The need of the hour and everyone should be aware about! ABHIJITH RAJEEV. SENECA COLLEGE.

1. GLOBAL WATER CRISIS
ABHIJITH RAJEEV
SENECA COLLEGE

2. WATER
• One of the most PRECIOUS RESOURCE on earth
• Required for the SURVIVAL of every living being
• Severe SHORTAGE felt around the world
Fig 1. Earth’s water (Pacific Water)

3. WATER CRISIS
• Water essential for life.
• Yet Water scarcity affects 4 of 10 people (WHO).
• 2.1 billion people –lack access to safely managed drinking
water services. (WHO/UNICEF 2017)
• 4.5 billion people – lack safely managed sanitation services.
(WHO/UNICEF 2017)
• 85,000 children under-15 die from diarrhoea linked to unsafe
water sanitation and hygiene facilities every year. (UNICEF)

4. HOW ACCESS TO WATER BENEFITS US
• HEALTH:
• Access to clean and safe Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) –
reduce health risk exposure.
• Most efficient way to curb child deaths.
• Prevents water borne diseases.
• EDUCATION:
• No access to clean water at home
• Children share burden of collecting water
• Less time spend in education
• Overall development of health - improve learning outcomes.
Fig 2. Women and
children walk long to
collect water,
(Courtesy The Hindu)

5. • WOMEN EMPOWERMENT:
• Women and Girls
• Mostly responsible for finding water
• Collectively women and children spend 200 million hours every day – in
collecting water.
• Productive use of that time in education or work.
• Dropout of school
• No access to clean water, toilets or sanitary supplies.
• Difficult especially during menstruation.
• ECONOMIC WELL BEING
• Access to clean water at home
• Less time spent in collection of water and more time for income
generating activities
• Reduced health care expenses.

6. REASONS FOR THE CRISIS
• CLIMATE CHANGE
• Rise in global temperature-increased desertification of areas
• Drying up of water sources and erratic rains
• Existing climate change scenario-by 2030 water scarcity in some arid and semi-arid places will displace between 24 million
and 700 million people. (UNCCD)
• UNSUSTAINABLE EXTRACTION OF GROUND WATER
• 30% of earth's fresh water – lies deep underground in aquifers.
• Extracted for daily use at dangerous levels
• Need to shift usage patterns sustainably
• AGRICULTURE (including irrigation, livestock and aquaculture)
• The largest water consumer globally.
• Accounting for 69% of annual water withdrawals.
• INEFFICIENT UTILISATION
• Imprudent use of existing water resource
• Especially for daily activities
• WATER POLLUTION
• Contamination of water sources – reduces the already dwindling freshwater sources
• Discharge of untreated domestic sewage and industrial waste water into lakes, rivers, sea, ocean.

7. WAYS TO TACKLE THE CRISIS
• CLIMATE CHANGE - Needs immediate steps to decrease the levels of rise in global temperature
• Reduction in carbon dioxide levels to control green house effect
• Increasing forest cover
• EFFECTIVE GROUNDWATER MANAGEMENT – Sustainable management of the hidden resource
• Maintaining quality of groundwater and preventing its pollution
• AGRICULTURE – Use of Micro irrigation techniques or drip irrigation
• For effective utilisation of water for maximum productivity
• INEFFICIENT UTILISATION – Recycle and reuse of water
• Reduction in the per day usage – especially for daily activities
• E.g. shower water can be used for watering the kitchen garden
• WATER POLLUTION - Proper treatment of industrial effluents and domestic sewage before
releasing into water source
• Management of use of fertilisers and pesticides - to prevent their runoff into water bodies.
Fig 3. Drip Irrigation,
(DOMIS)

8. DAY ZERO
• Reference to the day when-
• Water levels are very low and dams run dry
• Municipal taps are closed
• Water supplied at communal collection points
• CAPE TOWN IN SOUTH AFRICA
• CHENNAI IN INDIA
• Two cities that averted the dangers of Day Zero.
• Drastic measures taken
• Water use restricted to daily 50 litres per person per day.
• Still the crisis looms over us
• Need urgent steps to tackle water crisis
Fig 4. Possible distribution
of allotted water for
activities, Independent
Online

9. • Over 2 billion people live in countries experiencing high
water stress (UN, 2018)
• Water is a scarce resource
• Necessary to take concrete action – To achieve the
target of SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOAL OF
UNIVERSAL AND EQUITABLE ACCESS TO SAFE AND
AFFORDABLE DRINKING WATER FOR ALL BY 2030.

10. THANK
YOU

11. SOURCES
• “Dry Days: A Seven part Series on Water Scarcity in South India." 28 April 2017. The Hindu. 16 November
2019.
• “Global Water Crisis: Facts, FAQs, and How to Help." n.d. World Water. 16 November 2019.
• Jacobs, Yasmine. "7 Things you Need to Know About #Dayzero." 10 January 2018. Independent Online. 17
November 2019.
• Mahr, Krista. “How Cape Town was Saved from Running Out of Water." 4 may 2018. The Guardian. 17
November 2019.
• Schleifer, Leah. "7 Reasons We're Facing a Global Water Crisis." 24 August 2017. World Resources Institute.
16 November 2019.
• “SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation." n.d. United Nations. 17 November 2019.
• Trivedi, Ayushi and Chertock, Marlena. “Responding to Day Zero Equitably: Water Crisis Lessons from Cape
Town and Chennai." 31 October 2019. World Resources Institute. 17 November 2019.
• “UN Water." n.d. United Nations. 16 November 2019.
• “Water." n.d. United Nations. 16 November 2019.
• “Water Distribution." n.d. Pacific Community Water Sanitation Program. 16 November 2019.
• “Why Water." n.d. Water.org. 16 November 2019.