All of those exports could be produced using far less water, Hoekstra says. It starts with what he calls the most important water management strategy: grow and produce things in the right place.
In other words, water-intensive crops like rice and cotton should be grown in water-rich regions. In a global economy, drought can be a big issue even in water-rich countries, because of a growing dependence on imports. A coastal city, Cape Town hopes to solve its problem by getting a new water source: the ocean.
It is building its first desalination plants. However, these are expensive and energy intensive. Gleick says it would be more cost effective for the region to shift to less-water intensive crops and to reuse treated wastewater.
Israel has also eliminated water-thirsty crops like cotton and made major improvements in water efficiency to free up more water for population growth. California, which recently suffered through four years of drought and water restrictions , also needs to shift its agricultural production to less water-using crops, says Gleick, who is based there.
And the state could increase its wastewater reuse from the current 15 percent, using the surplus to recharge depleted aquifers and use on crops. Following its worst wildfire season in history, heavy rainfall this winter produced mud slides that killed more than 20 people and destroyed or damaged hundreds of homes.
Some , families sought federal disaster aid, most often from flooding in the Houston area—in large part because many homes were built on flood plains.
At the start of March, five states were under a state of emergency Louisiana, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, and Michigan due to heavy rainfalls and flooding. Rapid population growth, building on floodplains or low-lying coastal regions, and climate change are the biggest reasons why flooding is affecting more people and causing ever greater damage, warns Gleick. Climate change is the result of burning fossil fuels and has added 46 percent more heat-trapping carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
But even if fossil-fuel used ended today, that additional heat in the atmosphere will put 10 times more Americans at risk of being flooded out by rivers over the next 20 years, a new study reveals.
Rainfall changes caused by global warming will increase river flood risks across the globe, the study found. In South America, the number of people affected by river flooding will likely increase from 6 to 12 million. In Africa, the number will rise from 25 to 34 million, and in Asia from 70 to million. It bears repeating that these findings are based on the current level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In reality, humanity added 45 billion tons in , and will likely add that much or more in Without limiting human-caused warming to well below 3.
Climate change is also causing sea levels to rise, resulting in substantial coastal flooding during high tides and storms. More than 13 million Americans living on the coasts will be forced to move by because of rising ocean levels, according to a study by Mathew Hauer, a demographer at the University of Georgia.
About 2. Greater New Orleans loses up to , people; the New York City area loses 50,, the study estimated. These coastal migrants will likely go to cities on high ground with mild climates, such as Atlanta, Austin, Madison, and Memphis. See what would happen if all the ice melted. All rights reserved. Share Tweet Email. Why it's so hard to treat pain in infants. Skip to primary navigation Skip to main content Skip to primary sidebar 4 to 20 mA current loop output water level transmitters with a for use with process instrumentation for measuring the level of water in a water well, water reservoir, river or water storage tank.
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What is being done? Harnessing the power of rain. In Senegal, short periods of intense rain are followed by a much longer dry season — so maintaining a constant supply of fresh water is difficult. Tracking water to make the most of it. In , our planet will need to provide food for an estimated 9 to 10 billion people. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United What water means for one farmer, once a migrant now a returnee, in Kenya.
On World Water Day, we asked: what does water mean to you?
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