[ad_1]
Water is the base of all life. This precious natural resource is in high demand due to population growth, urbanization, and the expansions of agricultural and industrial production. Access to drinking water is essential for everyone. This is becoming more difficult with climate change. Groundwater supplies are declining and water scarcity globally is a major problem that affects one in three people.
Image Credit: Delook Creative/Shutterstock.com
Climate Change and Water Resources
Water resources, climate and socioeconomic systems are interconnected. A change in one system will affect the other. Anthropogenic climate changes also increase the challenges of sustainable freshwater usage. It is especially important to understand the relationship between climate change, water resources, and other factors.
One of the major concerns associated with climate change is the availability and quality of drinking water. The proliferation of algae, which can be complicated and costly to treat, means that many areas don’t have the right water quality. Higher temperatures cause evaporation to increase, which reduces the volume of water available.
Climate change is expected to lead to significant changes in groundwater recharge, and flow regimes. Groundwater flooding can occur in certain circumstances due to increased rainfall and recharge. The absence of frequent heavy rains can lead to soil drying, compaction and erosion, which could result in groundwater flooding.
Climate change will cause changes in vegetation and crop yields that will affect evapotranspiration and water demand. Highland catchments have snowmelt and precipitation imbalance shifts that impact groundwater recharge in downstream aluvial regions.
Climate change will also have a major impact on the snow cover and glaciers. The area of snow covered in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased noticeably over the past 40 year, according to satellites from meteorological observatories. The Swiss Alps, and the west of North America have the most notable decreases in snow cover.
The snowpack volume at higher elevations decreases as the mean temperatures rise. Snowmelt is more frequent in season than it was in the past year. This results in snowmelt occurring earlier and leading to increased water loss. Snowmelt is responsible for one-third the world’s water supply. Any change in the timing will have a significant impact on water management. This will be particularly true for Europe, where 80 percent of its freshwater comes from snowpack.
Water Shortage: Tools and Techniques
The Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) is often referred to as the driest place on Earth. Due to climate change, droughts have become more frequent and more severe in this region. The MENA Drought Project, led by International Water Management Institute, aims to improve drought maps and early warning systems in multiple MENA nations, connecting them directly with drought response plans.
The initiative contributes to better water governance by enabling individuals to make educated decisions about how to respond quickly to droughts, and how to strengthen their climate mitigation measures to prevent future crises.
Omar Yaghi, a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of California has created a device that extracts water from dry air using solar power. The system is built on a new class porous materials called Metal Organic Frameworks.
This material is embedded between an solar panel and steam condenser. It can collect 2.8 liters water using one kilogram MOF in 12 hours. Air humidity drops to 20-30%.
Despite living close to the oceans, large portions of the world’s population do not have access to safe drinking waters. Researchers at Manchester have created a graphene-oxide sieve that can retain salts and allow only water through.
In 2019, the University of Manchester’s National Graphene Institute partnered up with LifeSaver (a manufacturer of portable water filtration system) to create new water purification systems based on this technology.
The World Meteorological Organization’s World Cryosphere Watch, one of the most important initiatives supporting snow and glacier observation and monitoring, is one. Stakeholders can prepare for the future by gaining scientific knowledge about the cryosphere’s processes, including snow and glacier melt, water resources and changes in hydrological flow.
World Water Day
The world celebrates World Water Day every year on March 22. It was first suggested in Rio de Janeiro at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.
All countries celebrate Water Day. Ecologists draw attention to the condition of water bodies, the safety of water supply, and rational water use.
On this day, mass actions, campaigns for water protection, excursions, conferences and seminars are all held.
Here are the main objectives for World Water Day:
- To encourage the adoption of appropriate measures to address population’s inability to access safe drinking water
- Educate the public about the importance and necessity of maintaining freshwater supplies.
- Participate governments, non-governmental organizations, international organisations, and the private sector in World Water Day
Groundwater: The Theme of World Water Day 2022
The theme of World Water Day 2022 is groundwater. It draws attention to an underutilized water resource that has always been crucial but has received little recognition in planning for sustainable development.
Image Credit: VectorMine/Shutterstock.com
Groundwater protects rivers and lakes from shallowing, supports the nutrition of springs, and provides moisture to the roots of plants. In addition, people use fresh underground water for drinking, cooking, domestic and industrial needs.
Around the world, there is a characteristic trend towards greater exploitation of groundwater. In the last quarter of a century alone, approximately 300 million water wells have been drilled. In the United States, around one million water wells appear every year, used in agriculture for domestic and technical needs. As discussed earlier, climate change also significantly affects groundwater recharge and flow regimes.
Importance of World Water Day and Future Developments
March 22 serves as a reminder to humanity of the crucial importance of water resources to the environment and societal growth.
Practical initiatives can aid in public comprehension of the issues and potential solutions in this field. Converting words into commitments and deeds within a common subject is vital to achieving positive results.
As part of World Water Day 2022, the climate crisis presents us with an urgent priority in which each of us can play an important role.
References and Further Reading
Foster, Stephen & Tyson, Gillian & Dillon, Peter & Stigter, Tibor & Taylor, Richard & Scanlon, Bridget & Andreo, Bartolome & Kebede, Seifu & Escolero, Oscar & Taniguchi, Makoto & Wende, Franziska. (2019). Climate-Change Adaptation & Groundwater. [Online]International Association of Hydrogeologists. Available at: https://iah.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IAH_Climate-ChangeAdaptationGdwtr.pdf
Kundzewicz, Z. W., Krysanova, V., Benestad, R. E., Hov, Ø., Piniewski, M., & Otto, I. M. (2018). Uncertainty about climate change impacts upon water resources Environmental Science & Policy, 79, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2017.10.008
Orago, N. W. (2022). Yearbook of International Disaster Law Online, 3(1), 442-452. https://doi.org/10.1163/26662531_00301_020
Kim, H., Yang, S., Rao, S. R., Narayanan, S., Kapustin, E. A., Furukawa, H., … & Wang, E. N. (2017). Water harvesting from the air using metal-organic frameworks powered with natural sunlight Science, 356(6336), 430-434. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam8743
Abraham, J., Vasu, K., Williams, C. et al. Tunable sieving using graphene oxide membranes. Nature Nanotech 12, 546–550 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2017.21
Key, J., Goodison, B., Schöner, W., Godøy, Ø., Ondráš, M., & Snorrason, Á. (2015). Global Cryosphere Watch. Arctic, 68, 48–58. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43871386
United Nations March 22nd is World Water Day. [Online]Available at: https://www.un.org/en/observances/water-day
