Global Water Issues Part 1

Presentation on theme: "Global Water Issues Part 1"— Presentation transcript:

1 Global Water Issues Part 1
A Thirsty Planet Global Water Issues Part 1

2 Water, water everywhere
70% of the earth’s surface is covered with water Around 97% of this water is saltwater Of the 3% that is freshwater, less than 1% is accessible

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5 Who’s water-rich? 6 countries (Brazil, Russia, Canada, Indonesia, China and Colombia) have 50 percent of the world's freshwater reserves Canada (with about 7%) is third after Brazil and Russia

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8 Who’s water-poor? One-third of the world's population lives in "water-stressed" countries, defined as a country's ratio of water consumption to water availability Currently, 600 million people face water scarcity Depending on future rates of population growth, between 2.7 billion and 3.2 billion people may be living in either water-scarce or water-stressed conditions by 2025 Nearly a billion people lack access to safe drinking water

9 Who’s water-poor? 5,000 children die every day from diarrhoea, or one every 17 seconds Over 1.5 million preventable deaths each year Globally, diarrhoea is the leading cause of illness and death, and 88 per cent of diarrhoeal deaths are due to a lack of access to sanitation facilities, together with inadequate availability of water for hygiene and unsafe drinking water

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12 Population vs. Water Supply
Populations grow, but the amount of water on the planet is fixed As the quality of life continues to improve for people around the globe, our water demands inflate even more, with gross amounts needed to raise cattle, harvest grain, and produce clothing, electronics, and energy Since 1950 global water use has nearly tripled

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14 Where does it go? Water consumption worldwide:
Agriculture: 70% Industry: 20% Domestic use: 10% In industrialized nations, however, industries consume more than half of the water available for human use Belgium, for example, uses 80% of the water available for industry

15 Where does it go? Per capita residential water use rates (per person per day): North America: about 350 litres Europe: about 200 litres Sub-Saharan Africa: 10 to 20 litres A child born in the developed world consumes thirty to fifty times the water resources that a child in the developing world consumes

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17 Agriculture and Water Part of the current pressure on water resources comes from increasing demands for animal feed Meat production requires 8-10 times more water than cereal production

18 Agriculture and Water The shift towards more meat consumption amongst the global population has had the greatest to impact on water consumption over the past 30 years, and is likely to continue well into the middle of the twenty-first century

19 Oil and Water Canada’s Oilsands operators used approximately 170 million cubic meters of water in 2011 equivalent to the residential water use of 1.7 million Canadians It takes 3-5 litres of water to produce a litre of oil

20 Oil and Water The production of biofuels has increased sharply in recent years, with significant impact on water demand Between 1,000 and 4,000 litres of water are needed to produce a single litre of biofuel

21 Pollution and Water Up to 90 % of wastewater in developing countries flows untreated into rivers, lakes and highly productive coastal zones, threatening health, food security and access to safe drinking and bathing water

22 Questions Page 156 #12 &13 Page 159 #15, 16, 17, 21 Page 161 #25