New report warns of peak water
January 24th, 2009 by Jim JustIs there such a thing as ‘peak water’? There is a vast amount of water on the planet—but we are facing a crisis of running out of sustainably managed water. Humans already appropriate over 50% of all renewable and accessible freshwater flows, and yet billions still lack the most basic water services.
So says Dr. Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute and one of the world’s leading water experts and lead author of The World’s Water 2008-2009. The new report addresses topics from “peak water” to climate change impacts, and warns that water will increasingly be the cause of violence and even war. The report warns that a swelling global population, changing diets and mankind’s expanding “water footprint” could mean an end to the era of cheap water.
By “peak water,” Gleick means “peak ecological water”- the critical point where ecological disruptions exceed the human benefit obtained. This point has already been reached in many areas of the world. A prime example is China, where water resources are over-allocated, inefficiently used, and grossly polluted by human and industrial wastes. Rivers and lakes are dead and dying, groundwater aquifers are over-pumped, uncounted species of aquatic life have been driven to extinction, and direct adverse impacts on both human and ecosystem health are widespread and growing.
A significant part of the problem is the huge, and often deeply inefficient, use of water by industry and agriculture. UN calculations suggest that more than one third of the world’s population is already suffering from water shortages. By 2020, water use is expected to increase by 40% from current levels, and by 2025, two out of three people could be living under conditions of “water stress”.