scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Topic

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.


Papers
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors provide a critical insight of the causes for drought and the issues caused by persistent drought conditions followed by discussion of management and technological approaches required to maintain adequate water resources around the world.
Abstract: The act of ensuring freshwater is considered the most essential and basic need for humanity. Although the planet is water-rich in some terms, the freshwater sources available for human consumption and beneficial uses are very limited. Excess population growth, industrial development coupled with improving living standards have caused an unprecedented need for freshwater all over the world. Regions once rich in water resources are struggling to meet the ever increasing demands in recent years. In addition, climate change and unsustainable management practices have led to a situation called “drought” in many regions. Water supplies in drought conditions can be addressed by taking two major approaches related to management and technology development. The management approaches include demand mitigation and supply enhancement. Demand mitigation can be done by implementing water conservation practices, and by enforcing a mechanism to influence user-responsible behavior through higher water fares and other billing routes. Supply enhancement can be achieved by utilizing the methods available for water reclamation, reuse and recycle including rain harvesting. This paper provides a critical insight of the causes for drought and the issues caused by persistent drought conditions followed by discussion of management and technological approaches required to maintain adequate water resources around the world. Challenges and opportunities involved in implementation of desalination and water reuse technologies in addressing global water scarcity are discussed in detail with case studies

194 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the government should take measures to have a strategic water management vision, including regional cooperation and coordination, research and development, improving agriculture and sanitation sector as well as public awareness program.

194 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the problem of water management in third world countries that already suffer from water, food, and health problems and propose flexible and integrated water management to handle water surpluses, water shortages, and weather extremes.
Abstract: Most of the projected global population increases will take place in third world countries that already suffer from water, food, and health problems. Increasingly, the various water uses (municipal, industrial, agricultural) must be coordinated with, and integrated into, the overall water management of the region. Sustainability, public health, environmental protection and economics are key factors. More storage of water behind dams and especially in aquifers via artificial recharge is necessary to save water in times of water surplus for use in times of water shortage. Municipal wastewater can be an important water resource but its use must be carefully planned and regulated to prevent adverse health effects and, in the case of irrigation, undue contamination of groundwater. While almost all liquid fresh water of the planet occurs underground as groundwater, its long-term suitability as a source of water is threatened by non-point source pollution from agriculture and other sources and by aquifer depletion due to groundwater withdrawals in excess of groundwater recharge. In irrigated areas, groundwater levels may have to be controlled with drainage or pumped well systems to prevent water-logging and salinization of soil. Salty drainage waters must then be handled in an ecologically responsible way. Water short countries can save water by importing most of their food and electric power from other countries with more water, so that in essence they also get the water that was necessary to produce these commodities and, hence, is virtually embedded in the commodities. This “virtual” water tends to be a lot cheaper for the receiving country than developing its own water resources. Local water can then be used for purposes with higher social, ecological, or economic returns or saved for the future. Climate changes in response to global warming caused by carbon dioxide emissions are difficult to predict in space and time. Resulting uncertainties require flexible and integrated water management to handle water surpluses, water shortages, and weather extremes. Long-term storage behind dams and in aquifers may be required. Rising sea levels will present problems in coastal areas.

194 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors apply a modeling framework with detailed economic representation of the land and energy sector, and explore the cost-effective contribution of bioenergy to a low-carbon transition, paying special attention to implications for the land system.
Abstract: Biomass from cellulosic bioenergy crops is expected to play a substantial role in future energy systems, especially if climate policy aims at stabilizing greenhouse gas concentration at low levels. However, the potential of bioenergy for climate change mitigation remains unclear due to large uncertainties about future agricultural yield improvements and land availability for biomass plantations. This letter, by applying a modelling framework with detailed economic representation of the land and energy sector, explores the cost-effective contribution of bioenergy to a low-carbon transition, paying special attention to implications for the land system. In this modelling framework, bioenergy competes directly with other energy technology options on the basis of costs, including implicit costs due to biophysical constraints on land and water availability. As a result, we find that bioenergy from specialized grassy and woody bioenergy crops, such as Miscanthus or poplar, can contribute approximately 100 EJ in 2055 and up to 300 EJ of primary energy in 2095. Protecting natural forests decreases biomass availability for energy production in the medium, but not in the long run. Reducing the land available for agricultural use can partially be compensated for by means of higher rates of technological change in agriculture. In addition, our trade-off analysis indicates that forest protection combined with large-scale cultivation of dedicated bioenergy is likely to affect bioenergy potentials, but also to increase global food prices and increase water scarcity. Therefore, integrated policies for energy, land use and water management are needed.

194 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Today's state of knowledge in mountain hydrology makes sustainable water management and an assessment of vulnerability quite difficult, and new research initiatives and new high mountain observatories are needed in order to understand the ongoing natural and human processes and their impacts on the adjacent lowlands.
Abstract: Mountains as "Water Towers" play an important role for the surrounding lowlands. This is particularly true of the world's semiarid and arid zones, where the contributions of mountains to total discharge are 50-90%. Taking into account the increasing water scarcity in these regions, especially for irrigation and food production, then today's state of knowledge in mountain hydrology makes sustainable water management and an assessment of vulnerability quite difficult. Following the IPCC report, the zone of maximum temperature increase in a 2 x CO2 state extends from low elevation in the arctic and sub-arctic to high elevation in the tropics and subtropics. The planned GCOS climate stations do not reach this elevation of high temperature change, although there are many high mountain peaks with the necessary sensitive and vulnerable ecosystems. Worldwide, more than 700 million people live in mountain areas, of these, 625 million are in developing countries. Probably more than half of these 625 million people are vulnerable to food insecurity. Consequences of this insecurity can be emigration or overuse of mountain ecosystems. Overuse of the ecosystems will, ultimately, have negative effects on the environment and especially on water resources. New research initiatives and new high mountain observatories are needed in order to understand the ongoing natural and human processes and their impacts on the adjacent lowlands.

194 citations


Network Information
Related Topics (5)
Climate change
99.2K papers, 3.5M citations
85% related
Sustainable development
101.4K papers, 1.5M citations
83% related
Sustainability
129.3K papers, 2.5M citations
82% related
Global warming
36.6K papers, 1.6M citations
82% related
Agriculture
80.8K papers, 1.3M citations
81% related
Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
2023562
20221,098
2021951
2020879
2019814
2018735