Water shortages go global

Economist | Apr. 8, 2009 (Special Report)

Water shortages are a growing problem, but not for the reasons most people think

An alarming number of the world’s great rivers no longer reach the sea. They include the Indus, Rio Grande, Colorado, Murray-Darling and Yellow rivers. These are the arteries of the world’s main grain-growing areas.

Freshwater fish populations are in precipitous decline. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, fish stocks in lakes and rivers have fallen roughly 30% since 1970. This is a bigger population fall than that suffered by animals ... Full Story »

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Related Comments: Climate Change (9)

3.7

by Derek Hawkins - Apr. 8, 2009

Blown away by the depth and complexity of this report. Excellent analysis, but could use better sourcing.

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4.7

by Kenneth Sibbett - Apr. 8, 2009

An excellent report on the coming water shortages, and what is being done, and not being done. Last year the Governors of some southern states went to court to protect their water rights (or claims) and I see nothing in the future to change the prevailing attitude.

It's been known for decades that water reserves were going to be a problem, but I see no answers in the near future.

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4.1

by Naomi Isler - Apr. 10, 2009

The article seems to be factual - has a bit of contradiction in saying that humans don't use that much and then citing shifts in food consumption as a contributing factor. It also goes into how difficult any solutions will be. A lot of this has been the subject of other reports for several years; this is a good summary.

Well, I'm glad that Madagascar has abrogated the contract with South Korea - the colonialism involved in that was appalling!

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4.0

by William Hughes-Games - Apr. 8, 2009

Good in so far as it reports the current situation in the world with regard to water usage

The elephant in the room is the hell-bent-for-leather attempt by all and sundary to get us back into growth mode. While improvements in water use should lead to water use not increasing as fast as population increase, this article points out that the reverse is the case. Just a couple of months ago, the IMF opined that the world will be back into economic growth mode in a couple of years with a growth of 3% per year. That is a doubling time of 23 years. In the light of this ... More »

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