What are the pressures on and threats to water availability and sustainability?
This is where you will post on our three focus questions. Here is the first: What are the pressures on and threats to water availability and sustainability?
34 Replies
One of threats facing the worlds water supply is sanitation, add that with the worlds constant rising population and clean water becomes the new fossil fuel.
There are many factors that threat Canada’s water availability such as population growth, urbanisation and economic growth through increased demand and pollution. However, human activity is by far one of the strongest causes. Some examples of human activity include overexploitation of resources, alteration of natural riverbanks and lakeshores by urban and agricultural development and acidification of lakes caused by acid producing substances into the atmosphere.
Factories is also a threat due to the amount of water they use when they manufacture products. Polluted water threat the amount of water we can use so we should try to decrease factors that contribute to climate change and things like acid rain.
This post was edited on: 2012-04-23 at 12:10 PM by: ZeynepO
Global warming, which is caused by air pollution and by the people who cut down trees too much and illegally (aka deforestation); growing population; and poor sanitation are some of the pressures on and threats to water availability and sustainability. Also, manufacturers who use excessive amounts of water add to these. 
This post was edited on: 2011-10-11 at 10:45 PM by: rxp
This post was edited on: 2012-04-23 at 12:13 PM by: rxp
This post was edited on: 2012-04-23 at 12:13 PM by: rxp
Drought is also a major issue which presents a challenge on water availability. For example in places such as parts of Africa where rain does not fall often.
The need for water is afftecting it's sustainability because everyone needs water and wants it, but they become greedy and take way more than they should. How clean the water is, is another thing. If you don't have clean water to drink and use then you are going to encounter problems with health and way of life. Draught and other natural occurances are also effecting the water avaliblity and sustainability.
There are many contributing factors that treaten the sustainability of water. The growing population of the world is a big one; more people are being brought into the world but the fresh water supply is being depleated everyday becasue everybody needs it to survive. The extraction of oil around the world is also a factor because it takes thousands of gallons of water every single year as part of the process.
There are numerous threats contributing to water availability and sustainability, low supplies in many countries around the world is draining water supply, usually because of the fact that they reside on a dessert.
Immigration then comes into play, people start finding more fortunate places to settle down in. People need to start realizing that if we keep using as much water as we have been, in a few years the world is going to end up just like countries such as Africa. This is where you start to see global warming. Everbody needs water to survive, so we should start using less of it and researching other techniques in replacing water.
Some pressure and threats to the sustainability availability of water are. Over usuage of water in the oilsands. Soon the fresh water on earth will be exausted and places other then the middle east will be short and will struggle to sustain life, as a nation and world we need to slow the usuage and preserve the resource.
There are many threats that are already having a large impact on the availability of water.. the fact that everyone need water to survive is a large portion of the water usage, not to mention many industries rely on water usage for production of their goods. Although Canada has the most fresh water in the world, there is no way that we would be able to sustain the usage of the entire world.
There are many pressures and threats to water availablity and sustainability in our world that may cause people to misjudge the use and purpose of it. Much of the earth's water around the world is known to slowly poison the bodies who drink it, however it is needed to those who drink it. It is sad to see that while people are out there dieing from drinking unsanitary water that we still use water for the little things that we do such as washing our cars or taking extra long showers just for comfort. Yet it is not just us individuals that mislead the use of water, it is also large buisnesses such as oil industries who use water to separate the bitumen from the sand just because it is cheeper then fnding another substitute for the water. After that the water is then watseful and toxic and can not be used for anything else.
There are a lot of threats to water availability and sustainability. Water is used for many things, (people need it to survive, oil sand industries etc.), so obviously the availability of water will decrease.
1. Overpopulation (yes)
2. No method/not enough capital being invested in this method to turn salt water into freshwater and back again.
3. In canada, yes. If the government opens free trade over our water, we, as citizens with have a difficult time getting our hands on fresh water.
IMO
This post was edited on: 2011-10-12 at 09:42 PM by: Keith M
There are many pressures and threats to water availability and sustainability, but one of the major concerns would be the lack of clean and use able water in many countries. In places such as Kenya, there is very little santitized water for drinking, resulting many of the people to die from dehydration or die from diseases caused by the unsanitary water.Our use able water supply is being decreased because of human pollution, misuse, acid rain, garbage dumped in the water, and global warming can cause droughts. (wasting water, example: leaving the tap on while brushing your teeth).
This post was edited on: 2012-04-23 at 12:05 PM by: snarayan2
Water in many parts of the world is not safe to drink and that is a major threat on the water supply. We need to do a better job at sustaining our water supply and not using it for things such as oil extractions...
The developing world defiantly poses a threat to water sustainablility & avalibilty, especially when water is being polluted through manufacturing ect & it can't (or we don't have the technology yet) to make it clean again. Also for Canada other countries desire for our water "cough the USA cough" poses a threat to our glorious water supply!
There are places in the world that need water way more than other places do such as areas in Africa. They need the water but just because a vast majority of the world needs water doesn't mean that Canada would be able to sustain this need. If water is polluted are it has lots of salt in it, it would be poisonous to the body and unhealthy for anyone to drink. Even though Canada has the largest amount of fresh water doesn't mean we should have to supply for everyone who does not have as much. If we were to supply water to all of the world then our own supply would run out faster than it should.
well as far as i know, the biggest threat to our water is contamination and oil spills. with our ever growing world garbage and sanitation is becoming a huge issue with the liquids we consume.
One of threats facing the worlds water supply is sanitation, add that with the worlds constant rising population and clean water becomes the new fossil fuel.
One of the big threats are world is facing today is that the population is rising at a pretty quick rate and the fresh clean water is decreasing so at one point we will have a really large population and not enough clean fresh water supply to keep these people alive.
Some pressures and threats to water include the following: countries with an ample supply of water decide to be selfish and not to share water; also in undeveloped countries people do not have access to fresh water therefore they are afflicted with diseases once they drink dirty water. Another pressure would be the rate at which water consumption is rising, the access to fresh water is decreasing. Many people are consuming water in large amounts without realizing other people in other countries are suffering without fresh water.
The constantly increasing population on the planet is a huge factor on the pressures & sustainability of water. The more people that are being brought into the world, the more water is needed to keep these citizens alive. But population isn't the only problem. Dumping wastes into oceans/rivers/lakes is also harming the water & threatening it's purity. Water is a natural & non-renewable resource but most people don't realize this until things start getting out of hand -- like the water crisis currently taking place.
Population growth and economic growth through increased demand and pollution are the main threats to water availability. However, human activity is also one of the strongest causes. For example, overexploitation of resources, alteration of natural riverbanks and lake shores by urban and agricultural development and acidification of lakes caused by acid producing substances into the atmosphere are examples of human activities that may be a threat to water availability. Polluted water, also, threats the amount of water we can use so we should begin to distribute to factors that contribute to climate change. Last but not least, factories are, also, a threat due to the amount of water they use when making products.
A threat towards water sustainability is the amount and growth of population and
pollution that is caused through human activities.
The biggest threat is that people do not take time to understand and realize how big the water crisis is. The media has a big impact on this subject by not showing to the public what is going on around the world when it comes to water. In this Century we pay more attention to gossip and what is going on with the current celebrities instead of focusing on what is more important in our society. If more people cared about the water crisis maybe people wont be dying.
"2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of access to safe drinking water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene." "6,000 children die every day "- Blue planet network 2010
One major threat on water comes from the human usage. Human utilize water for several things, such as, using water in their homes for showers, cleaning dishes, washing hands, drinking water, etc. Another major threat on water is climate change, or global warming, which is mainly caused by human activities, such as using vehicles, factories burning fossil fuels and hydrocarbons, etc. Climate change is one major reason water shortages are happening in certain parts of the world. Africa has been experiencing a drought for a long period, and animals and human beings are suffereing due to the water shortage.
One of the threats facing water availability is the Quanity of sanitized water , with the population growing how sanitized will the water be ?
The world population: More people= more waste and pollutants in fresh water which means more ruined water and less drinkable water. We live our lives in a wasteful way so we have to make a change.
there are many factors that can affect the sustainability and accesability of clean water. things such as untreated water being deposited into water resourses, run off containing nitrogen and posphorous; causing algal blooms,overpopulation; less water availability, and un-needed over-use of water.
The over usage water on the oil sands and other commercial industries are a huge threat to the availability and sustainability of out water supplies.
One threat to water availability and sustainability is population. With the growing amount of people, the less water supply there is for each. Another threat is poor sanitation due to improper treatment of wastes that are disposed into the water supply.
pressures or threats to water availability and sustainability include:
- greed over fresh water supply.
- global warming.
- water pollution.
- overpopulation.
There are many threats and pressures on water availability and sustainability. One factor is that many countries are developing countries and dont have the economic power to have water treatment facilities and be able to purify the water. Another factor is the environment of one's country. Some countries have constant drought, others have such hot temperatures and dry climates.
There are a number of threats to the sustainability and availability of water. Draught affects many African countries along with poor sanitation and pollution. In Alberta, over usage of water for irrigation and oilsand development use 179 million cubic meters of water each year!
Rylan
Oct 10, 2011 at 6:27 PM