Water Security

Water Security Defined

Wikipedia:
"the capacity of a populatin to ensure that they continue to have access to potable water."
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP):
"...water security represents a unifying element supplying humanity with drinking water, hygiene and sanitation, food and fish, industrial resources, enery, transportation and natural amenities, all dependant upon maintaining ecosystem health and productivity."

The Global Hydrological (Water) Cycle

http://www.mdba.gov.au/services/education-resources/water-cycle

Why should we worry about Water Security when the world has been plagued with extreme weather events that have seen record flooding and devastation at record levels?

Climate change contributes to the instability of the weather and many factors to do with water and how it cycles through the earths hydrological system effect the amount of water that falls to the ground as precipitation (rain), where, when and how much. In some cases, a regions rainfall for the entire year may be visited upon them in the space of a few short days. The consequences of which can cause a devastating blow to agricultural crops and indeed wash them and the precious topsoil the grow in out to sea. read more...

The hidden climate change message is that all the cycles on earth are related and impact each-other in many ways, some that are invisible to the eye are harder than others to pinpoint. Earths Ecosystems have functioned for millions of years and is responsible for the environment that exists today providing the unique conditions that have been responsible for life as we know it. One component is the atmosphere of which the closest layer to the earth the Troposphere occurs from ground level to 8-12 Km above the earth and is where most of our weather is generated. Water held on land surfaces and from the oceans evaporates into the atmosphere, while in the air it insulates the surface from extreme shifts in temperature were it not there. Clouds are formed as water in the atmosphere collects forming rain-droplets that eventually fall back to the earth either on land or into the sea. Rain that falls out to sea rejoins the hydrological cycle. As snow or rain, water either becomes part of the largest storage of fresh water on the surface as polar ice and when the seasons change some of this water is released into streams and rivers. Land that receives rainfall soaks up the water as it travels over, under and through the layers of soil recharging water tables and aquifers gradually returning to the ocean.

Water does not disappear, it continuously moves through stages of the hydrological cycle where it is stored in underground aquifers, lakes, oceans and the polar caps or existing as rainfall, snow, ice or atmospheric vapour. Known as the blue planet, earth has an abundance of water on its surface, however only 2.5% of water on the planet is fresh water. Most of the fresh water (69%) is locked in the polar ice caps largely unavailable for human consumption, aquifers store fresh water (30%) under ground where in most cases it is neither easily accessible nor cost effective to extract. The remaining fresh water (1%) is divided up into rivers, lakes and other surface water with water vapour accounting for (0.04%) a reasonable percentage of that. Although this is a tiny fraction of the total water found on earth it is the distribution, how it is used and stored that may determine the future of humanity and the other creatures that share the planet.

http://waterpaths.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/my-water-footprint/

Water Footprints
1 Tomato - 13 litres
1 Potato - 25 litres
1 Cup of Tea - 35 litres
1 Apple - 70 litres
1 Glass of Beer - 75 litres
1 Glass of Wine - 120 litres
1 Cup of Coffee - 140 litres
1 Glass of Orange Juice - 170 litres
1 Glass of Milk - 200 litres
1 Hamburger - 2400 litres
1 Kilogram of Beef - 16000 litres

It is not just the water you can touch, see or eat it is the water that is stored in the production of paper, cotton in your shirt or use to make the concrete in the building you live in. In the last decade some countries have received their entire annual rainfall within a couple of days and then none for the rest of that year. Common descriptions of weather globally have used words like unseasonal, extreme, record breaking, not seen in this life time, triple magnitude and climate change affected. Are we experiencing weather that could drastically affect our way of life? There should be no doubt that there has been a change in weather patterns around the world and it is true that weather on earth for millions of years has behaved like this before just not during the time of man. Increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere has mostly been due to the burning of fossil fuels – carbon that has been stored underground from millions of years ago. Global mean average temperatures have increased, snow melt in the polar caps adding freshwater to the hydrological cycle cooling the oceans, if too much freshwater is added this can have a huge impact on the thermohaline currents that move the warm air and important nutrients around the world. The term global warming has been clarified by the climate change and as the atmosphere warms more water vapour is formed and either causes more rain or the heat keeps the moisture in the air where it and other atmospheric particulates reflect radiation from the sun back out into space which can result in cooling in some countries.

What now?

There are so many initiatives to do with water conservation and embracing as many of them as you can is a great start. Being aware of the hidden water that exists in every day items like clothing and materials, water in the millions of tonnes of wasted food that is sent to land fill each year in Australia alone. Time is running out to protect one of our most important resources vital for life as we know it. Conserve ecological systems, reduce wastage and build awareness of true environmental issues. iSustainable is currently researching and developing products and environmental services to provide alternatives to the water hungry products. We can all make a difference to the quality of life for mankind and the other creatures that share the planet.