Neely 1 Jasmine Neely Dr.

Yapa Geog 123U 27 April 2013 Water Scarcity Abstract: Water scarcity is a matter in which the demand for water exceeds the available supply in a given region. It is a collective issue with multiple factors such as accessibility and uneven distribution affecting the supply and the demand for water. This paper will describe and analyze the reports on water scarcity, provided by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), detailing what water scarcity is, the forces behind it, and how a nation may cope with it, with a strong focus on agriculture, as it is the most sensitive to water scarcity.

A World Water Development Report identifies the various global crises impacts on water, which plays an important role in all aspects of the economy and is essential in reaching the Millennium Development Goals (UN-Water, 2009, 2012). With an increasing demand from humans water scarcity becomes apparent in a vast variety of forms. The FAO report uses agricultural water use to begin explaining how the connection between economic development, livelihoods, and environments is hard to understand because it dominates global withdrawals of water for the future.

Neely 2 After enduring a deliberation on Sustainability in an honors communication and speech class, (CAS138T), a question was posed of Does our earth have enough resources to produce for our growing population, a similar question was posed by the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture (CAWMA). As the question during my deliberation forum was not fully answered, the CAWMA concluded with, It is possible to produce for such a growing population, but not with the environmental trends that occur today. This means that, if we are to continue living in the careless manner that we do, many crises will begin to appear worldwide, if we can improve water usage in agriculture, we will meet the freshwater challenges facing mankind. The assessment suggests that in order to avoid such crises from occurring, real changes are needed. Some believe the water is scarce because it is an unavoidable principle, meaning that we as humans cannot help the amount of water we have available to us, and that enduring water crises is inevitable. However this isnt necessarily true, if water is managed efficiently, these crises we will soon endure can be avoided. Agriculture, the practice of farming, is the most sensitive to water scarcity, it accounts for seventy percent of global freshwater withdrawals and more than ninety percent of consumptive use. Of all the sectors, agriculture has the most potential for adjustment (Food and Agriculture Organization). In order to understand the FAOs perspective in agriculture being extremely sensitive to water scarcity I shall provide you with information documented within the report that is based off of human behaviors. First and foremost, there is a persistent demand for agricultural products; this is because the need for our growing population drives agricultural water usage. The
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Neely 3 population numbers in developing countries continues to grow and in these developing nations the diet has changed from a basic diet to a meat and dairy based one, which puts pressure on water resources because you have to keep these animals healthy in order to feed the mass amount of people our society has. At the rate we are going, over fifty percent more food is going to be necessary to satisfy demand between now and 2050, this results in agricultural water usage increasing water scarcity. In summary, due to the ever growing population, theres a bigger demand for agricultural products given our meat-based diet, this bigger demand calls for agricultural water usage which increases the scarcity of water. It is clear that the agriculture needs water for food product, so the FAO has begun to review its program to provide a more efficient response to the growing issue of water scarcity. A main goal of the report is to define water accounting framework allowing water scarcity to be interpreted objectively and to indicate where and how agricultural water management can play a more proactive role in repose to increasing concerns over global freshwater scarcity (Food and Agriculture Organization). The FAO embarked a long-term program with the theme Coping with water scarcity the role of agriculture, and it deals with the development of a framework for agricultural repose to water scarcity. The project entails tools that will further be promoted among FAO member countries and it will be adapted to individualities of various regions and applied at country level (Food and Agriculture Organization). The aim of the report is to set the stage for the agenda in which the FAO will develop its program. In order to develop a framework to cope with water scarcity, you must first define water scarcity. The FAO report states that such a definition needs to be able to be used
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Neely 4 in both qualitative and quantitative assessments. Simply stated, water scarcity is when the demand for freshwater exceeds the supply, but this definition doesnt satisfy the qualitative and quantitative aspects the FAO report desires. A paper written by Winpenny defined water scarcity as the imbalance of supply and demand under prevailing institutional arrangements and an excess of demand over available supply (Winpenny, J.T. 1997). The World Water Development Report defined water scarcity as The point which the impact from all users affects the supply or quality of water to the extent that the demand cannot be satisfied fully, (UN-Water 2006a). Both definitions recognize that water scarcity is not limited to where it can occur and that the causes behind it vary but that it is capable of being relieved. It is important to understand that the causes of water scarcity are related to human interference with the water cycle, but that it is not a man-made issue. Due to water usage growing at more than twice the rate of population, the supply for fresh water is available to suit the worlds population but a great portion of such water is unevenly distributed and wasted. It is socially constructed because its causes relate back to human intervention with the water cycle. According to the FAO report, water scarcity is characterized by several main magnitudes; a physical lack of water availability, level of infrastructure development controlling storage, and distribution and access. Water services in many regions cannot be delivered due to the unconstrained water usage growing more than twice the rate of population. As stated before, water scarcity has varying causes; it can be divided into two main types, physical scarcity and economic scarcity. Physical scarcity is when the amount of water cant meet all of the demands, you can think of this as a location based problem meaning access to water is limited. Map showing different levels of water
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Neely 5 scarcity across the world shows that in the west of the United States, physical scarcity exists as well as parts of the Middle East and Northern Africa. Economic scarcity is a lack of investment in water and is often said to be the most disturbing form of water scarcity (Global Water Shortage). Economic water scarcity exists when a population doesnt have the monetary means to utilize an adequate source of water; its about an uneven distribution of resources. The majority of Africa or sub-Saharan Africa faces economic water scarcity. With multiple causes behind water scarcity, there are multiple answers and the FAO report has three dimensions of water scarcity scarcity in availability of water, scarcity due to lack of adequate infrastructure, and scarcity in access to water services. The many causes of water scarcity are interrelated, as stated by Abrams in 2009. Its known that scarcity occurs when demand exceeds supply, but this statement doesnt detail what affects the supply or the demand. Some factors that may affect the supply of water can be from a natural or manmade nature. Natural factors extend out to geological conditions because the availability of water fluctuates over the years and only a fraction of it is accessible to humans. Manmade factors can be both positive and negative. The positive aspect of manmade factors affecting water supply is that humans can increase the volumes of water available for use by controlling water through reservoirs. However in the same aspect, water quality comes into question during water controlling, which highlights the negative aspects of factors affecting water supply. If water quality worsens, it can make water scarcity worse than it already is. Unlike factors affecting water supply, the factors affecting water demand are all man made by nature. Factors directly affecting water demand are the population and its growth rate and consumption patterns, because
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Neely 6 water is associated with production, processing, and delivery. As a persons income increases, so does the pressure on water resources. For example, the bigger a family is the more of a demand that family has on water for bathing, washing, cooking, gardening, etc. As there is a household demand there is also a municipal demand and recreational demands. With different factors affecting demand and supply how does a nation cope with water scarcity? Provided by the FAOs four frameworks for coping with water scarcity, options to cope can be divided into supply enhancement and demand management. Supply enhancement increases access to water resources, re-uses drainage water, and pollution control. Demand management is a series of actions that controls the demand for water by raising the economic efficiency or by operating re-allocation of resources. In terms of coping with water scarcity in agriculture it can be viewed as a continuum from the water source to the farmer, to the consumer of the goods. Water scarcity and coping with it are problems our society is facing and is going to have to adapt to in a number of years if the lifestyle we live doesnt change. Using the FAOs framework for coping with water scarcity could resolve the issue to an extent that would slow the rate of water usage throughout the world to make it more efficient for users. Reforming the lifestyles may only be a small sliver of help in allocating water scarcity, given that a huge part of water scarcity comes from man-made nature, but its a factor that can help save the limited amount of water the Earth has.

Neely 7 Works Cited: Sources come from reference pages provided in the actual FAO report Abrams, L. 2009. Water scarcity. www.africanwater.org/drought_water_scarcity.htm Accessed 18 April 2013. Food and Agriculture Organization. Coping with Water Scarcity. Rep. FAO.org, Dec. 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. <http://www.fao.org/docrep/016/i3015e/i3015e.pdf> "Global Water Shortage." The Water Project. The Water Project, 2013. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. <http://thewaterproject.org/water_scarcity_2.asp>. Molden, D., Sakthivadivel, R. & Keller, J. 2001. Hydronomic zones for developing basin water conservation strategies. Research Report No. 56. International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka. 30 p UNDESA. "Scarcity, Decade, Water for Life, 2015, UN-Water, United Nations, MDG, Water, Sanitation, Financing, Gender, IWRM, Human Right, Transboundary, Cities, Quality, Food Security." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2013. UN-Water. 2006a. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2: Water, a shared responsibility. World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP). Doc. no. UN-WATER/WWAP/2006/3. Unesco, Paris, France, and Berghahn Books, New York, USA. Available at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001444/144409e.pdf Accessed 18 April 2013. UN-Water. 2009. The United Nations World Water Development Report 3: Water in a Changing World. World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP). Unesco, Paris, France, and Earthscan, London, UK. UN-Water. 2012. The United Nations World Water Development Report 4: Managing Water under uncertainty and risk. World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP). Unesco, Paris, France. Winpenny, J.T. 1997. Managing Water Scarcity for Water Security. A discussion paper prepared for the First FAO E-mail Conference on Managing Water Scarcity, 4 March to 9 April 1997.