I thought I was couple of days too late for this poll but you can still vote here. Take a look here for a better picture of the elaborate infographic plus text and a video (coming soon).
It is from Maps of World.
I did not vett the infogaphic's numbers but I have a few comments based on a quick perusal.
1) Only 1 % of freshwater is 'readily available'? What about all that groundwater? That's not readily available? Some of it isn't, but a lot of is 'readily available'. And that 'readily available' freshwater, which is surface water, may have to be harvested with dams, pipelines, treatment plants, and other infrastructure.
2) The 'global water crisis' tends to look worse when you use percentages instead of actual volumes of water. Yes, only 2.5% of Earth's water is fresh, but that is 2.5% of a HUGE number. One should actually use both types of figures, because using such huge volumes alone runs the risk of being meaningless. Better yet, include the volumes in a footnote or scale them. Who can visualize 1.35 billion cubic kilometers of water?
3) Under 'Major Water Conflicts' I would not include the Great Lakes of the USA-Canada. Major conflict? C'mon, man!
Also, the Central Asian 'Stans are not really quibbling over the Aral Sea but the Syr Darya and Amu Darya basins, the rivers that terminate in the Aral Sea. Hydropower development by the upstream riparians and downstream water supply is a big issue.
4) My understanding of the Saudi Arabian wheat situation is that they figured it was cheaper and smarter to buy wheat elsewhere and save some of their fossil groundwater.
Here you go!
Oh, yeah - looks like about 85 to 5 in favor of a global water crisis.
“A shortage of water resources could spell increased conflicts in the future. Population growth will make the problem worse. So will climate change. As the global economy grows, so will its thirst. Many more conflicts lie just over the horizon” - Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations (from the infographic)
The Saudis are overdrafting g/w for alfalfa now. Farms are run by princes and other powerful types.
Posted by: David Zetland | Tuesday, 16 October 2012 at 03:09 AM