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Worldwide water shortages by 2080
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by Amy Judd | November 18, 2008 at 10:25 am
6457 views | 15 Recommendations | 7 comments
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Half of the world's population could face a severe shortage to water by 2080, all due to climate change, experts warned today.
Wong Poh Poh, a professor at the National University of Singapore, told a regional conference that global warming was disrupting water flow patterns and increasing the severity of floods, droughts and storms — all of which reduce the availability of drinking water.
Wong said the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that as many as 2 billion people won't have sufficient access to clean water by 2050. That figure is expected to rise to 3.2 billion by 2080 — nearly tripling the number who now do without it.
Reduced access to water that can be used for drinking, bathing, or cooking means many villages in poor countries will have to look elsewhere for water and could contract more disease due to contaminated drinking water.
At the beginning of 2000, it was estimated that about 1.1 billion did not have access to clean drinking water.
Asia is the most vunerable region, especially India and China.
These countries want the Kyoto Protocol to be embraced before it is too late to protect and expand water resources.
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at 11:09 on November 18th, 2008
Oh no! I don't want to be reincarnated...
at 11:15 on November 18th, 2008
This is a very important issue, about the 'climate change' Its a must! thank you for posting this...
at 11:23 on November 18th, 2008
The record temperature on this day in this region is 41. It was set in 1916. Tonight it will be about -20. That's all Fahrenheit for those who might read Celsius and think we are boiling off.
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forthebetta (not verified)at 12:36 on November 18th, 2008
water shortages are real, but it's not "all due to climate change." more importantly, it's pollution that's ruining clean water, along with wasting water with inefficient agriculture, and high-populations concentrated in low-water areas, among other factors.
if the world was actually warming, rainfall would increase in arid areas, so it just doesn't make sense that "climate change" causes droughts unless it is "global cooling," which is just as likely to happen as warming at such a stable point as now.
at 12:45 on November 18th, 2008
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Queensat 16:15 on November 18th, 2008
isn't this already happening around the world? 1 billion people currently without clean water seems like a conservative number, i would have guessed more.. thanks for the info
at 08:25 on November 19th, 2008
The OMS or WHO, the World Heath Organisation Published it's annual report this week saying that Water, Drinking Water that is. Is of a major concern World Wide!
The Report states that 10% of all Illnesses and as much as 6% of all Death are and can be directly linked to Drinking Water being either contaminated by Bacteria, Viruses, or Toxic Agent such as Dioxin. Making the Water improper for Human or Animal Consumption.
Children under 14 years of age make up 22% of all the victims, making them the most vulnerable. In the 35 countries the most affected, up to 15% of the illnesses could be avoided all together by simply improving the quality of the Water! As Annette Pruss-Ustun, Main author of the Study does state!
According to the Study, each 100 Yen invested into improving Water Quality would result in generating 800 Yen in savings for treatment and Cures of illnesses caused by bad water.
In the Rich Western Countries only 1% of the death can be attributed to Water where as in the Poor countries this number would be as much as 24% of all death and as much as 10% in Emerging Countries!
Well, the G8 summit is coming up in Japan this time and maybe our great leaders will invest in Humanity rather than into War this time!
Water is the Gold of the Future, through out the World Drinking Water is becoming a major problem due to Pollution, Contaminations of all sorts and especially due to Climate Changes. Water, Drinking water that is, will be scares in the very near future and this not only in the so called developing World, no the Industrial World or Western Powers will be just as affected as every one else and the future wars will most likely not be over Oil, but rather over drinking Water!
Now you may say we can build plants and machines that can fix that! Not really as easy as you may think and it would coast a real fortune as well that even the rich would have trouble financing! This a serious matter with very serious implications in the short a well as in the long run for all Humans and Other life Forms all over the World!
You can find the details of the study on the UN web page and you may find a lot more good Information there as well worth publishing and thinking about!
(From an Older Post of mine)