General Assembly
Global Water Crisis
The world’s population has been rapidly increasing, but the use of water resources has been growing at an even faster rate. Over the next fifty years, the population will increase by an estimated fifty percent. The already insufficient clean water resources will become even scarcer with this population expansion, in addition to urbanization and industrialization. More than one out of six (1.1 billion) people lack access to safe drinking water, and two out of six (2.6 billion) people lack adequate sanitation.
The extreme and unsustainable use of water has the ability to brutally drain the environment of essential water, upsetting the fragile balance of many crucial ecosystems. In addition to hurting the planet, the scarcity of water creates a lot of tension. On both international and national levels, the lack of clean water has been the source of a lot of tension, as different regions and countries share many of the sources. Those who have water think that access to it is a common, invariable privilege, while in fact, there are billions who have little to no clean water at all.
More than half of the world is currently at risk for conflict caused by water-related issues, and unlike other resources such as oil, there are no substitutes for clean water. Approximately 2.4 billion people of the earth’s population obtain their water from run off of the Himalayan Glaciers, which are disappearing to due to climate change. Other climate changes are upsetting the water resources all over the globe, from desertification to unbalanced wet and dry seasons. Over-pumping is also a large problem for urban water supplies. Wells and aquifers are overused and exhausted, causing clean water deficits in many urban areas. In various developing nations, measures to supply sanitary water range from everything to solar-powered distillation to rain harvesting. In more developed nations, desalination is becoming an increasingly popular way to obtain clean, usable water.
The most important aspect of this world water crisis is to maintain a united, international approach to solving the problem. Successful, efficient committees and organizations are integral to the ultimate rectification of this crisis. The most pressing issue right now pertaining to the water crisis is avoiding inter- and intra- national conflicts so that all efforts can be focused on providing water to those who require it, as opposed to ending and alleviating tensions.