Water Use and Conservation Report Thesis This report will firstly present and express the importance of water before going about expounding the various ways in which water is being used. It will go on to demonstrate the lack of accessibility alongside the vulnerability of the resource and explaining how it would lead to water shortage on the basis of factors affecting the globe currently.
Moreover, an elaboration will be made on the different water conservation techniques made by organisations along with the government of Singapore and Australia further exploring the outcome of the measures and policies implemented by them before we conclude with our thoughts on water usage and conservation. Introduction Water is one of the most critical resources on Earth, fundamental to every ecosystem helping to sustain all life as well as to maintain the overall environmental balance on the Earth. It is also required for human development and to driving the economy.
From the individual’s personal cleanliness to rehydration or to demands by agriculture for irrigation of crops which is the artificial means of watering or for industries to be able to carry out cleaning processes, for recreational purposes like supplying water in swimming pools, water is evidently needed to perform those tasks (n. a. , 2005). With practically all industries requiring it and clearly no substitute to replace water, it is inevitable that one must be able to conserve it for the future. Two thirds of the surface of the Earth covered with water, so you might be thinking why is it a problem.
It is because most human uses require fresh water with about 97. 5% of the water on the Earth, salt water it leaves only 2. 5% to be fresh water. Furthermore, two thirds of it is made up of ice frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. The remaining majority is groundwater with a very small fraction present above ground or in the air. Furthermore, availability is questionable due to a small volume of fresh water ponds or lakes, sensitivity to rainfall causing fluctuations to the amount of water supplied and varied by seasons and climate.
For hot equatorial climates, there will be an ability get more water while dry season reduces it. Even though it is so scarce, fresh water is still renewable at the moment but supply is decreasing due to climate change and demand is increasing with the increase in population. This causes inadequate supply being unable to meet with exceeding demand in certain areas over others and this will cause an imbalance of water distribution. (Badr et al, 2008) With the lack of fresh water resource, it is important that we are able to manage it properly to prevent water shortage particularly in the poorer countries.
According to www. saintlazarefoundation. org, “the world’s population is expected to rise from 6 billion in 2000 to 8 billion in 2025 and the average amount of fresh water available per person per year will therefore drop from 6,600 to 4,800 cubic metres, a fall of almost a third. ” Therefore, many countries have initiated water conservation. We will first discuss the different water usages before we elaborate on the rest explained above. Body Water is practically needed all the time.
As an individual, we use it for our need to rehydrate our body, for cleaning like mopping the floor, washing the clothes, taking a shower, cooking etc. In the agriculture sector, it is crucial for irrigating crops as in many countries it is the dominant source of water use. In the industrial sector, water is often used to purify or sanitize elements required in that particular industry. Commercially, it can also be used for beautification purposes like fountains at shopping malls and for functionality such as taps for washing of food at restaurants.
Recreationally, it is used for water sporting activities and most importantly used by the environment for plants and animals to survive be it in parks, ponds and mountains. According to a UN report from http://unesdoc. unesco. org, out of the world’s water use, 70% is used for agricultural, 22% for industrial and 8% for domestic usage. It also showed for high-income countries 59% is for industrial, 30% for agricultural and 11% for domestic and for middle or low-income countries 82% goes to agricultural, 10% to industrial and 8% to domestic.
From another report, it showed water use in the United States, 53% is used for industrial, of which 48% are used for thermoelectric power, 36% goes to agricultural of which 34% goes to irrigation and remaining 11% is for public use (Lumia, 2000). This shows that majority of water consumption is made by industries and agriculture. However, in poorer countries where water supply does not match up with demand, richer industrial and agricultural companies may be more ffluent and able to purchase water for irrigation compared to poor farmers who have to end up relying on rain fed agriculture, to feed its crops and poor villages may be deprived of the resource if drought or dry season occurs. That is why authorities around the world have stepped in to introduce water conservation policies. With the significance of how water is heavily depended upon for everyday use, we cannot allow this renewable resource to deplete to a stage where it becomes unhealthy causing water shortages. Water shortages occur due to two main factors, the increase in population and climate change.
The world’s population, at nearly 6 billion, is growing by about 80 million people each year. This number implies an increased demand for freshwater of about 64 billion cubic metres a year (Hinrichsen et al, 1997). Not forgetting the small percentage of fresh water available, an increase in population would definitely cause an increase in the demand for water making water scarcity unavoidable. Climate change contributes to water shortage as it increases demand for water in the agricultural sector, due mainly to irrigation, due to prolonged dry periods and severe drought which researchers estimate a 40% increase in irrigated land by 2080.
It also would cause increase in the need to hydrate livestock in farms and also to industries to use larger quantities of water for industrial cooling both due to the rising atmospheric temperatures (Morrison et al, 2009). More floods would occur with rising temperatures and the melting of ice in the Polar Regions would increase the sea level causing floods. Low-lying and coastal regions would be affected by floods and soil erosion due to too much rainfall would decrease the quality of water supplied which would likely cause diseases.
Moving on from factors that contribute to water shortages, it would be elaborating on measures taken by Singapore and Australia in managing water. Singapore is an island with a tropical climate. It receives a great amount of rainfall of about 2400 mm of rain annually which is placed far above the world average of 1050 mm. However, it is unable to capture and store much of it due to its limited land space. Local catchment only supplies 60% of percent of the country’s daily requirements.
The other 40% has been heavily reliant on Malaysia which supplies water to Singapore. However, Malaysia has used it to threaten Singapore when disagreements between two sides occur, causing it to be a national security issue causing Singapore to move towards self sufficiency. With the issue in mind, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) introduced the Integrated Water Resource Management Programme (IWRM) aimed to protect its water resource. It can be broken down into 2 major areas, “Robustness and Diversification of Supply Sources” and “Every Drop Counts” (Young, 2008).
The first area shows the four national taps of Singapore where it showed steps Singapore took towards diversifying its sources to supply its nation. The first tap is local catchment water which has increased through the building of more local catchment areas; the Marina Barrage serves a 3-in-1 function to serve as reservoir for local catchment, a flood control and a lifestyle attraction. Ongoing, the damming up of rivers to form Punggol, Sengkang and Serangoon Reservoirs in the Sengkang and Punggol area will increase local catchment to two thirds of Singapore.
The second tap is two water agreements to import water from Johor, Malaysia which expire 2011 and 2061. The third tap is NEWater which is the recycling of waste water through microfiltration, reverse osmosis, ultraviolet disinfection to form clean drinking water. It will be able to meet 30% of Singapore’s water needs by 2011. Lastly, desalination plants built in the Tuas area in 2005 which turns sea water into drinkable water (ibid). The second area was creating awareness to industries and to the people.
Regulating and controlling through imposing tariffs, providing strict legislation to industries, accurate metering and leak control were some measures put in place by the PUB. Not only that, the PUB installed the dual flush water closets able to do half flushes to save water. It also introduced the water efficiency labelling scheme to encourage Singaporeans to use equipment such as taps and water heaters that have water efficient benefits. Campaigns like the 10 litre campaign were introduced to households to promote and educate the 7 good water saving habits in an effort towards water conservation (ibid).
As a whole, Singapore has become a role model for the world with its innovative strategies and with the many steps taken; it can be certain that it can rely on itself in future for its water supply. Australia, on the other hand adopted different methods of water management called the National Water Initiative programme (NWI). It enhanced water access entitlement as a whole increasing future water availability and ensured protection of the ecosystem with protected catchment scales or aquifers. It encouraged water market expansion with freer and clear rules on trading between states, stringent ccounting for water units, full cost recovery pricing, enhancing water conservation campaign, full utilisation of storm water and recycled water all helped Australian’s efforts to bear fruit. (n. a, 2007) Overall, everyone needs to be a part of water conservation to conserve water for future generations. Conclusion From here, we have realised the importance for us to know that water will become scarce in future due to an increase in population and changes in climate due to global warming and that we have to do our part to save water.
Through various campaigns in which the Public Utilities Board in Singapore where we reside in, has introduced. One of which is the 10 litre challenge where it challenges homes to take up 7 good water saving habits in the household where everyone as an individual can help to be a part of water conservation and showed the different other steps the government has taken through desalination of sea water, reverse osmosis of waste water, investing in increasing the areas of storm water collection and reservoirs, providing incentives to companies who adopt water conservation with the Water Efficiency Fund.
Also, we have learnt in Australia which has also been successful in water conservation through a more environmentally friendly approach to be able to further develop its ecosystem of nature and encouraging expansion of markets dealing with water resources between the different states and principles of competitive pricing. Water is required in so many aspects too many to name and with practically no substitute to water itself.
It would be a big issue if we face scarcity from it. With less than 1% of the water in the world that can be used by Man, it is unavoidable that everyone from the government down to businesses to the individual needs to begin to start to conserve water so as to prevent water shortages so that everyone has access to clean water to supply their needs.
Reference List * (n. a. ) (n. d. ), “World Water Assessment Programme”, UNESDOC, retrieved on 6 Jan 2010 from http://unesdoc. unesco. org/images/0012/001295/129556e. pdf * (n. a. ) (2005), “Water Resource Management in the Petroleum Industry”, IPIECA, retrieved on 6 Jan 2010 from http://www. ipieca. org/activities/social/downloads/publications/water_mngt. pdf
