The procurability of potable water per capita is scarce and is currently diminishing worldwide. Scientific surveys estimate that the Earth’s surface is relatively seventy-one percent water and twenty-nine percent land. Unfortunately, a substantial amount of the seventy-one percent of water is salty and non-potable. Only about one percent of the available seventy-one percent can only be utilized for human consumption, without requiring initial desalinization. It has been predicted by the United Nations that due to population growth and various other factors that the average person’s water supply will be limited by a third over the next twenty years. Strategists allege that future wars will be waged over water because it is the most crucial …show more content…
Factors that provide to the production of goods and services include entrepreneurship, labor, capital, and land-including water and other natural resources. As a result of the scarcity of water, some cities and water suppliers can take advantage of the situation by afflicting excessive prices for it due to the natural ramification of a shortage in economics. A shortage, which implies that the market price is below equilibrium, is resolved through higher prices. The higher price would promote profit-maximizing suppliers to increase quantity supplied. The higher price would also discourage waste and encourage conservation, thereby reducing quantity demanded. Ultimately, if market forces were able to resolve water scarcity, an equilibrium price and quantity would be reached. However, putting a high price on water could cause it to simply redistribute from the conserving poor to the wasteful wealthy. This will severely limit water away from the places where it is most beneficial to society as a whole. Since market forces are not able to completely resolve the problem, I believe that government and private sector intervention might be required as well.
One solution is to enact aggressive water conservation programs. For example, the local water authority could pay homeowners to rip out their lawn and replace it with desert-friendly landscaping. Doing this would reduce the amount of water required by our lawns by providing an incentive
According to the International Water Management Institute environmental research organisation global water stress is increasing, and a third of all people face some sort of water scarcity. Where demand exceeds supply and no effective management operates, there will be conflicts between the various players involved.
The State of Colorado has suffered from a water shortage in recent years; a difficult situation which is easily visible when viewing the quickly shortening length of the Colorado River. Lake Mead, for example, is roughly 130 feet lower than it once was, marked by the stained rock which towers above the current water level. “The river has become a perfect symbol of what happens when we ask too much of a limited resource: it disappears. In fact, the Colorado no longer regularly reaches the sea” (Zielinski, 2010). Legislation was implemented early on to address this issue, though the results were (perhaps not surprisingly) rather unanticipated, regarding
There is a water crisis which faces many parts of the world and it is a threat to survival of human beings since humans are primarily dependent on water. Shortage in drinking water is beginning to show its effects in first world countries, but is a current major problem facing lesser developed countries which have not taken drastic steps to harvest water and purify it to make it safe for human consumption. In developed countries the population growth has strained available water resources and stretched the ability of governments and private firms to provide safe drinking water to the vast majority of the population. Seventy one percent of
Water, like food, is a necessity for human life that is used for many purposes such as agricultural, industrial, and domestic systems. While water is a common element around the world not all of it is clean and able to be consumed or used by humans. With only a percentage of the world’s water being clean and the use of water increasing, the availability of water around the world has become a common issue in the developing and even the developed world. This may be a smaller problem in areas close to clean water sources compared to areas far from a clean water source but, the availability of water is not strictly based on location, it also depends on the specific political and social needs and issues of the area as well. These all become issues that must be accounted for when deciphering whether water is a basic human right or a commodity and what action must be taken to aid the developing water systems in community’s that lack them.
Currently California is facing a water shortage. The issue has been addressed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in February. He called for all state agencies to find the way to help in the statewide water shortage. This is California’s third consecutive year of drought and last spring and summer was the worst of the season because it had the lowest amount of water recorded and California’s reservoirs were at their lowest point as well which did not help in the water shortage. Many agencies have been acquired to find possible solutions to the water shortage, the Department of Water Resources has been directed to find solutions to the problem as well as asking people to conserve water.
Lack of water and conflict with water rights have instigated wars and political tension especially in the Middle East and Africa, as well as promoting unlikely cooperation to ensure its availability. Also, natural water bodies like lakes mark international
“Nestle in Michigan” is a video clip on YouTube about the Nestle corporations bottled water plants with a primary focus being on the plant located in Stanwood, Michigan (Menzies, 2010). Nestle has a 99 year lease on property that only cost them $63,000, “they received $10 million in tax abatements”, and they are pumping water at a rate of 218 gallons per minute (down from the original 450 gallons per minute) (Menzies, 2010). In other words, Nestle is pumping dangerously large amounts of water that is free to them as property owners, selling it for a profit, and not being subjected to the same tax as other land owners.
As we all know, water is essential for mankind's survival. However, people seem to believe that our water supply is endless since there is more water than land on this Earth. Water regenerates and is redistributed through evaporation, making it seem endlessly renewable. So why worry?
Solving the global water crisis moves beyond the technical feasibility stage.(2011). Trends Magazine, (104), 19-24.
How many of you, when you go to a restaurant and the waiter/waitress asks you what you want to drink ask for water?
This paper discovers the water budget for Berkeley, California in comparison to Terre Haute, Indiana. The two cities precipitation differs throughout the twelve month calendar year where many of the heavy precipitation months are totally opposite. Berkeley California’s winters, where the majority of rain occurs and Terre Haute, Indiana where the rainfall is observed as consistently disseminated throughout the year evenly. This paper will also magnify geographic position, climate and elevation in contrast of the two cities that reflects the water budget outlined in Project 1: Water Balance defined in
As the worlds population grows, it is forced by circumstances that it has created to face the limitations of the worlds resources. Most people in the US have always been fortunate enough to have enough of whatever they wanted. When something they like breaks or wears out, they throw it away or buy a new one, and they often don’t even make an attempt to repair an item. They neglect basic maintenance until they damage their belongings beyond repair, and expect that they’ll always have enough. But some things are beyond their control, beyond there power or financial ability to replace or repair. The world’s drinking water supply is one of these without concern, without attention, without preventative maintenance and reclamation and
It is an essential resource for sustaining life as well as central to agriculture and rural development, and is intrinsically linked to global challenges of food insecurity and poverty, climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as degradation and depletion of natural resources that affect the livelihoods of millions of people across the world. According to the World Bank, (2010) report, water is a scarce resource with multiple interwoven uses that range from drinking water, energy, irrigation, manufacturing things, transport of people and goods among others. The report further states that, more than one-sixth of the Worlds’ population does not have access to safe drinking water, with 80% living in rural areas thus access to water cannot not be guaranteed globally.
There is a balloon the shape and size of a beach ball. A string keeps it tethered to the ground. Someone in a white lab coat stands about eight feet away with a rod about as
* Who are the main Stakeholders of beverage companies such as Coca cola and nestle in this case? How would you prioritize their stake and how legitimate are the different stakes?