The water is in short supply in Europe
by Marketing
- 17 countries around the world, including India, face "extremely high water stress". These countries consume almost all of the available water resources.
- This was revealed by the Water Risk Atlas of the World Resource Institute (WRI). The researchers are warning of increasing shortages, especially in cities.
- Also in Germany some regions are suffering from a high level of water stress. This means that the competition for the resource is growing.
A quarter of the world's population live in countries which are threatened by an acute water shortage. This was revealed by the Water Risk Atlas of the World Resources Institute (WRI), which the organisation presented in Washington on Tuesday.
According to researchers, 17 countries today face "extremely high water stress". They are consuming more than 80 percent of available surface and groundwater from rivers and lakes in a year. The result in increased competition for the resource, for example, between agriculture and households. Twelve of these countries facing "extremely high water stress" are located in the Near and Middle East, including Iran, Pakistan or Israel. Water scarcity could intensify existing political tensions there.
Germany is also increasingly affected
However, the water in Europe is also becoming scarcer. According to WRI data, seven EU countries, including Spain, Italy and Belgium, face high water stress. Many regions in Germany also fall into this category, such as Hesse or Brandenburg. "With the very hot summer we have seen that water can become a scarce commodity for us", says Dietrich Borchardt, Head of the Aquatic Eco System Analysis at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ). Water is not necessarily becoming scarce for consumers, says Borchardt, "but for forests, fields, shipping, cooling power plants and many, many more".
India, the country with the second largest population, has also been placed in the group with "extremely high water stress". In June a water crisis broke out in Chennai, a city with millions of inhabitants, after all reservoirs almost dried up. Due to population growth, which is associated with increased consumption, cities are more prone to water shocks, for example, when it has not rained for long periods. However, the shortages are mostly due to mismanagement and poor planning. In Jakarta, for example, most of the inhabitants obtain their water from wells they have dug themselves due to the poor supply. This causes the groundwater level to drop. The city is therefore in danger of sinking into the sea.
Climate change could accelerate many negative developments. In a study the World Bank describes that if the water continues to be managed as before and the climate models prove to be correct, "then water scarcity will spread to regions where it currently does not exist, and will worsen in regions where water is already scarce".
Sueddeutsche, The water is in short supply in Europe: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/wasserstress-atlas-wasserknappheit-1.4555268, Retrieved 6.8.2019.