• Question: will we ever run out of water

    Asked by ring46cup to Philip, Maxime, Jake, Ann, Annette, Amy Heather on 14 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Philip Schuler

      Philip Schuler answered on 14 Nov 2019:

      We (in Ireland) probably not, but water of “good quality” is becoming more and more scare becasue of pollution (e.g. due to farming).
      It’s often enough the quality that is really problemtic, for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenic_contamination_of_groundwater
      At the same time, water quantity is very problematic. The reasons are often “unsustinable” use of available freshwater, for example growing fruits and vegetables in the desert…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_Saudi_Arabia

    • Photo: Amy Heather Fitzpatrick

      Amy Heather Fitzpatrick answered on 21 Nov 2019:

      Only 0.3% of the world’s water is accessible and not all of that would be suitable for drinking water treatment, as some of it is in swamps or marshlands. As coastal erosion continues and sea levels rise, some of this fresh water may end up being engulfed or taken in by the ocean, as we lose land mass to the ocean. When this happens, we also lose available fresh water and land for people to live on. So I think that water scarcity will become an even bigger issue in the future than it is now. It’s important that we make decisions now to prevent these disasters in the future.

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