Water: the invisible problem

Water is an integral part of our daily lives and not just for drinking: when we wake up, we might take a shower, or sip coffee or tea; during the day we quench our thirst with all types of beverages; some of us water our gardens; we wash the laundry and the dishes; and by the end of the day, the average person in a Western society has consumed some 150–200 litres of freshwater (European Environmental Agency, 2001). Yet, household water consumption is a mere teaspoonful in a bathtub when compared with the amount of water used by agriculture and industry. The USA alone uses more than 500 billion litres of freshwater every day to cool electric power plants, and roughly the same amount is needed to irrigate crop fields (Hightower & Pierce, 2008).> …household water consumption is a mere teaspoonful in a bathtub when compared with the amount of water used by agriculture and industryIn striking contrast, more than one billion people in developing nations do not have access to safe drinking water and two billion do not have adequate sanitation (World Health Organization/United Nations Children's Fund, 2005). These figures are expected to increase in the near future. Climate change, demographic expansion in developing countries and the economic development of densely inhabited areas—notably in China and India—are anticipated to cause water shortages not only for health and sanitation, but also increasingly for agriculture and industrial activities. By 2050, the demand for water for food production is predicted to double in order to cope with the needs of the growing human population (Rockstrom et al , 2005). The global need for energy production—and therefore water—is also projected to rise by 57% by the year 2030 (Hightower & Pierce, 2008). Clearly the time …