Four billion people facing severe water scarcity - PubMed (original) (raw)

Four billion people facing severe water scarcity

Mesfin M Mekonnen et al. Sci Adv. 2016.

Abstract

Freshwater scarcity is increasingly perceived as a global systemic risk. Previous global water scarcity assessments, measuring water scarcity annually, have underestimated experienced water scarcity by failing to capture the seasonal fluctuations in water consumption and availability. We assess blue water scarcity globally at a high spatial resolution on a monthly basis. We find that two-thirds of the global population (4.0 billion people) live under conditions of severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year. Nearly half of those people live in India and China. Half a billion people in the world face severe water scarcity all year round. Putting caps to water consumption by river basin, increasing water-use efficiencies, and better sharing of the limited freshwater resources will be key in reducing the threat posed by water scarcity on biodiversity and human welfare.

Keywords: envrionmnetal flow requirement; high spatial resolution; monthly water scarcity; water footprint.

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Figures

Fig. 1

Fig. 1. Quarterly averaged monthly blue water scarcity at 30 × 30 arc min resolution.

Water scarcity at the grid cell level is defined as the ratio of the blue water footprint within the grid cell to the sum of the blue water generated within the cell and the blue water inflow from upstream cells. Period: 1996–2005.

Fig. 2

Fig. 2. Annual average monthly blue water scarcity at 30 × 30 arc min resolution.

Period: 1996–2005.

Fig. 3

Fig. 3. The number of months per year in which blue water scarcity exceeds 1.0 at 30 × 30 arc min resolution.

Period: 1996–2005.

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