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Water Sustainability: a Looming Global Challenge
Author(s) -
McCarthy Dan
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal ‐ american water works association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.466
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1551-8833
pISSN - 0003-150X
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8833.2008.tb09718.x
Subject(s) - sustainability , population growth , water resources , business , looming , agriculture , environmental planning , climate change , integrated water resources management , population , natural resource economics , water cycle , distribution (mathematics) , environmental resource management , environmental science , geography , economics , ecology , physics , demography , archaeology , sociology , optics , biology , mathematical analysis , mathematics
This article discusses the looming global challenge of water sustainability and the public's assumption that high‐quality water will continue to be easily accessible to all people when they want it. The article discusses three factors that are affecting the availability of freshwater resources, including: population growth; economic growth; and, climate change. Successfully meeting the challenges of uneven distribution of water around the world, depletion of groundwater, changing rainfall patterns, and other water industry trends can be achieved by developing and implementing sustainable solutions that will ensure effective management of the entire water cycle and will help communities prepare for an uncertain future. The article stresses that sustainability planning is no longer an isolated challenge; regional solutions require integrated planning among municipal, industrial, and agricultural water users.