Water Futures

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Business as usual:

Water changes by 2025;

Water scarcity will reduce food production

Consumption of water will rise by over 50%

Household water use will increase by 70% (mainly in LEDCs)

Industrial water demand will increase in LEDCs

Wider Impacts;

LEDCs will become reliant on food imports and experience increased hunger and malnutrition

In Sub Saharan Africa grain imports will triple

In USA, China, India, Egypt and North Africa, water will be pumped faster than aquifers can recharge

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Water Crisis:

Water changes by 2025;

Global water consumption will increase mostly for irrigation

Worldwide domestic demand will fall

Industrial demand will increase by 33% over business as usual levels

Wider Impacts;

Food production will decline and food prices will increase rapidly

In LEDCs malnutrition and food insecurity will increase

Dam building will decline and key aquifers in China, India and North Africa will fail

Conflict over water will increase

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Sustainable Water:

Water changes by 2025;

Global consumption and industrial use will have to fall considerably

Environmental flows increase

Rain fed crop yields increase due to water harvesting and sustainable farming

Agricultural and household water prices double in MEDCs and triple in LEDCs

Wider Impacts;

Increase in food production, prices fall slowly

Investment in crop research, technology and water management reforms will increase

Unsustainable pumping of groundwater stops

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Water Quality:

By 2020, 135 million people in LEDCs will die due to water borne diseases like typhoid and cholera

Eutrophication

400 billion tonnes of industrial waste water is generated annually which is pumped into rivers untreated

Dams trap sediment upstream which reduces fertility on the plains

Rainwater Harvesting:

Advantages:

Cheap materials

Straight forward construction methods

Low maintenance costs

Provides safe supply of water

Disadvantages:

Supply can be contaminated

Poorly constructed jars can suffer algae growth