The Raker Act

A nation with a lot to lose. The huge, industrial and overpopulated country we know as China, is going through a water scarcity crisis. North China’s lack of water affects more of the region than anyone can imagine. Causing negative problems for food supply, economic development, political stability, and international relations, including drying up their major rivers. What are creating these complications? Global Warming, Urbanization and Population Growth, and Industrialization are the three main causes of China’s water crisis. Of these, the biggest driver is Industrialization.

In 1965, the United States congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act, also known as Hart-Celler act, which abolished the national quota system for immigrants and broaden the opportunity for migrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America to be American citizen. This act fundamentally shifted the ethnic composition of immigrants and overall the US population. One of the immigrant who was able to came to the US because of this law was my uncle. He moved from Bangladesh to the US in 1985 by work visa and later became an US citizen in 1992. Like many other new immigrants, he had a very limited knowledge about American culture and society. Since there were very few people from same national origin as his at that time, he struggled to transition

Everyone in the group sided with the conservationist when it came to Hetch-Hetchy, citing reason both for and against each movement. It was apparent that the conservationist idea of damning Hetch-Hetchy to provide water for the city of San Francisco was the most practical use of the resource. With the earthquake that hit San Francisco in 1906 there was a real need water, and engineers concluded that Hetch-Hetchy was the only practical solution to San Francisco’s water problem (Nash 2014). In comparison, the preservationist idea of keeping Hetch-Hetchy as a “public playground” and keeping it for man’s viewing pleasure wouldn’t offer the most utility for man, and seems almost selfish when considering the nature of the situation in San Francisco.

Restoring the Bay-Delta ecosystem to the standards as proposed by various environmental advocates will have a tremendous impact to Butte County by virtue of diminished supplies to appropriative, and possibly even riparian water rights holders along the Sacramento River and its tributaries, including the Feather River, Honcut Creek and Butte Creek. While there are those that will argue the benefits of restoring the Bay-Delta Ecosystem, which certainly have some merit from their perspective, increased unimpaired flow requirements generally come at the cost of the local economy and livelihood the agricultural communities bring to the Sacramento Valley, including Butte County. In a valley that thrives on agricultural production, less water could

“It is forecasted that agriculture will use the most water with about 400 billion cubic meters” (Document C). “Power uses the most water in the agriculture sector with 30%” (document D). In the future, it is forecasted that agriculture will still be using the most water and power is said to be using the most water. This problem helps explain China’s water shortage, so they can cut back on some water for power, and it also helps the government knows what is driving the water shortage and now that they know what the problem is they can find ways to solve it and cut back agriculture amount of

It is apparent from the lines chart, precisely in agriculture, the water consumption was always higher than others, although the consumption in threes areas had increase and reached at peak in 2000. The water used for agriculture was about 500km in 1000, during one hundred years after, it climbed significantly to 3000km, which was largest number in 2000. This figure had just over three times as much as the highest proportion in industrial use and six times as much as its of domestic use. Moreover, both water consumption of industries and homes bottomed out in 1900 at below 100km.

To begin with, during the 100 years, the sector of agriculture had the highest water consumption and its figure experienced a dramatic increase, reaching 3000 km3 in 2000. The gap between water used in industrial field and domestic field widened through the years despite starting at almost the same level, with around 1200 km3 and 300 km3 water used respectively in 2000.

Among all sectors in Egypt, agriculture consumes the largest budget of available water supplies, with its share exceeding 80% of the total gross demand for water. In case the actual consumption of water is considered (water supply minus the water that is returned to the system), the share of agricultural demands is even higher at more than 95%. The area of cultivated land raised from 5.8 Million fed. in 1980 to about 8.0 Million fed. in 1997. Therefore, the consumptive use of water in agriculture has been steadily increased from an estimated 29.4 BCM/yr. to 38.5 BCM/yr. during the same period (1980-1997). This increase has been made possible by an increase in agricultural drainage water reuse, the abstraction of groundwater and a decrease in the fresh water outflow to the sea. In 1997, the total amount of diverted water for irrigation was 57.8 BCM/yr, (MWRI 2005). In 2010, the total agricultural withdrawal was accounted at 67.0 BCM (about 86% of available water supply), (AusAID 2011). Any water becoming additionally available will primarily be used to irrigate new development areas and not to increase the supply to existing lands. Based on water inflow of 55.5 BCM/year, it is expected that by the year 2017 agricultural lands will cover about 11 million fed., and 63.6 BCM of water will be allocated for agriculture. The total agricultural water consumption in 2017 is estimated at 38.7

China’s massive population has lead to such high levels of water use that traditional sources of water have started to run dry and threaten the water supplies of farming communities of the north. New plans have been made to introduce a desalination plant into the area. This plant could generate up to one million tons of fresh water each day (Wong, 2014). Such an increase in water supply would greatly reduce the need for water from rivers used for irrigation of farmland. Water use in Beijing is at such high levels that current municipal sources are almost at capacity (Jinran, 2014). This further strains the local rivers and reduces the efficiency and production of farms. The water

Reduction of water availability for agricultural sector, given its high demands and low reservoir levels, which causes economic losses;

(“Water security”, 2010) Moreover, the amount of water needs for food production is the problem. People desire more and more water for even more agriculture. Yet the most major contributor to water scarcity and to the ecosystem is the way people use water (Molden, De Fraiture, & Rijisberman, 2007). In addition, the quantity, availability, and price of key food product inputs can be directly impacted upon by water scarcity having a negative affect on animal and crop yields. The price of food commodities is particularly vulnerable and defenseless to the shocks of unexpected extreme weather incidents, while animals yields are highly at risk from raised water temperatures especially aquaculture and access to clean water sources (Krechowicz, Venugopal, Sauer, Somani, & Pandey, 2010). Within the next ten to twenty years, the water crisis seems likely to trigger significant shortfalls in cereal production. As a result, an enormous global food crisis will occur (Quarterly, 2010).

Water makes up about 60% of human body weight and constitute about 70% of the earth. Nonetheless, the demands on water greatly exceed the supply and soon enough the world will run into serious problems. Since the industrial revolution, human footprint has increased exponentially. Population explosion and the ever-increasing greenhouse gas emission have affected our whole ecosystem. The world is already witnessing the devastating effects of climate change. Climate change has had a great impact on quality and the quantity of water resources. Climate Change has resulted in desertification, decrease in

The economic, social, and environmental importance of water resources cannot be overstated. Water is a vital resource, critical for healthy living conditions and sound ecosystems. Drinking water, food production, energy supply, and industrial development are dependent on water availability. (P. G. Whitehead, 2014). So far, the rising demands associated with rapid population growth and economic expansion, global changes place increasing pressure on this fragile and finite resource. This is already evidenced at the sectoral level by unsatisfactory and inadequate supplies, at the national level, by competing demands between sectors, and at the international level, by conflicts or the threat thereof between nations sharing transboundary water resources. The situation is expected to worsen, with a quarter of the world’s population predicted to face severe water scarcity in the next 25 years, even during years of average rainfall (Schiff and winters, 2002). Meanwhile climate change have led to an intensification of the hydrological cycle, resulting in drier dry seasons and wetter rainy seasons, and subsequently heightened risks of more extreme and frequent floods and drought. Many natural systems are being affected by global, regional and local climate change and increased temperature (IPCC, 2014). The Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region do stand-in as a water tower of south Asia owed to reside of high concentration of snow and glaciers at the watershed. The melt of snow and

The agriculture areas along the river have produced nearly half the country’s total crop production. The farm land lost had provided 40% of China’s grain and 70% of rice crops. Farmers that were relocated to the hillsides of the dam have struggled to grow crops, and so far the only viable crop able to be produced on such steep terrain has been oranges.

Overview: Tajikistan is one of the world’s vulnerable regions to climate change, specifically to the effects of increase in temperature, change in rainfall patterns, and increase in dryness [1]. Given the country’s high sensitivity to the climate change, there is a higher need for implementing policies and strategies in order to conserve water resources.