Water Security

Definition of Water Security

According to Wikipedia, Water security is the capacity of a population to ensure that they    continue to have access to potable water. It is an increasing concern arising from population growth, drought, climate change, oscillation between El Nino and La Nina effects, urbanisation, salinity, upstream pollution, over-allocation of water licences by government agencies and over-utilisation of groundwater from artesian basins. Water security is rapidly declining in many parts of the world.

While the vice-versa of the terms water security is water scarcity which affect regions, states and countries. Water scarcity can be defined as the ability to access sufficient quantities of clean water to maintain adequate standards of food and goods production, sanitation and health. 

Most Affected Countries

Based on the map published by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the countries and regions suffering most water stress are North Africa, the Middle East,  India, Central Asia, China, Chile, South Africa and Australia. Water scarcity is also increasing in South Asia.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_security

Factors That Caused Water Scarcity

Population growth and economic development are driving a steadily increasing demand for new water supplies, and global demand for water has more than tripled over the past half century.

Industry wastes, agriculture fertilizers and municipal wastes due to rapid urbanization bring about serious contamination and pollution problems to the underground water resources.

Climate change brings more frequent and intense droughts. Reduced rainfall, higher temperatures, diversion of streams that feed lakes usually for construction of dams are factors contributing to the drying up of rivers, wells and lakes. In Hebei, China alone, almost 1,000 lakes have disappeared.

Climate change also brings more severe floods, inundates coast-lines to result in intrusion of salt water into fresh water resources. UN scientists calculate that climate change effect will probably account for about a fifth of the increase in water scarcity.

Falling water tables in parts of eastern Iran have caused many wells to go dry. Some villages have been evacuated because there is no longer any accessible water. Iran is one of the first countries to face the prospect of water refugees—people displaced by the depletion of water supplies.

Glacial thaw due to global warming has caused alarming decrease in the availability of melt water: thawing in the Himalayas affecting water supply to major Asian rivers including the Yangtze, Indus

Preventing Water Scarcity

There are several  organization that helps prevent water scarcity both from NGOs and government.