ENVIRONMENT

Water shortages are affecting two-thirds of world’s population for at least month every year, a statistic far worse than previously thought. (The Guardian)

Use our lesson plan to answer the question: Will There Be Enough Fresh Water?

Educators, scroll down for a quick list of resources in our Teachers’ Toolkit.

Discussion Ideas

• New research identifies areas and populations impacted by water scarcity. What is water scarcity?
  • Water scarcity describes a situation in which more water is withdrawn than the region can sustainably support.
  • The new research maps regions experiencing water scarcity for at least one month a year. Previous analyses have identified water scarcity on an annual, not monthly, basis.

 

• The new research assesses the scarcity of “blue water.” What is blue water, and where is it found naturally?
  • Blue water describes the freshwater available in lakes, rivers, and groundwater aquifers. Use our interactive activity to better understand blue water and water availability.

 

• What are some ways people use blue water? Use our activity for some help.
  • drinking. Water is necessary for human life. Use our activity to learn more about water treatment for human consumption.
  • hygiene. Water is used for bathing, flushing toilets, and cleaning materials. Use this article to understand why cleaning is so important.
  • irrigation. Water is used to supply nutrients to crops used for food (example: corn), fiber (example: cotton), or industry (example: rubber). Use our encyclopedic entry to learn more about irrigation.
  • industry. Factories and manufacturers rely on water as an ingredient (example: distilling or creating pharmaceuticals), to maintain a clean manufacturing environment (example: food processing), or as part of the industrial process itself (example: nuclear power plants use water in cooling towers). Use this article to grasp the industries that use water.
  • electrical power generation. Homes, businesses, hospitals, and schools use electricity either generated or made possible by use of blue water. Use this activity to learn more about the use of water in electricity generation.

 

• Take a look at the map at the top of this post. Where are areas with low year-round water scarcity?
  • According to the research, “Year-round low blue water scarcity can be found in the forested areas of South America (notably the Amazon basin), Central Africa (the Congo basin), and Malaysia-Indonesia (Sumatra, Borneo, New Guinea) and in the northern forested and subarctic parts of North America, Europe, and Asia. Other places with low water scarcity throughout the year can be found in the eastern half of the United States, in large parts of Europe, and in parts of South China.”
  • Use this activity to map the world’s watersheds (river basins), and better understand why water scarcity is low in these regions.

 

• Where are regions with high year-round water scarcity?
  • Regions with high year-round water scarcity fall into two broad categories: those with intense human activity, and those with natural arid areas. According to the research:
    • human activity: “High water scarcity levels appear to prevail in areas with either high population density (for example, Greater London area) or the presence of much-irrigated agriculture (High Plains in the United States), or both (India, eastern China, Nile delta).”
    • natural arid areas: “High water scarcity levels also occur in areas without dense populations or intense irrigated agriculture but with very low natural water availability, such as in the world’s arid areas (for example, Sahara, Taklamakan, Gobi, and Central Australia deserts).”
    • both: “Water scarcity in the Arabian Desert is worse than that in other deserts because of the higher population density and irrigation intensity.” Yemen is particularly at risk.

 

• Where are the most people impacted by water scarcity?
  • “Half a billion people face severe water scarcity all year round. Of those half-billion people, 180 million live in India, 73 million in Pakistan, 27 million in Egypt, 20 million in Mexico, 20 million in Saudi Arabia, and 18 million in Yemen. In the latter two countries, it concerns all people in the country, which puts those countries in an extremely vulnerable position.”

 

• Huge parts of China and India are at risk for water scarcity, and this impacts other parts of the world. Why?
  • Many developed areas, such as the North America and Europe, import millions of tons of food and consumer goods (such as toys, clothes, and electronics) from China and India every year. The production of these goods relies on the availability of freshwater for purposes such as electricity, cleaning, and manufacturing.

 

• How can people address the issue of water scarcity? Calculate your own water footprint for some help.
  • “Taking a shorter shower is not the answer” says the study’s author. Eating less meat is: “It takes over 15,000 litres (15,850 quarts) of water to make 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of beef, with almost all of that used to irrigate the crops fed to the cattle.”

 

TEACHERS’ TOOLKIT

The Guardian: Four billion people face severe water scarcity, new research finds

Nat Geo: Will There Be Enough Fresh Water? lesson

Nat Geo: Freshwater Availability map

Nat Geo: Mapping the World’s Watersheds activity

Nat Geo: Using Fresh Water activity

Nat Geo: The Role of Water in the Generation of Electricity activity

Nat Geo: What’s Your Water Footprint? interactive

(extra credit—this is really readable!) Science Advances: Four billion people facing severe water scarcity