The Most Severe Threat We Face Today Is Water Shortage

Water is the one of the most important resources in the world because it is vital for life on Earth. Today many people believe that water shortage is the most severe problem, but there are many different other issues such as overpopulation and global warming.
It is commonly accepted by many that the world faces a crisis over restrictions on water supply and we cannot continue to expect water to be a finite resource. According to A. Kirby (2000), the earth is covered by water in approximately two thirds of its surface. However, the vast majority of this water is too salty to use and, alarmingly, there is only 2.5% of it available for consumption by the human species. Furthermore, two thirds of that small percentage is locked in the icecaps and glaciers and with only 0.08% of supply accessible a picture begins to emerge of the challenges facing the world. Humans utilise approximately 70% of its water supply in developing its agriculture and related activities but the World Water Council has stated that it believes this figure could rise by up to 17% by the end of 2020. It could be argued that in ten years time millions of lives could be at risk because of the careless nature of our attitude to the production, treatment and consumption of water. Even in the present day it is estimated that approximately 30,000 children in poor and third world countries are dying each year from diseases directly related to the transfer and storage of water. The world’s water shortage issues have arisen because of the people who live in it, the rise in their population but most importantly their waste of this product. Overpopulation is another problem which causes water shortages.
The world’s population rate is significantly increasing and will eventually come to a point where the resources essential to support life will run out. According to V. Busam (1995) Earth does not possess enough resources to support the high population demands. This can be seen in China where arable land and living space are very limited. The demand has increased so much that in 1994 China had to import 16 million tonnes of grain, double the amount of grain China used to export two years previously (China News Digest). This limits the amount of grain globally available, creating higher food prices. In some areas of growing population there is not enough food to fuel the growth. Malnutrition leads to the deaths of 40,000 children daily and a further 150 million children’s health suffer as a result of the food shortage. Dagger (2001) states that populations started rising from 1750, causing changes birth and death rates immediately after the industrial revolution. There were huge developments in science and technology during that time. Medicine has also improved, which significantly increased the population. Unecre (2008) provided information that Earth can easily support 12 billion people, but not at high standards of living. Only 2 billion of people might be supported at high European standards of living. It means that each family can have no more than 2 children, if they want their children to have a good life. With arise in population, pollution takes place. Obviously, more people need more usage of fossil fuel for transportation and electricity, which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which causes not only disorders but global warming as well.
Scientists nowadays are very worried about the situation with temperature change happening on the Earth’s surface. According to Adam (2009) the average temperature might rise by 6 degree Celsius during this century. Moreover, even 4 degree Celsius rise could cause 7 million to approximately 300 million people to be at risk of coast flooding. This risk will appear each year and there would be 30-50% lack of water accessibility in South Africa and Mediterranean as a result.
Indeed, (ibid) overall agricultural income appears set to fall by 15%-35% in Africa with 20-50% of animals and plants likely to die as a result of this. Furthermore, large cities such as London, Los Angeles, New York and Tokyo face a very real threat of rises in sea levels and increases in ocean acidity which will damage local marine ecosystems and fisheries. A National Geographic News broadcast (2007) suggests that arctic ice is rapidly fading away and could completely melt by summer 2040 or earlier. With arctic ice glaciers and mountain snows are also rapidly melting, Montana’s Glacier National Park has around 27 glaciers whilst in 1910 its quantity was almost 150. Atmospheric concentration of water vapour, carbon dioxide and methane are significantly increased by industrialisation, deforestation and pollution, which helps to trap heat in the Earth’s surface. According to Owen (2007) global warming could lead to water and huge food shortage and also have catastrophic results in wildlife.
To sum up, water shortage is truly a severe problem and human beings cannot exist without it. However, all world global problems are connected with each other and, in fact, water shortage caused by another global problem such as overpopulation and climate change. It’s really arguable which world threat is more severe, but at the end they are all still be a problem and every problem exists in order to be solved.

References:
1. Adam, D. (2009) ‘Global warming 'will be worse than expected ' warns Stern’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/12/climate-change-scienceofclimatechange (date of access 14 December 2010)
2. Busam, V. ‘Overpopulation: The world’s problem’ 11 December 1995 http://www.sixpak.org/vince/overpopulation.html (date of access 1 December 2010)
3. Dager, W. (2001)‘Overpopulation vs. The World’ http://www.albrightseed.com/overpopulation.htm (date of access 14 December 2010)
4. Kirby, A. ‘Dawn of a thirsty century’ 2 June 2000 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/755497.stm (date of access 1 December 2010)
5. N/a, (2007) ‘Global Warming Fast Facts’ in National Geographic News, June 14, 2007 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1206_041206_global_warming.html (date of access 14 December 2010)
6. Owen, J. (2007), ‘Warming May Spur Extinctions, Shortages, Conflicts, World Experts Warn’ for National Geographic News, April 6, 2007, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/070406-global-warming.html (date of access 15 December 2010)
7. Unecre, P. (2008), ‘Aspects of Overpopulation’, 07 April 2008, http://www.snakebytestudios.com/columns/academic/overpopulation/#_Toc195326729 (date of access 10 December 2010)

References: 1. Adam, D. (2009) ‘Global warming 'will be worse than expected ' warns Stern’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/12/climate-change-scienceofclimatechange (date of access 14 December 2010) 2. Busam, V. ‘Overpopulation: The world’s problem’ 11 December 1995 http://www.sixpak.org/vince/overpopulation.html (date of access 1 December 2010) 3. Dager, W. (2001)‘Overpopulation vs. The World’ http://www.albrightseed.com/overpopulation.htm (date of access 14 December 2010) 4. Kirby, A. ‘Dawn of a thirsty century’ 2 June 2000 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/755497.stm (date of access 1 December 2010) 5. N/a, (2007) ‘Global Warming Fast Facts’ in National Geographic News, June 14, 2007 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1206_041206_global_warming.html (date of access 14 December 2010) 6. Owen, J. (2007), ‘Warming May Spur Extinctions, Shortages, Conflicts, World Experts Warn’ for National Geographic News, April 6, 2007, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/04/070406-global-warming.html (date of access 15 December 2010) 7. Unecre, P. (2008), ‘Aspects of Overpopulation’, 07 April 2008, http://www.snakebytestudios.com/columns/academic/overpopulation/#_Toc195326729 (date of access 10 December 2010)