The Earth is confronting numerous difficulties owing to the requests located
the environment. A whole host of attention is being paid to global warming, land degradation and
water
issues. The
world
is
also
undergoing
water
scarcity
.
Water
scarcity
refers to 'the deficiency of freshwater resources to meet
water
demand' (Wikipedia). Interfering with the shortage of drinking
water
seems detrimental and threatening to life on the planet.
This
essay will identify the prime cause of
water
scarcity
. It will specifically concentrate on the solutions of applying
desalination
and
drip
irrigation
.
One key factor contributing to
water
scarcity
is human practices. As the global population constantly rises, there is an ever-increasing need for
water
.
This
means that
water
consumption
has a tendency to soar due to both individuals' daily
water
usage activities and producing food, and clothes, leading to
water
probably being insufficient to meet human needs. In America;
for instance
, the
water
consumption
of an inhabitant accounts for roughly 2.5 million
litersa metric unit of capacity, formerly defined as the volume of one kilogram of pure water under standard conditions; now equal to 1,000 cubic centimeters (or approximately 1.75 pints)
yearly- approximately 3 times as much as a Kenyan or a Chinese
Pearce 2008,
p
.3). Farming has
also
caused a negative influence on
water
resources due to it making up 70% of the
world
's total
water
consumption
(Baclch 2014,
p
.2).
For example
, 100 cubic
kilometersa metric unit of length equal to 1000 meters (or 0.621371 miles)
are utilized by Indian agriculturalists yearly, and
this
amount is not replenished by
rain-drops of fresh water that fall as precipitation from clouds
water
, which patently results in the rapid exhaustion of
water
(Pearce 2008,
p
.3).
Desalination
is a viable measure to alleviate
water
scarcity
. In fact, the feasibility of an abundant new source of
water
would result from seawater
desalination
systems which remove salt from ocean
water
, resulting in
being drinkable. In fact, a membrane-based
desalination
process is successfully applied in several progressive countries,
such
as in the US, where saltwater with a salinity level five times that of seawater converted into drinking
water
Balch 2014,
p
.2).
Nevertheless
, a possibility is that
this
state- of- the- art method could be limited in Vietnam
as a result
of incurring large costs for high-tech membranes.
This
would be impractical in a number of nations;
however
, it greatly reduces the pressure on international
water
sources.
Another feasible solution taken into account as a permanent relief to deal with
water
scarcity
is
drip
irrigation
. It is known as one 'smart' tech measure in agriculture owing to
being utilized efficiently.
This
means that
water
applied directly to the plant's root zone to avoid rapid evaporation
in contrast
with traditional
irrigation
(Balch 2014.
.2).
In addition
,
drip
irrigation
is beneficial to both expenditures spent on
irrigation
and productivity.
This
is
although
contemporary systems of
drip
irrigation
are
inexpensive, average yields among US corn farmers have been a threefold increase. Overall,
drip
irrigation
would result in enhancing productivity.
Water
scarcity
is a serious problem for the planet. The ever-increasing
world
population with its demands for
consumption
has greatly contributed to
water
scarcity
. There is an urgent need to address
this
issue by adopting
desalination
and
drip
irrigation
systems which are more sustainable. If ocean
water
is desalinated and
drip
irrigation
is applied by a whole host of farmers around the
world
,
water
scarcity
can be mitigated.