From Envirowiki

One of the greatest challenges facing humanity in the decades to come will be how to provide water for a population that is expected to reach 9 billion by the middle of this century. The problem is intimidating, but it is possible for us as a global community to rise above this problem and solve it. The principle sources of water waste can be traced to industry, agriculture, and individual over consumption. However our rules today and consequential decisions that influence water use/consumption do not support sustainable water usage. We as a global community have the capacity to provide water for both people and ecosystems, sufficing the needs of both, but the current rates of water misuse and waste prevent this goal from being reached.

Modern water management can essentially be defined as the movement and utilization of water for cities and farms when they need it. This use of our water resources has led to a gross misuse of the world’s drinkable water. Today, people swim in pools and play golf in desert temperature at the sacrifice of drinking water for roughly 1 billion people or 1/6th of the world’s current population. In addition to developed countries misuse of the current natural supply of water we are also utilizing non-renewable or fossil water to irrigate many of our crops and fields. This water is non replaceable and is the result of thousands of years of water seeping into these underground aquifers – we are using it faster than nature can replace it. Notable aquifers that are being overused in the United States are in the Great Plains and the California Central Valley, leaving a good portion of the country’s food production dependent on the unsustainable practice of ground water over use. In addition to aquifers use, our society has greatly altered and utilized river water supplies. Many rivers in the United States now run dry for portions of the year, the Yellow Stone river has run dry in its lower reaches for the past several years and it appears that this trend will continue with time.

Outside of the United States there is growing competition and tension regarding water rights and usage among countries in Asia and Africa. Most major rivers in these areas flow through several different countries. In most cases there are no treaties or sets of rules governing water use. There is also a heated conflict of debating whether the use of water for industry and agriculture should take priority over its ecological role as the basis of terrestrial life and sentience of ecosystems. There are many problems facing the world regarding water usage and consumption with the future in mind. How are we to supply acceptable drinking water an estimated 9 billion without devastation of industry (namely agriculture) and still allocated enough water to ensure the well being of natural ecosystems?

There are several actions we can take to rectify current water management problems as well as prevent further predicaments. First there must be enough water allocated to ensure the well being of the natural ecosystems that in the end sustain our very existence. Second we increase the productivity of the water we are using, in other words we need to conserve the water we are lucky to have instead participating in further wasting. Third, we need to begin to use our water resources to help those poor who do not have safe drinking water. Global water management is a problem that only the global community can solve. While individual efforts are collectively effective, it is necessary for the global community to address water issues and instate sound and effective water management policies to ensure the continued availability of the very liquid that sustains our existence.