Monday, January 5, 2009

The world has a water shortage, not a food shortage


At the core of Know Your H2O is water. Simple, plain freshwater that flows freely from faucets in our home and all over town that so many people take for granted. In San Diego there is only enough local rainfall to satisfy the needs of 10-15% of our population on average. Most of the fresh water is imported from hundreds of miles away in Northern California or the Colorado River which is quite energy intensive and at the middle of many political battles.

The goal of this blog is to raise awareness of where our water comes from, where it goes and why it is such a precious resource that must be managed well. In addition to personal insights we will include links to articles and such that highlight fresh water issues on a local and global scale.

Here's an excerpt from an article on www.economist.com

MOST people may drink only two litres of water a day, but they consume about 3,000 if the water that goes into their food is taken into account. The rich gulp down far more, since they tend to eat more meat, which takes far more water to produce than grains. So as the world’s population grows and incomes rise, farmers will—if they use today’s methods—need a great deal more water to keep everyone fed: 2,000 more cubic kilometres a year by 2030, according to the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a research centre, or over a quarter more than they use today. Yet in many farming regions, water is scarce and likely to get scarcer as global warming worsens. The world is facing not so much a food crisis as a water crisis, argues Colin Chartres, IWMI’s director-general.

The solution, Mr Chartres and others contend, is more efficient use of water or, as the sloganeers put it, “more crop per drop”.... CLICK HERE for the full story.

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