2011 |
| 164 | UAE | 0,15 | 2011 |
| 165 | Bahrain | 0.12 | 2011 |
| 166 | Barbados | 0.08 | 2011 |
| 167 | Qatar | 0.06 | 2011 |
| 168 | Antigua and Barbuda | 0,05 | 2011 |
| 169 | Malta | 0,05 | 2011 |
| 170 | Maldives | 0.03 | 2011 |
| 171 | Bahamas | 0.02 | 2011 |
| 172 | Kuwait | 0.02 | 2011 |
| 173 | Saint Kitts and Nevis | 0.02 | 2011 |
Few facts about water
- Water covers over 70% of the world's population, but only 3% of fresh water.
- Most natural fresh water is in ice form; less than 1% are readily available for human consumption. This means that less than 0.007% of the water on earth is ready to drink.
- More than 1.4 billion people lack access to clean, safe water worldwide.
- The gap between water supply and demand is constantly growing, and is expected to reach 40% by 2030.
- By 2025, a third of the world's population will be dependent on water scarcity.
- By 2050, more than 70% of the world's population will live in cities.
- In many developing countries, the percentage of water losses is over 30%, reaching even 80% in some extreme cases.
- More than 32 billion cubic meters of drinking water - water leaks from urban water supply systems around the world, only 10% of the leak is visible, the rest of the leaks quietly and quietly disappear underground.
The development of mankind is accompanied by an increase in the population of the Earth, as well as growing demands for resources from the economy. One of these resources is fresh water, the shortage of which is quite acute in a number of regions of the Earth. In particular, more than a third of the world's population, that is, more than 2 billion people, does not have permanent access to a drinking resource. It is expected that in 2020 water scarcity will act as one of the obstacles to the further development of humankind. This is especially true for developing countries, where:
- Intensive population growth,
- High level of industrialization, accompanied by pollution of the environment and water in particular,
- Lack of water treatment infrastructure,
- Substantial water demand from the agricultural sector,
- Average or low level of social stability, authoritarian structure of society.
World water resources
The earth is rich in water, because 70% of the Earth's surface is covered with water (approx. 1.4 billion km 3). However, most of the water is saline and only about 2.5% of the world's water reserves (approx. 35 million km 3) is fresh water (see Figure World Water Sources, UNESCO, 2003).
For drinking, only fresh water can be used, but 69% of it falls on snow cover (mainly Antarctica and Greenland), about 30% (10.5 million km 3) - groundwater, and lakes, artificial lakes and rivers account for less than 0.5% of all fresh water.
In the water cycle, 79% of the total amount of precipitation falling on the Earth falls on the ocean, 2% - on lakes and only 19% - on the land surface. Only 2,200 km 3 penetrates underground reservoirs per year.
Many experts call the "water issue" one of the most serious challenges to humanity in the future. The period 2005-2015 has been declared by the UN General Assembly as an international decade for action " Water for life».
Drawing. World freshwater sources: sources of distribution of about 35 million km3 of fresh water (UNESCO 2003)
According to UN experts, in the 21st century, water will become a more important strategic resource than oil and gas, since a ton of clean water in an arid climate is already more expensive than oil (the Sahara Desert and North Africa, the center of Australia, South Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia).
Globally, about 2/3 of all precipitation returns to the atmosphere. In terms of water resources, the region of Latin America is the most abundant, accounting for a third of the world's runoff, followed by Asia with its quarter of the world's runoff. Then there are the OECD countries (20%), sub-Saharan Africa and the countries of the former Soviet Union, each with 10%. The most limited are the water resources of the countries of the Middle East and North America (1% each).
Sub-Saharan Africa (Tropical / Black Africa) is most severely deficient in drinking water.
After several decades of rapid industrialization, large Chinese cities are among the most environmentally unfavorable.
The construction of the world's largest hydropower complex, the Three Gorges on the Yangtze River in China, has also posed major environmental problems. In addition to erosion and collapse of the banks, the construction of the dam and the giant reservoir led to siltation and, according to Chinese and foreign experts, a dangerous change in the entire ecosystem of the country's largest river.
SOUTH ASIA
Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
India is home to 16% of the world's population, while only 4% of the planet's fresh water is available there.
The water reserves of India and Pakistan are in inaccessible places - these are the glaciers of the Pamirs and the Himalayas, which cover the mountains at an altitude of over 4000 m.But the water shortage in Pakistan is already so high that the government is seriously considering the issue of melting these glaciers forcibly.
The idea is to spray harmless coal dust over them, which will cause the ice to actively melt in the sun. But, most likely, the melted glacier will look like a muddy mudflow, 60% of the water will not reach the valleys, but will be absorbed into the soil near the foot of the mountains, environmental prospects are unclear
CENTRAL (CENTRAL) ASIA
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
central Asia(as defined by UNESCO): Mongolia, Western China, Punjab, Northern India, Northern Pakistan, northeastern Iran, Afghanistan, regions of Asian Russia south of the taiga zone, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.
According to the World Resources Institute, fresh water reserves in the countries of Central Asia (excluding Tajikistan) and in Kazakhstan per capita are almost 5 times lower than the same indicator for Russia.
Russia
Over the past ten years, in Russia, as in all mid-latitudes, temperatures have been rising faster than the average on Earth and in the tropics. By 2050, temperatures will rise by 2-3 ° C. Redistribution of precipitation will be one of the consequences of warming. In the south of the Russian Federation there will not be enough precipitation and there will be problems with drinking water, problems with navigation are possible on some rivers, the permafrost area will decrease, the soil temperature will rise, in the northern regions the yield will increase, although due to dry conditions there may be losses (Roshydromet) ...
AMERICA
Mexico
Mexico City is experiencing problems with the supply of drinking water to the population. The demand for bottled water today exceeds the supply, so the country's leadership calls on residents to learn how to save water.
The issue of drinking water consumption has been facing the leaders of the capital of Mexico for a long time, since the city, in which almost a quarter of the country lives, is located far from water sources, so today water is extracted from wells with a depth of at least 150 meters. The results of the analysis of water quality revealed an increased content of permissible concentrations of heavy metals and other chemical elements and substances harmful to human health.
Half of the water consumed daily in the United States comes from non-renewable underground sources. At the moment, 36 states are on the brink of a serious problem, some of them on the brink of a water crisis. Water scarcity in California, Arizona, Nevada, Las Vegas.
Water has become a key security strategy and a foreign policy priority for the US administration. Currently, the Pentagon and other structures concerned about the security of the United States have come to the conclusion that in order to preserve the existing military and economic strength of the United States, they must protect not only energy sources, but also water resources.
Peru
In the Peruvian capital Lima, there is practically no rain, and water is supplied mainly from the lakes of the Andes, located quite far away. From time to time, they turn off the water altogether for several days. There is a constant lack of water. Once a week, water is delivered by truck, but it costs the poor ten times more than residents whose houses are connected to the central water supply system.
Drinking water consumption
About 1 billion people on Earth do not have access to an improved drinking water source. Over half of the world's households have running water in or near their homes.
8 out of 10 people without access to an improved drinking water source live in rural areas.
884 million people in the world, i.e. almost half of the people living in Asia still use unimproved drinking water sources. Most of them live in Sub-Saharan Africa, South, East and Southeast Asia.
Countries in which bottled water is the main source of drinking water: Dominican Republic (67% of the urban population drink exclusively bottled water), People's Democratic Republic of LAO and Thailand (for half of the urban population, bottled water is the main source of drinking water). There is also a serious situation in Guatemala, Guinea, Turkey, Yemen.
Drinking water treatment practices vary considerably across countries. In Mongolia, Vietnam, water is almost always boiled, a little less often in the People's Democratic Republic of Lao and Cambodia, and even less often in Uganda and Jamaica. In Guinea, it is filtered through a cloth. And in Jamaica, Guinea, Honduras, Haiti, bleach or other disinfectants are simply added to the water to purify it.
Households in rural Africa spend an average of 26% of their time just getting water (mostly women) (UK DFID). Every year it takes approx. 40 billion hours worked (Cosgrove and Rijsberman, 1998). The Tibetan highlands are still inhabited by people who have to spend up to three hours a day walking to fetch water on foot.
Main drivers of water consumption growth
1.: improving sanitation
Access to basic water supply services (drinking water, food production, sanitation, sanitation) remains limited in most developing countries. It is possible that by 2030, more than 5 billion people (67% of the world's population) still lack modern sanitation(OECD, 2008).
Some 340 million Africans lack safe drinking water and nearly 500 million lack modern sanitation.
The importance of ensuring the purity of the water consumed: several billion people today do not have access to clean water(The World Conference of The Future of Science, 2008, Venice).
80% of diseases in developing countries are water-related causing about 1.7 million deaths annually.
According to some estimates, every year in developing countries waterborne diseases kill about 3 million prematurely.
Diarrhea, a major cause of illness and death, is largely due to lack of sanitation and hygiene and unsafe drinking water. 5,000 children die from diarrhea every day. one child every 17 seconds.
In South Africa, 12% of the health budget goes to treating diarrhea: more than half of the patients with this diagnosis in local hospitals every day.
Annually 1.4 million diarrhea deaths could have been prevented... Almost 1/10 of the total number of diseases could be prevented by improving water supply, sanitation, hygiene, and water resources management.
2. Development of agriculture for food production
Water is an essential ingredient in food and Agriculture- the largest consumer of water: falls on it up to 70% of total water consumption(for comparison: 20% of water use - industry, 10% - household use). The area of irrigated land has doubled over the past decades, and water withdrawal has increased 3 times.
Without further improvement of water use in agriculture, the demand for water in this sector will increase by 70-90% by 2050, and this despite the fact that already now some countries have reached the limit in the use of their water resources.
On average, 70% of the fresh water consumed is used by agriculture, 22% by industry, and the remaining 8% is used for domestic needs. This ratio varies according to the country's income: in low- and middle-income countries, 82% is used for agriculture, 10% for industry and 8% for domestic needs; in high-income countries the figures are 30, 59 and 11%.
Due to inefficient irrigation systems, especially in developing countries, 60% of the water used for agriculture evaporates or returns to water bodies.
3. Change in food consumption
In recent years, there have been changes in the lifestyle of people and their eating habits, the consumption of meat and dairy products in countries with economies in transition has increased disproportionately.Today, one person in the world consumes on average 2 times more water than in 1900, and this trend will continue in due to changes in consumption patterns in emerging economies.
In the modern world, 1.4 billion people are deprived of access to clean water, another 864 million do not have the opportunity to receive the daily caloric intake of food. And the situation continues to deteriorate.
A person needs only 2-4 liters of water per day per day to drink, but producing food for one person requires 2000-5000 liters daily.
The question “how much water do people drink” (on average, in developed countries - from two to five liters per day) is not as important as “how much water do people eat” (according to some estimates, in developed countries this figure is 3,000 liters per day ).
For production 1 kg of wheat needs from 800 to 4,000 liters of water, and 1 kg of beef - from 2,000 to 16,000 liters, 1 kg of rice - 3450 liters.
Increased consumption of meat in the most developed countries: in 2002, Sweden consumed 76 kg of meat per person, and the United States - 125 kg per person.
According to some estimates, a Chinese consumer who ate 20 kg of meat in 1985 will eat 50 kg in 2009. This increase in consumption will increase the demand for grain. One kilogram of grain requires 1,000 kg (1,000 liters) of water. This means that an additional 390 km 3 of water per year will be required to meet the demand.
4. Demographic growth
Water scarcity will increase due to population growth. The total number of inhabitants of the planet, which is currently 6.6 billion people, annually increasing by about 80 million... Hence the growing demand for drinking water, amounting to about 64 billion cubic meters per year.
By 2025, the world's population will exceed 8 billion people. (EPE). 90% of the 3 billion people who will increase the world's population by 2050 will be from developing countries, many of which are located in areas where the current population does not have adequate access to clean water and sanitation (UN).
More than 60% of the global population growth that will occur between 2008 and 2100 will occur in sub-Saharan Africa (32%) and South Asia (30%), which together will account for 50% of the world's population 2100.
5. Urban population growth
Urbanization will continue - relocation to cities, whose residents are much more sensitive to water shortages. In the 20th century, there was a very sharp increase in the urban population (from 220 million to 2.8 billion). Over the next few decades, we will witness its unprecedented growth in developing countries.
The number of urban dwellers is expected to grow by 1.8 billion (compared to 2005) and will account for 60% of the world's population (UN). About 95% of this growth will come from developing countries.
According to EPE, by 2025 5.2 billion people. will live in cities. This level of urbanization will require the creation of a wide infrastructure for the distribution of water, as well as the collection and treatment of used water, which is impossible without large-scale investments.
6. Migration
Currently, there are about 192 million migrants in the world (in 2000 there were 176 million). Lack of water in desert and semi-desert regions will cause intensive migration of the population. This is expected to affect from 24 to 700 million people... The relationship between water resources and migration is a two-way process: water scarcity leads to migration, and migration, in turn, contributes to water stress. According to some estimates, in the future, coastal regions, where 15 of the 20 megacities of the world are located, will feel the greatest pressure from the influx of migrants. In the world of the next century, more and more people will live in vulnerable urban and coastal areas.
7. Climate change
In 2007, the Bali United Nations Climate Change Conference recognized that even the smallest predictable climate change in the 21st century, at twice the 0.6 ° C rise since 1900, would have severely destructive effects.
Scientists agree that global warming will intensify and accelerate global hydrological cycles. In other words, intensification can be expressed in an increase in the rate of evaporation and the amount of precipitation. It is not yet known what impact this will have on water resources, but it is expected that lack of water will affect its quality and frequency of extreme situations such as droughts and floods.
It is estimated that by 2025 the warming will be 1.6 ° C compared to the pre-industrial period (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Groupe d'experts Intergouvernemental sur l'Evolution du Climat).
Now 85% of the world's population lives in the arid part of our planet. In 2030 47% of the world's population will live in areas with high water stress.
Only in Africa by 2020 from 75 to 250 million people may find themselves in conditions of increased pressure on water resources caused by climate change. Along with the growing demand for water; this can affect the livelihoods of the population and exacerbate water supply problems (IPCC 2007).
The impact of climate warming on water resources: a 1 ° C increase in temperature will lead to the complete disappearance of small glaciers in the Andes, which could lead to problems in water supply for 50 million people; an increase in temperature by 2 ° C will cause a 20-30% reduction in water resources in “unprotected” regions (southern Africa, the Mediterranean).
Global climate change and strong anthropogenic impact are causing desertification and deforestation processes.
According to the 2006 World Human Development Report, by 2025, the number of people experiencing water shortages will reach 3 billion, whereas today their number is 700 million... This problem will be especially acute in southern Africa, China and India.
8. Consumption growth. Improving living standards
9. Intensification of economic activity
The development of the economy and the service sector will lead to additional growth in water consumption, with most of the responsibility resting on industry rather than agriculture (EPE).
10. Growth in energy consumption
According to the calculations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global demand for electricity should grow by 55% by 2030. Only the share of China and India will be 45% in it. Developing countries will account for 74%.
It is assumed that the amount of energy generated by hydropower plants for the period from 2004 to 2030. will grow annually by 1.7%. Its overall growth over this period will be 60%.
Dams, criticized for their serious environmental impacts and the displacement of large numbers of people, are today, however, viewed by many as a possible solution to the water problem in the face of reduced fossil energy supplies, the need to switch to cleaner energy sources, the need to adapt to different hydrological conditions and the instability caused by climate change.
11. Biofuel production
Biofuels are used to meet the growing energy needs. However, the widespread production of biofuels further reduces the acreage for growing plant foods.
Bioethanol production has tripled over the 2000-2007 period. and in 2008 amounted to about 77 billion liters. The largest producers of this type of biofuel are Brazil and the USA - their share in world production is 77%. Production of biodiesel from oilseeds, 2000-2007 increased 11 times. 67% of it is produced in the countries of the European Union (OECD-FAO, 2008)
In 2007, 23% of the maize produced in the United States was used to make ethanol, and 54% of the sugarcane crop went to Brazil. 47% of the vegetable oil produced in the countries of the European Union was used for the production of biodiesel.
However, despite the increased use of biofuels, its share in total energy production remains small. In 2008, the share of ethanol in the transport fuel market was estimated in the USA - 4.5%, in Brazil - 40%, in the EU - 2.2%. While biofuels can reduce dependence on fossil energy sources, they can place disproportionate pressure on biodiversity and the environment. The main problem is the need for a large amount of water and fertilizers to ensure the harvest. To produce 1 liter of ethanol, 1000 to 4000 liters of water are required. In 2017, global ethanol production is projected to reach 127 billion liters.
About 1/5 of the US maize crop was used in 2006/2007. for ethanol production, replacing about 3% of the country's gasoline fuel (World Development Report 2008, World Bank).
It takes about 2,500 liters of water to produce one liter of ethanol. According to the World Energy Outlook 2006, biofuel production is increasing by 7% over the year. Its production, perhaps, does not create real problems in heavy rainfall. A different situation is developing in China, and in the near future - in India.
12. Tourism
Tourism has become one of the factors behind the growth in water consumption. In Israel, water use by hotels along the Jordan River is considered to be the cause of the drying up of the Dead Sea, where water levels have dropped by 16.4 meters since 1977. eighteen holes can consume over 2.3 million liters of water per day. In the Philippines, the use of water for tourism threatens rice cultivation. Tourists in Grenada, Spain, typically use seven times more water than locals, and this figure is considered common in many developing tourist areas.
In Great Britain, improved sanitation and water treatment in the 1880s. contributed to a 15-year increase in life expectancy over the next four decades. (HDR, 2006)
Lack of water and sanitation costs South Africa approximately 5% of the country's GDP annually (UNDP).
Each inhabitant of developed countries uses on average 500-800 liters of water per day (300 m 3 per year); in developing countries, this figure is 60-150 liters per day (20 m 3 per year).
443 million school days are missed each year due to water-related illnesses.
Water market development
Resolving the water crisis
In the Millennium Declaration adopted by the United Nations in 2000, the international community committed itself by 2015 to halve the number of people without access to safe drinking water and to end the unsustainable use of water resources.
The relationship between poverty and water is clear: the number of people living on less than $ 1.25 a day is roughly the same as the number of those without access to safe drinking water.
Since 2001, water has been a major priority for the Natural Sciences Sector of UNESCO.
The water problem is one of the most acute, though not the only one, for developing countries.
Benefits of investing in water resources
By some estimates, every dollar invested in improving water supply and sanitation generates an income of $ 3 to $ 34.
The total loss incurred in Africa alone due to lack of access to safe water and lack of sanitation is about $ US 28.4 billion per year or about 5% of GDP(WHO, 2006)
A survey of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region found that depletion of groundwater resources appears to have led to a decline in GDP in some countries (Jordan 2.1%, Yemen 1.5% , Egypt - by 1.3%, Tunisia - by 1.2%).
Storage of water supplies
The reservoirs provide reliable sources of water for irrigation, water supply and hydropower, as well as for flood control. For developing countries, it is no exception when 70 to 90% of the annual runoff is accumulated in reservoirs. However, in African countries, only 4% of the renewable flow is retained.
Virtual water
All countries import and export water in the form of its equivalents, i.e. in the form of agricultural and industrial products. The used water counting is defined by the concept of "virtual water".
The theory of "virtual water" in 1993 marked the beginning of a new era in the definition of agricultural and water policy in water-stressed regions and campaigns aimed at saving water resources.
About 80% of virtual water flows are associated with trade in agricultural products. Approximately 16% of the world's water depletion and pollution problems are related to production for export. The prices of goods sold rarely reflect the costs of water use in producing countries.
For example, Mexico imports from the US wheat, maize and sorghum, for which 7.1 Gm 3 of water is consumed in the US. If Mexico produced them at home, it would take 15.6 gm 3. The total water savings generated by international trade in virtual water in the form of agricultural products is equivalent to 6% of the total water used in agriculture.
Water recycling
The use of urban wastewater in agriculture remains limited, with the exception of a few countries with very poor water resources (40% of drainage water is reused in the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip, 15% in Israel and 16% in Egypt).
Water demineralization is becoming more and more accessible. It is used mainly for the production of drinking water (24%) and meeting the needs of industry (9%) in countries that have exhausted the limits of their renewable water sources (Saudi Arabia, Israel, Cyprus, etc.).
Water management projects
Approaches to tackling water scarcity:
- Breeding crops resistant to drought and saline soils,
- Desalination of water,
- Water storage.
Today, there are political solutions aimed at reducing water losses, improving water resource management, and reducing the need for them. Many countries have already passed laws on the conservation and efficient use of water, however, these reforms have not yet yielded tangible results.
The participants of the Venice Forum (The World Conference of The Future of Science, 2008) invite the leaders of the largest international organizations and governments of the leading countries of the world to begin large-scale investments in research work related to solving the specific problems of developing countries in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. In particular, they consider it necessary to start a large project as soon as possible on desalination of sea water for irrigation of deserts, primarily in tropical countries and create a special fund to support agriculture.
The structure of water consumption with a predominance of its agricultural use determines that the search for ways to solve water shortages should be carried out through the introduction of agricultural technologies that make it possible to make fuller use of atmospheric precipitation, to achieve a reduction in losses during irrigation and an increase in field productivity.
It is in agriculture that the unproductive water consumption is highest and it is estimated that about half of it is wasted. This represents 30% of the world's total freshwater resources, which represents a huge savings potential. There are many ways to help you reduce your water use. Traditional irrigation is ineffective. In developing countries, mainly surface irrigation is used, for which dams are built. This method, simple and cheap, is used, for example, in rice growing, but a significant part of the water used (about half) is lost due to infiltration and evaporation.
It is quite easy to achieve savings if you use drip irrigation: a small amount of water is delivered directly to the plants using tubes laid above the ground (or even better, underground). This method is economical, but expensive to install.
Judging by the volume of water losses, the existing water supply and irrigation systems are considered extremely ineffective. It is estimated that in the Mediterranean region, water losses in urban water pipes are 25% and in irrigation canals 20%. At least in part, these losses can be avoided. Cities such as Tunisia (Tunisia) and Rabat (Morocco) have reduced water losses by up to 10%. Water loss control programs are under way in Bangkok (Thailand) and Manila (Philippines).
With growing deficits, some countries have already started to include water resource management strategy in their development plans. In Zambia, this integrated water resources management policy covers all sectors of the economy. The result of this water management, linked to national development plans, was not long in coming - many donors began to include investments in the water sector in Zambia's overall aid portfolio.
Although this experience remains limited, some countries are already using treated wastewater for agricultural needs: 40% is reused in the Gaza Strip in the Palestinian Territories, 15% in Israel and 16% in Egypt.
In desert regions, it is also used seawater desalination method... It is used to obtain drinking and industrial water in countries that have reached the maximum potential for the use of renewable water resources (Saudi Arabia, Israel, Cyprus, etc.).
Thanks to the use of modern membrane technology the cost of desalination of water has dropped to 50 cents per 1000 liters, but it is still very expensive given the amount of water required for the production of food raw materials. Therefore, desalination is more suitable for the production of drinking water or for use in the food industry, where the added value is quite high. If the cost of desalination can be further reduced, the severity of water problems could be significantly reduced.
The Desertec Foundation has developed designs to combine desalination plants and solar thermal power plants into one system, capable of producing cheap electricity on the coast of North Africa and the Middle East. For these areas, considered the driest in the world, such a solution would be the way out of water problems.
Southeastern Anatolia Development Project in Turkey(GAP) is a multi-sectoral socio-economic development plan aimed at increasing the income of the population in this least developed region of the country. Its total estimated cost is $ 32 million, of which 17 million have already been invested by 2008. With the development of irrigation here, per capita income has tripled. The electrification of rural areas and the availability of electricity have reached 90%, the literacy of the population has increased, the infant mortality rate has decreased, business activity has increased, and the system of land tenure has become more equitable on irrigated land. The number of cities with running water has quadrupled. This region has ceased to be one of the least developed in the country.
Australia also made changes to its policy through a range of measures. Restrictions have been introduced regarding watering gardens, washing cars, filling swimming pools, etc. in the largest cities of the country. In 2008, Sydney introduced double water supply system - drinking water and purified (technical) water for other needs... A desalination station is under construction by 2011. Investment in the water sector in Australia has doubled over the past 6 years from A $ 2 billion per year to A $ 4 billion per year.
UAE... In the Emirates, it was decided to invest over $ 20 billion over 8 years in the construction and launch of desalination plants. At the moment, 6 such factories have already been launched, the remaining 5 will be built within the above period of time. Thanks to these plants, it is planned to more than triple the amount of potable water. The need for investment in the construction of new factories is associated with the growth of the population in the UAE.
An ambitious project is planned in the UAE Sahara Forest to transform part of the desert into an artificial forest capable of feeding and watering thousands of people by creating extensive super greenhouses. The combination of thermal solar power plants and original desalination plants would allow Sahara Forest to literally produce food, fuel, electricity and drinking water out of nothing, transforming the entire region.
The cost of the "Sahara Forest" is estimated at 80 million euros for a complex of greenhouses with an area of 20 hectares, combined with solar installations with a total capacity of 10 megawatts. Greening the world's greatest desert is still a project. But pilot projects, built in the image and likeness of Sahara Forest, may well appear in the coming years in several places at once: groups of businessmen in the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait have already expressed interest in funding these unusual experiments.
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project is an ambitious program (since 2002) for the construction of dams and galleries that transport water from the highlands of Lesotho, an enclave country located in South Africa and equal in size to Belgium, to the arid regions of Gauteng province, located near Johannesburg.
Ethiopia: large investments are being made in infrastructure (construction of dams, provision of borehole water to rural areas. Throughout the country, an increase in the number of tenders for projects to improve access to drinking water, large infrastructure projects (boreholes).
In Pakistan, the government is seriously considering the issue of forcibly melting the glaciers of the Pamirs and the Himalayas.
Iran is considering projects to manage rain clouds.
In 2006, on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, biologists launched a project to create an irrigation system that collects water from fog. Large-scale construction is needed to create a structure for another "fog tower" project on the Chilean coast.
Based on the materials of marketing research on water (extracts),
For more information (water prices in different countries of the world, etc.
The lake contains 1/5 of all fresh water in the world and 3/4 of all fresh water in Russia. It is noteworthy that most of our citizens live in places where there is not enough fresh water. In total, about 8-10% of all water reserves in Russia.
Man is 70% water. Can live 3 days without drinking fresh water. Our livelihoods lead to the gradual destruction of fresh water supplies. There is also a lot of fresh water in Russia in lakes. The largest of them are: 911.0 cubic kilometers; 292.0 cubic kilometers; Lake Baikal 23000.0 cubic kilometers; Lake Khanka is 18.3 cubic kilometers. Reservoirs: Rybinskoye - 26.3 cubic kilometers; Samarskoe - 58.0 cubic kilometers; Volgogradskoe - 31.4 cubic kilometers; Tsimlyanskoye - 23.7 cubic kilometers; Sayano-Shushenskoye - 31.3 cubic kilometers, Krasnoyarskoye - 73.3 cubic kilometers and, accordingly, Bratskoye - 170, 0. Fresh water is available in. Its reserves are also stored in it. This is our reserve in case of a shortage of valuable liquid.
Despite such vast reserves of water, it is used ineptly. In our country, fresh water is consumed as follows: 59% of all available fresh water is spent on the needs of industry, 21% is spent on household chores. Including for the needs of the household, as well as for drinking. 13% is allocated for irrigation of fields. And 7% remains in reserve for the needs that may arise.
The above figures for water consumption could be less. This requires saving fresh water. Such high costs are explained by water losses due to deterioration of water supply networks. 9 cubic kilometers of fresh water is lost every year. In total, the amount of water lost in public utilities is equal to 16% of 100% of the water used annually. Water is lost and does not reach consumers. In the fields, fresh water is uneconomically consumed. This is due to obsolete and outdated equipment. It has long been necessary to replace it with new, more advanced equipment. The amount of clean fresh water is significantly reduced due to the discharge of waste into it. So in 2002, the total amount of waste water, unsuitable for food, amounted to 54.7 cubic kilometers. These uncomfortable figures are mainly due to two reasons: water pollution by enterprises and wastewater disposal by housing and communal services. Although housing and communal services and enterprises must purify waste water, they do not. In Europe, waste water is treated to the maximum. In Russia, the total amount of treated wastewater in 2002 was 2.5 cubic kilometers. In other words, only 10% of all wastewater that must be treated. Such small numbers arose due to the overloading of treatment facilities or their complete absence.
Wastewater can be divided into several types according to its composition. These are, firstly, pollution (, clay, ore particles, acid and alkaline solutions), secondly, organic pollution (particles of wood, paper), thirdly, sewage formed by the life of humans and other animals (fecal matter, parts of animals and other waste).
There is currently no shortage of fresh water in Russia. In many world countries, the problem of lack of water is very acute. This is actually a serious problem. In connection with the growth of large cities, housing and communal services have to spend more and more water. A lot of water is spent on agriculture. Most of the fresh water is taken by industry. These three industries are in competition with each other. In the near future, a war may start for fresh water. Industry, as you know, always receives more income than agriculture. Therefore, the latter industry is less competitive and loses in this struggle. As a result, agriculture suffers. It becomes unprofitable to grow various crops. Such a country would better buy ready-made agricultural products. Scientists give an interesting example. If the trend towards water scarcity in the next half century does not change for the better, then in 2050 the fields will have to be irrigated for a full harvest with an amount of water equal to 24 per year.
GRINPIS is watching clean drinking water on the planet. Water shortages in Russia and in the world are expected in the near future. The researchers cite the following figures. By 2050, the supply of fresh water to people will be four times less than in the 20th century. Scientists have found that by the 20s of the 21st century, one billion people will experience an acute shortage of water. The interaction and the entire land mass continued for millions of years. Currently, due to the barbaric use of a natural resource - water, the ocean receives less moisture, which evaporates from the land. This is the reason for the decrease in the water level in the rivers. Until a few centuries ago, the interaction of water between the ocean and land was 50/50. Our civilization may soon be in danger of extinction precisely because of the lack of water. Humanity can also die out because of dirty water. About 20 thousand people die in Russia every year. People were poisoned by water poisoned by chemicals and discharges. Many people fall ill with dangerous diseases due to poor water.
Today, according to scientists, in our country there are no completely clean ones. So in the Moscow River, a poison was recently discovered - nitrite nitrogen. At the same time, the municipal authorities argued with the federal authorities about the permissible concentration of the toxic substance in the river. Although together we could rather do the cleaning. Many water-polluting companies have done a good job on this. Researchers distinguish three types of dirty water: Moderately polluted, polluted and dirty water. In recent years, Russian water bodies have been divided according to these three criteria. The dirtiest are, and. These are rivers with poor ecology, which will get worse over the years.
The problem of water scarcity comes first among others. If the situation does not change, then the person will have nothing to drink. Well, then there are only three days to survive.