Water Crisis and Ethics Essay

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Water Crisis

Background on Water

The Planets Water Problems

Freshwater Shortage Ideas

Argument

There is an abundance of water on the planet and the melting of ice continues to contribute to even more water in the oceans through sea level rise. However, the water in the oceans is not something that can sustain life for most of the population of the world and fresh water is of key importance. Although water is the most abundant chemical compound in the universe, the fresh water cycles that support life on the planet Earth have been rapidly changing. Some have predicted that we will have a full-blown water crisis in the near future which will be followed by a range of problems that result from the lack of the availability of water. Not only does this affect people in Third World, but there are examples in the First World where marginalized communities have had trouble affording clean drinking water such as Detroit and Flint in the U.S. This analysis will provide a background on the looming water crisis and attempt to make a few broad predictions about how the availability of fresh water might affect the inhabitants of planet Earth in the near future.

Background on Water

Water is the molecule that sustains life more than any other. In fact, when scientists search for life in the universe, the first requisite is typically the presence of liquid water. It is water that provided the environment which allowed for evolution to occur and more we learn about how Earth acquired and retained its water, the more it seems the situation was incredibly fortuitous (Zalasiewicz & Williams, 2014). However, most of the water that is in the universe is not in liquid form though it is among the most common substances. Liquid water has been on Earth for roughly 3.8 billion years and has formed a constant cycling of water that is driven by plate tech tonics among other natural processes.

The water cycle provided the churning environment that mixed up various chemical compounds that are believed to be the source of life; although such processes occurred over millions of years and are hard to replicate fully. However, the planet is in something called a "Goldlilocks" zone in which developments can take place and there are few other planets that are known to share the same characteristics. For example,

" The super-Earth 55 Cancri e has a density consistent with a water envelope, but orbits so close that it is likely to be supercritical water -- not quite liquid water and not quite steam, but more like the superheated steam used to decaffeinate coffee beans. Another large, hot, low-density planet, GJ 1214 b, might be a true water world, with the pressure in its thousand-kilometre ocean depths transforming the hot water into hot ice. Neither scenario seems quite suitable for life as we know it. (Zalasiewicz & Williams, 2014)"

As humans we are so used to the substance that we are predisposed of taking this substance for granted. We are born in water, most of body is composed of water, and water surrounds us throughout our lives. Yet, despite preciousness of this substance in its life supporting role, the final billion years of Earth's oceans is off to a sticky start, with over-fishing, choking plastic debris and rapidly looming global warming and acidification (Zalasiewicz & Williams, 2014).

The Planets Water Problems

There are basically two forms of fresh water on the planet. There is surface water in a variety of forms as well as ground water. Humans have strongly impacted both sources of fresh water through their interaction with the water cycle; not only the water that flows, but the water that is stored in the ground (Doll, et al., 2012). It is estimated that groundwater contributes 42%, 36% and 27% of water used for irrigation, households and manufacturing, respectively, while most assume that only surface water is used for livestock and for cooling of thermal power plants (Doll, et al., 2012). Through the manipulation of the water flows and underground reserves, the human impact on the water cycle are greater than most realize and this impact will have a detrimental effect on many populations.

Many studies that much of the groundwater reserves are being overexploited on massive scales. Researchers have calculated the rough amounts that these reservoirs may have now, their regeneration rate (if any such as many glacier reserves), and how much water is being extracted over a given period.

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They access the mathematical relationship of the groundwater footprint and compare these figures to the ecological footprint and previous water stress indicators, as well as other forms of the groundwater footprint equation that may be useful for local calculations with different data sources (Gleeson, Wada, Bierkens, & van Beek, 2012). The calculations are complex and can have high margins of error, however the methodology for making these calculations has becoming sophisticated and more accurate.

It is not just the freshwater that humans impact. Some have called the acidification of the oceans as the evil twin to climate change since the climate change phenomenon is essentially dumping excess carbon dioxide into the oceans through the carbon cycle (Craig, 2015). As a result of this trend the pH level is dropping and having a range of negative impacts on the largest bodies of water on the planet. Although the fresh water crisis has the potential to impact billions of humans across the planet, the acidification of the oceans could likely be the cause of a mass extinction event that cripples current levels of biodiversity found on the planet which also affects all creatures on land as well (Craig, 2015).

Freshwater Shortage Ideas

The freshwater shortage is real and ever looming. According to the World Health Organization (WHO):

"The World Health Organization and UNICEF estimate that there are over 700 million people in the world without access to clean drinking water. While this crisis continues to intensify, a massive, game changing source of freshwater is floating in the Arctic and Antarctic oceans, slowly melting away: icebergs. (Lewis, 2015)"

There are many ideas on how to address these situations of water shortages. One idea is to use the consequences of climate change by converting the melting polar icebergs to harvest fresh water. The concept is known as iceberg harvesting and it could help mitigate some of the damages that climate change is driving, however, it seems that a better idea would be to mitigate the damages in a proactive manner by addressing climate change; which is also related to preserving the oceans and ending the trend of acidification. Although iceberg harvesting can help with some of the water crisis, it is missing the related crisis that are driving other natural phenomenon.

The current atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is nearly 405 parts per million (CO2 Earth, 2016). Many scientists including James Hansen, for example, believe that the level in which a sustainable future is possible is no higher than 350 ppm; a level we have already surpassed (Hansen, 2008). The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which is another major scientific authority, has previously stated that at 450 parts per million there is roughly a fifty-two percent chance that catastrophic climate change will not occur (IPCC, 2007). The world's population recently climbing to over seven billion people, many researchers are questioning the natural ecosystem's ability to support the global population. This is no more apparent than the urgency that the water crisis emanates. For example, The United Nations offered this statement:

"The united nations reports that we have 15 years to avert a full-blown water crisis and that, by 2030, demand for water will outstrip supply by 40%. Five hundred renowned scientists brought together by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that our collective abuse of water has caused the earth to enter a "new geologic age," a "planetary transformation" akin to the retreat of the glaciers more than 11,000 years ago. (Barlow, 2015)"

Argument

The modern world and all of the technological progress that has provided the quality of life we enjoy today has deeply changed many people's association with nature and it has led to a situation in which many individuals become detached from nature itself. All species are reliant, especially humans, on natural systems to provide for themselves and their families. As Barlow (2015) writes in The Nation:

"We humans have used the planet's fresh water for our pleasure and profit, and created an industrial model of development based on conquering nature. It is time to see water as the essential element of an ecosystem that gives life to us all, and that we must protect with vigor and determination. We need to change our relationship to water, and do it quickly. We must do everything in our power to heal and restore the planet's watersheds and waterways. (Barlow, 2015)"

Our entire way of life is based.....

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