THE REASONS FOR WATER SHORTAGE

Water is the basis of life and life cannot exist without it. Today the search for new planets centers around the issue of water and whether there is fresh water on the said planet. In spite of there being plenty of water on our planet and the obvious importance of this resource, there are many areas of the world where access to clean water is a luxury. The main reason for this problem is the intervention of man resulting in draught and lack of means.

Efforts of man to improve his quality of life have usually generated short term policies to address the situation but disregarded long term impacts. For example, the construction of too many dams on the Tigris and Euphrates has caused water shortage in the Middle East for years and is a source of contention.  A second example of this blinkered approach is the contamination of water sources by heavy industry and nuclear power plants. Rivers which were sources of water for people for centuries now support no life at all. A third example is the destruction of forests, which has radically changed the climate in many areas of the world, reducing these areas to deserts where nothing will grow. A good example of this is central Africa, the area around the Aral Sea and modern day Afghanistan. In short, if man had left well alone and thought before he acted, we would not be in this predicament. Yet this isn’t the only reason for the suffering caused by lack of water.

A second reason for water shortage is the lack of means be it funds or technology. Man’s interference in nature has made available water harder to reach as the water tables are deep underground. Accessing this water requires know-how and deep pockets, which third world countries do not have. As a result, people suffer although water is within their reach. Water shortage has also made desalination of sea water necessary, which requires both technology and funds. If the country has the means, like Kuwait and Israel, well and good; if not, they are doomed to starvation because nothing will grow without water. In short, both money and expertise are necessary to access existing water supplies in the modern world and not everyone has them.

The solution is exporting the know-how and providing aid to help countries set up the technology to access and purify water. Help is also necessary to teach people how to preserve existing water supplies in the best possible way. A little foresight and forward planning will help reduce the effects of this problem.