5.7C - Finite Resources and Rising Demand
The finite water resources face pressure from rising demand (increasing population, improving living standards, industrialisation and agriculture), which is increasingly serious in some locations and is leading to increasing risk of water scarcity. (F: Increasing risk of water scarcity.)
The rising demand for water is driven by three main factors:
- population growth: more people, more thirsts to quench
- economic development: increases the demand for water in almost all economic activities- the agriculture, industry, energy and services. One of the biggest and fastest-growing consumers is irrigation.
- rising living standards: increase in the per capita consumption of water for drinking, cooking, bathing and cleaning. Added to this domestic consumption are water-extravagant things such as swimming pools, washing machines and dishwashers.
Within the rising demand for water, there is increasing competition between water users for this dwindling resource.
The three main pressures increasing the risk of water insecurity:
- Diminishing supply
- climate change (+ impacts)
- deteriorating quality from pollution
- impact of competing users (upstream vs downstream)
- Rising demands
- population growth
- economic development
- Competing demands from users (within a basin)
- international issues
- upstream vs downstream
- HEP vs irrigation