Water scarcity

About: Water scarcity is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 11579 publications have been published within this topic receiving 228756 citations. The topic is also known as: water shortage.

Yellow River basin: living with scarcity.

Abstract: The Yellow River basin is a key food production centre of global importance facing rapidly growing water scarcity. Water availability for agriculture in the basin is threatened by rapid growth in the demand for industrial and urban water, the need to flush sediment from the river's lower reaches, environmental demands and growing water pollution. Climate change is already evident in the basin with long-term declines in river runoff, higher temperatures, and increasing frequency and intensity of drought. The Chinese government has exhausted most options for improving water supply. The challenge will be to switch to improved water demand management, which is hampered by existing governance structures, and lack of integrated agriculture and water resource policies.

Water Scarcity and Wastewater Reuse Standards in Southern Europe: Focus on Agriculture

Abstract: Climate change affects water resources worldwide, and Southern Europe is one of the areas where water scarcity is expected to increase in the future. Different water scarcity indicators discussed in this manuscript (e.g. total annual actual renewable water resources, water exploitation index and dependency ratio) showed that some parts of this region are already facing water stress and that climate change could have a great impact on their water supply sector. As agriculture is the biggest consumer of water in the world and also in this particular region, potential water scarcity will impose the need to find new water sources. Treated wastewater reuse would decrease the pressure on the environment and is especially suitable for reuse in agriculture since it already contains some nutrients required for plant growth. However, in order to use it safely, treated wastewater must reach a certain quality that should be regulated. In the south of Europe, 4 countries out of 15 have already adopted wastewater reuse regulations (Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain). This review compares these regulations and discusses their differences.

Complex Adaptive Systems Framework to Assess Supply-Side and Demand-Side Management for Urban Water Resources

Abstract: The availability of water resources in many urbanizing areas is the emergent property of the adaptive interactions among consumers, policy, and the hydrologic cycle. As water availability becomes more stressed, public officials often implement restrictions on water use, such as bans on outdoor watering. Consumers are influenced by policy and the choices of other consumers to select water-conservation technologies and practices, which aggregate as the demand on available water resources. Policy and behavior choices affect the availability of water for future use as reservoirs are depleted or filled. This research posited urban water supply as a complex adaptive system (CAS) by coupling a stochastic consumer demand model and a water supply model within an agent-based modeling (ABM) framework. Public officials were simulated as agents to choose water conservation strategies and interbasin transfer strategies, and consumers were simulated as agents, influenced by various conservation-based programs to...

Finding the balance: population and water scarcity in the Middle East and North Africa.

Abstract: The challenge of addressing freshwater shortages in Middle East and North Africa is exacerbated by the regions ongoing population pressures. Tapping new sources of water to meet the increased demand for fresh water would relieve some of the regions shortages but as new sources of water become more expensive they become less accessible to low-income countries given those nations limited financial and technical opportunities. At the same time these low-income countries are often experiencing the fastest population growth in the region. Regional cooperation and political legal and institutional support are critical for enabling countries to address their freshwater shortages. Sound government policies regarding water allocation distribution and use can help countries to adopt better strategies to manage their scarce freshwater resources. Conservation is important in balancing the regions freshwater shortages and increased demand. Slower population growth would provide time for better water conservation and management strategies to be developed and would allow freshwater resources to be used more efficiently. (excerpt)

Economic growth and water use

Abstract: In recent years the issue of global water scarcity has attracted increasing attention within academia, non-governmental organizations and the media. The aim of this short note is to ascertain whether there is a systematic relationship between water use and income, and particularly whether an inverted U-shaped relationship exists, as has been found for other resources and pollutants. Using a new data set of water use, evidence of such a relationship is provided, suggesting that water use may benefit from composition and technique effects. While this finding appears optimistic, regional forecasts are made that suggest that levels of water use in developing regions will continue to increase for many years to come. The implications of these findings are discussed.