GLOBAL RESOURCES ANALYSIS


SHORTAGES | WATER


Only 1% of all the water on earth is accessible fresh sweet water and it's not always on the locations where and in the timing when it's needed and it's certainly also not always free of pollutions. These days 25% of the world population has severe water shortages. According to the UN in 2015 even 50% of the world population will have some or even severe water shortage. Water will be the oil of the 21st century. Large cities and urban areas have grown from economic perspective enormously on totally the wrong locations from water perspective. Subsurface sweet water reserves all around the world are formed in millions of years and are declining rapidly. Water will be transported more and more from long distances by pipelines and even by mammoth size ships. Water will demand a larger space in governmental/corporate/people's budgets in the years to come, pushing partial other spending out of the budget, because each dollar/euro can only be spend once. Recently George W. Bush visit the Canadian Government for environmental request and attached high level negotiations concerning the Great Lakes (only Lake Michigan: 22400 square miles / 5806 km2) is fully within the US borders). The Great Lakes are heavily polluted by the industries that are located on its borders. And some parts of the northern states of the USA really can solve water shortages with the water from the Great Lakes. But transportation of this water to Mid American states and the South East states, is 1) expensive, 2) centralized, 3) so malfunction vulnerable and 4) sabotage vulnerable. Living, farming and enterprising is the cheapest and most stable done in areas with enough water. In other areas water prices and water shortages always repressing live/farming/business.


Author: Gijs Graafland


Back to Shortages Index


Download the full Global Resources Analysis report in PDF