Where is fresh water stored? Where is the most fresh water? The amount of water in the world

Until relatively recently, water, like air, was considered one of the free gifts of nature, only in areas of artificial irrigation it always had a high price. Recently, the attitude towards land water resources has changed.

Over the past century, the consumption of fresh water in the world has doubled, and the planet's water resources do not meet such a rapid increase in human needs. According to the World Commission on Water, today every person needs 40 (20 to 50) liters of water daily for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene.

However, about a billion people in 28 countries around the world do not have access to so many vital resources. More than 40% of the world's population (about 2.5 billion people) lives in areas experiencing moderate or severe water scarcity.

It is assumed that by 2025 this number will increase to 5.5 billion and will amount to two-thirds of the world's population.

The vast majority of fresh water is, as it were, conserved in the glaciers of Antarctica, Greenland, in the ice of the Arctic, in mountain glaciers and forms a kind of "emergency reserve" that is not yet available for use.

Different countries differ greatly in fresh water reserves. Below is a ranking of countries with the largest fresh water resources in the world. However, this ranking is based on absolute figures and does not match per capita figures.

10. Myanmar

Resources - 1080 cubic meters. km

Per capita- 23.3 thousand cubic meters m

The rivers of Myanmar - Burma are subject to the monsoon climate of the country. They originate in the mountains, but do not feed on glaciers, but on precipitation.

More than 80% of the annual river nutrition is rain. In winter, the rivers become shallow, some of them, especially in central Burma, dry up.

There are few lakes in Myanmar; the largest of them is the tectonic lake Indoji in the north of the country with an area of ​​210 sq. km.

Despite the relatively high absolute figures, the inhabitants of some areas of Myanmar suffer from a shortage of fresh water.

9. Venezuela

Resources - 1320 cubic meters. km

Per capita- 60.3 thousand cubic meters. m

Nearly half of Venezuela's more than 1,000 rivers run off the Andes and the Guiana Plateau into the Orinoco, Latin America's third largest river. Its basin covers an area of ​​about 1 million square meters. km. The Orinoco drainage basin occupies approximately four-fifths of the territory of Venezuela.

8. India

Resources- 2085 cu. km

Per capita - 2.2 thousand cubic meters m

India has a large amount of water resources: rivers, glaciers, seas and oceans. The most significant rivers are: Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra, Godavari, Krishna, Narbada, Mahanadi, Kaveri. Many of them are important as sources of irrigation.

Eternal snows and glaciers in India occupy about 40 thousand square meters. km of territory.

However, given India's huge population, the per capita supply of fresh water is quite low.

7. Bangladesh

Resources - 2360 cubic meters. km

Per capita- 19.6 thousand cubic meters. m

Bangladesh is one of the countries in the world with the highest population density. This is largely due to the extraordinary fertility of the Ganges Delta and regular floods caused by monsoon rains. However, overcrowding and poverty have become a real disaster for Bangladesh.

There are many rivers flowing through Bangladesh, and the floods of large rivers can last for weeks. Bangladesh has 58 transboundary rivers, and issues arising from the use of water resources are very sensitive in discussions with India.

However, despite the relatively high level of water resources, the country faces a problem: the water resources of Bangladesh are often subject to arsenic poisoning due to its high content in the soil. Up to 77 million people are exposed to arsenic poisoning through drinking contaminated water.

6. USA

Resources - 2480 cubic meters. km

Per capita- 2.4 thousand cubic meters. m

The United States occupies a vast territory, on which there are many rivers and lakes.

However, despite the fact that the United States has such fresh water resources, this does not save California from the worst drought in history.

In addition, given the high population of the country, the supply of fresh water per capita is not so high.

5. Indonesia

Resources - 2530 cubic meters. km

Per capita- 12.2 thousand cubic meters. m

The special relief of the territories of Indonesia, combined with a favorable climate, at one time contributed to the formation of a dense river network in these lands.

In the territories of Indonesia, a fairly large amount of precipitation falls all year round, because of this, the rivers are always full-flowing and play a significant role in the irrigation system.

Almost all of them flow from the Maoke Mountains north into the Pacific Ocean.

4. China

Resources - 2800 cubic meters. km

Per capita- 2.3 thousand cubic meters. m

China has 5-6% of the world's water reserves. But China is the most populous country in the world, and its water distribution is highly uneven.

The south of the country has been fighting for thousands of years and today is fighting floods, building and building dams to save crops and people's lives.

The north of the country and the central regions are suffering from lack of water.

3. Canada

Resources - 2900 cubic meters. km

Per capita- 98.5 thousand cubic meters. m

Canada has 7% of the world's renewable fresh water resources and less than 1% of the world's total population. Accordingly, per capita income in Canada is one of the highest in the world.

Most of Canada's rivers belong to the basin of the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, and much fewer rivers flow into the Pacific Ocean.

Canada is one of the richest countries in the world with lakes. On the border with the United States are the Great Lakes (Upper, Huron, Erie, Ontario), connected by small rivers into a huge basin of more than 240 thousand square meters. km.

Less significant lakes lie on the territory of the Canadian Shield (Great Bear, Great Slave, Athabasca, Winnipeg, Winnipegosis), etc.

2. Russia

Resources- 4500 cu. km

Per capita - 30.5 thousand cubic meters. m

In terms of reserves, Russia accounts for more than 20% of the world's fresh water resources (excluding glaciers and groundwater). In calculating the volume of fresh water per inhabitant of Russia, there are about 30 thousand cubic meters. m of river flow per year.

Russia is washed by the waters of 12 seas belonging to three oceans, as well as the inland Caspian Sea. On the territory of Russia there are over 2.5 million large and small rivers, more than 2 million lakes, hundreds of thousands of swamps and other objects of the water fund.

1. Brazil

Resources - 6950 cubic meters. km

Per capita- 43.0 thousand cubic meters m

The water resources of Brazil are represented by a huge number of rivers, the main of which is the Amazon (the greatest river in the world).

Almost a third of this large country is occupied by the Amazon River basin, which includes the Amazon itself and more than two hundred of its tributaries.

This gigantic system contains a fifth of all the river waters of the world.

The rivers and their tributaries flow slowly, during the rainy seasons they often overflow their banks and flood vast areas of tropical forests.

The rivers of the Brazilian Plateau have significant hydropower potential. The largest lakes in the country are Mirim and Patos. Main rivers: Amazon, Madeira, Rio Negro, Parana, Sao Francisco.

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Being a native of Uzbekistan and having lived there for 41 years, apparently, I have a reverent attitude towards fresh water.

Some facts about water

• Water covers more than 70% of the world's population, but only 3% of fresh water.
• Most natural fresh water is in ice form; less than 1% is readily available for human consumption. This means that less than 0.007% of the water on earth is ready to drink.
• More than 1.4 billion people do not have access to clean, safe water worldwide.
• The gap between water supply and demand is constantly growing, expected to reach 40% by 2030.
• By 2025, one third of the world's population will depend on water scarcity.
• By 2050, more than 70% of the world's population will live in cities.
• In many developing countries, the percentage of water losses is over 30%, reaching even 80% in some extreme cases.
• More than 32 billion cubic meters of drinking water is leaking water from urban water supplies around the world, only 10% of the leak is visible, the rest of the leaks quietly and silently disappear underground.

The development of mankind is accompanied by an increase in the population of the Earth, as well as growing demands for resources from the economy. One of these resources is fresh water, the shortage of which is quite acutely felt in a number of regions of the Earth. In particular, more than a third of the world's population, that is, more than 2 billion people, does not have permanent access to a drinking resource. It is expected that in 2020 water shortage will act as one of the obstacles further development humanity. This applies to the greatest extent to developing countries, where:

• Intensive population growth
• High level of industrialization accompanied by pollution environment and water in particular
• Lack of water treatment infrastructure,
• Significant demand for water from the agricultural sector,
• Medium or low level of social stability, authoritarian structure of society.

World water resources

The earth is rich in water, because 70% of the Earth's surface is covered with water (approx. 1.4 billion km 3). However, most of the water is salty and only about 2.5% of the world's water resources (approx. 35 million km3) is fresh water (see Figure World Water Sources, UNESCO, 2003).

Only fresh water can be used for drinking, but 69% of it falls on snow covers (mainly Antarctica and Greenland), approx. 30% (10.5 million km 3) is groundwater, and lakes, artificial lakes and rivers account for less than 0.5% of all fresh water.

In the water cycle, of the total amount of precipitation falling on the Earth, 79% falls on the ocean, 2% on lakes, and only 19% on land. Only 2200 km 3 penetrates into underground reservoirs per year.

Many experts call the "water issue" one of the most serious challenges for humanity in the future. The period 2005-2015 has been declared by the UN General Assembly as the International Decade for Action. Water for life».

Drawing. World sources of fresh water: sources of distribution of about 35 million km 3 of fresh water (UNESCO 2003)

According to UN experts, in the 21st century, water will become a more important strategic resource than oil and gas, since a ton of clean water in an arid climate is already more expensive than oil (the Sahara desert and North Africa, the center of Australia, South Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia).

Globally, about 2/3 of all precipitation returns to the atmosphere. In terms of water resources, Latin America is the richest region, accounting for a third of the world's runoff, followed by Asia with a quarter of the world's runoff. Then come the OECD countries (20%), sub-Saharan Africa and the countries of the former Soviet Union, each accounting for 10%. The most limited water resources are in the countries of the Middle East and North America (1% each).

The countries of sub-Saharan Africa (Tropical/Black Africa) experience the greatest shortage of drinking water.

After several decades of rapid industrialization, large Chinese cities have become among the most environmentally unfavorable.

The construction of the world's largest hydropower complex, the Three Gorges, on the Yangtze River in China, has also created massive environmental problems. In addition to erosion and collapse of the banks, the construction of a dam and a giant reservoir led to silting and, according to Chinese and foreign experts, a dangerous change in the entire ecosystem of the country's largest river.

SOUTH ASIA

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

India is home to 16% of the world's population, despite the fact that only 4% of the planet's fresh water is available there.

The water reserves of India and Pakistan are in inaccessible places - these are the glaciers of the Pamirs and the Himalayas, which cover the mountains at an altitude of over 4000 m. But the water shortage in Pakistan is already so high that the government is seriously considering forcibly melting these glaciers.

The idea is to spray harmless coal dust over them, which will cause the ice to actively melt in the sun. But, most likely, the melted glacier will look like a muddy mudflow, 60% of the water will not reach the valleys, but will be absorbed into the soil near the foot of the mountains, ecological prospects are unclear

CENTRAL (MIDDLE) ASIA

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

central Asia(as defined by UNESCO): Mongolia, Western China, Punjab, Northern India, Northern Pakistan, northeastern Iran, Afghanistan, regions of Asian Russia south of the taiga zone, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan.

According to the World Resources Institute, fresh water reserves in the countries of Central Asia (excluding Tajikistan) and in Kazakhstan per capita are almost 5 times lower than in Russia.

Russia

Over the past ten years in Russia, as in all middle latitudes, temperatures have been rising faster than the average on Earth and in the tropics. By 2050 temperatures will rise by 2-3ºС. One of the consequences of warming will be a redistribution of precipitation. In the south of the Russian Federation there will not be enough precipitation and there will be problems with drinking water, there may be problems with navigation along certain rivers, the area of ​​​​permafrost will decrease, soil temperatures will rise, in the northern regions, productivity will increase, although there may be losses due to drought events (Roshydromet) .

AMERICA

Mexico

Mexico City is experiencing problems with the supply of drinking water to the population. Demand for bottled water already today exceeds supply, so the country's leadership urges residents to learn how to save water.

The issue of drinking water consumption has been facing the leaders of the capital of Mexico for a long time, since the city, in which almost a quarter of the country lives, is located far from water sources, so today water is extracted from wells at least 150 meters deep. The results of water quality analysis revealed an increased content of permissible concentrations of heavy metals and other chemical elements and substances harmful to human health.

Half of the daily water consumed in the US comes from non-renewable underground sources. At the moment, 36 states are on the verge of a serious problem, some of them on the verge of a water crisis. Water shortages in California, Arizona, Nevada, Las Vegas.

Water has become a key security strategy and priority for the US administration foreign policy. Currently, the Pentagon and other structures that care about US security have come to the conclusion that in order to maintain the existing military and economic strength of the United States, they must protect not only energy sources, but also water resources.

Peru

In the Peruvian capital of Lima, there is practically no rain, and water is supplied mainly from the Andes lakes, located quite far away. From time to time the water is turned off for several days. There is always a shortage of water. Once a week, water is brought by truck, but it costs the poor ten times more than residents whose houses are connected to central system water supply.

Drinking water consumption

About 1 billion people on Earth do not have access to improved sources of drinking water. Over half of the world's households have running water in their homes or nearby.

8 out of 10 people who do not have access to improved drinking water sources live in rural areas.

884 million people in the world, i.e. almost half of those living in Asia still use unimproved sources of drinking water. Most of them live in sub-Saharan Africa, South, East and Southeast Asia.

Countries where bottled water is the main source of drinking water: Dominican Republic (67% of the urban population drink exclusively bottled water), Lao People's Democratic Republic and Thailand (bottled water is the main source of drinking water for half of the urban population). Also a serious situation in Guatemala, Guinea, Turkey, Yemen.

Drinking water treatment practices vary considerably across countries. In Mongolia, Vietnam, water is almost always boiled, a little less often - in the PDR Lao and Cambodia, even less often - in Uganda and Jamaica. In Guinea, it is filtered through a cloth. And in Jamaica, Guinea, Honduras, Haiti, chlorine or other disinfectants are simply added to the water to clean it.

Households in Africa in rural areas spend an average of 26% of their time just getting water (mostly women) (UK DFID). Every year it takes approx. 40 billion working hours (Cosgrove and Rijsberman, 1998). The Tibetan highlands are still inhabited by people who have to spend up to three hours a day walking to fetch water.

Main drivers of water consumption growth

1. : sanitation improvement

Access to basic water services (drinking water, food production, sanitation, sanitation) remains limited in most developing countries. It is possible that By 2030, more than 5 billion people (67% of the global population) will still lack modern sanitation(OECD, 2008).

About 340 million Africans do not have safe drinking water, and nearly 500 million lack modern sanitation.

The importance of ensuring the purity of the water consumed: several billion people today do not have access to clean water(The World Conference of The Future of Science, 2008, Venice).

80% of diseases in developing countries are related to water, annually causing about 1.7 million deaths.

According to some estimates, every year in developing countries about 3 million people die prematurely from waterborne diseases.

Diarrhea - main reason sickness and death – mostly due to lack of sanitary and hygienic conditions and unsafe drinking water. 5,000 children die of diarrhea every day, i.e. one child every 17 seconds.

In South Africa, 12% of the health care budget goes to treat diarrhea, with more than half of the patients diagnosed with diarrhea in local hospitals every day.

Annually 1.4 million diarrhea deaths could be prevented. Almost 1/10 of the total number of diseases could be prevented by improving water supply, sanitation, hygiene, and water management.

2. Development of agriculture for food production

Water is an essential component of food, and Agriculture- the largest consumer of water: it falls up to 70% of total water consumption(for comparison: 20% of water use is industry, 10% is domestic use). The area of ​​irrigated land has doubled over the past decades, and water withdrawal has tripled.

Without further improvement in water use in agriculture, the need for water in this sector will increase by 70-90% by 2050, and this despite the fact that some countries have already reached the limit in the use of their water resources.

On average, 70% of the fresh water consumed is used by agriculture, 22% by industry, and the remaining 8% is used for household needs. This ratio varies by country income: in low- and middle-income countries, 82% is used for agriculture, 10% for industry, and 8% for domestic use; in high-income countries these figures are 30%, 59% and 11%.

Due to inefficient irrigation systems, especially in developing countries, 60% of the water used for agriculture evaporates or is returned to water bodies.

3. Change in food consumption

In recent years, there have been changes in the lifestyle of people and the way they eat, the consumption of meat and dairy products has increased disproportionately in countries with economies in transition Today, one person in the world consumes on average 2 times more water than in 1900, and this trend will continue in connection with changing consumption habits in emerging economies.

In today's world, 1.4 billion people are deprived of access to clean water, another 864 million do not have the opportunity to receive the nutrition they need on a daily basis. And the situation continues to worsen.

A person needs only 2-4 liters of water per day to drink, but the production of food for one person requires 2000-5000 liters per day.

The question “how much water people drink” (on average, in developed countries - from two to five liters per day) is not as important as “how much water people eat” (according to some estimates, in developed countries this figure is 3,000 liters per day). ).

For production 1 kg of wheat requires 800 to 4,000 liters of water, 1 kg of beef requires 2,000 to 16,000 liters, 1 kg of rice requires 3450 liters.

Increasing meat consumption in the most developed countries: in 2002, Sweden consumed 76 kg of meat per person, and the US 125 kg per person.

According to some estimates, a Chinese consumer who ate 20 kg of meat in 1985 will eat 50 kg in 2009. This increase in consumption will increase the demand for grain. One kilogram of grain requires 1,000 kg (1,000 liters) of water. This means that an additional 390 km 3 of water per year will be required to meet the demand.

4. Demographic growth

The scarcity of water resources will increase due to population growth. The total number of inhabitants of the planet, which is currently 6.6 billion people, growing by approximately 80 million annually. Hence the growing need for drinking water, which is about 64 billion cubic meters per year.

By 2025, the population of the Earth will exceed 8 billion people. (EPE). 90% of the 3 billion people who will add to the world's population by 2050 will be in developing countries, many of whom are located in areas where current populations do not have adequate access to clean water and sanitation (UN).

More than 60% of the global population growth that will occur between 2008 and 2100 will be in sub-Saharan Africa (32%) and South Asia (30%), which together will account for 50% of the world's population 2100.

5. Urban population growth

Urbanization will continue - migration to cities, whose inhabitants are much more sensitive to water shortages. In the 20th century, there was a very sharp increase in the urban population (from 220 million to 2.8 billion). In the next few decades, we will witness its unprecedented growth in developing countries.

It is expected that the number of urban dwellers will grow by 1.8 billion people (compared to 2005) and will account for 60% of the total world population (UN). About 95% of this growth will come from developing countries.

According to EPE, by 2025, 5.2 billion people will live in cities. This level of urbanization will require extensive water distribution infrastructure and the collection and treatment of used water, which is not possible without massive investment.

6. Migration

Currently, there are about 192 million migrants in the world (in 2000 there were 176 million). The lack of water in desert and semi-desert regions will cause intensive migration of the population. This is expected to affect 24 to 700 million people. The relationship between water resources and migration is a two-way process: water scarcity leads to migration, and migration in turn contributes to water stress. According to some calculations, in the future, coastal regions, where 15 of the 20 megacities of the world are located, will feel the greatest pressure from the influx of migrants. In the world of the next century, more and more inhabitants will live in vulnerable urban and coastal areas.

7. Climate change

In 2007, the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, held in Bali, recognized that even minimally predictable climate change in the 21st century, twice the 0.6°C increase since 1900, would be severely devastating. consequences.

Scientists agree that global warming will intensify and accelerate global hydrological cycles. In other words, intensification can be expressed in an increase in the rate of evaporation and the amount of precipitation. It is not yet known what impact this will have on water resources, but it is expected that water scarcity will affect its quality and the frequency of extreme situations such as droughts and floods.

Presumably, by 2025, warming will be 1.6ºС compared to the pre-industrial period (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - Groupe d'experts Intergouvernemental sur l'Evolution du Climat).

Now 85% of the world's population lives in the arid part of our planet. In 2030 47% of the world's population will live in areas with high water stress.

Only in Africa by 2020 from 75 to 250 million people could face increased pressure on water resources caused by climate change. Along with the growing demand for water; this may affect the livelihoods of the population and exacerbate water supply problems (IPCC 2007).

The impact of climate warming on water resources: a 1ºC increase in temperature will lead to the complete disappearance of small glaciers in the Andes, which may lead to problems in supplying water to 50 million people; a 2ºC increase in temperature will cause a 20-30% reduction in water resources in "unprotected" regions (southern Africa, the Mediterranean).

Global climate change and strong anthropogenic influence cause the processes of desertification and deforestation.

According to the World Human Development Report 2006, by 2025 the number of people suffering from lack of water will reach 3 billion, whereas today their number is 700 million. This problem will be especially acute in southern Africa, China and India.

8. Growth in consumption. Raising the standard of living

9. Intensification of economic activity

The development of the economy and the service sector will lead to an additional increase in water consumption, with most of the responsibility will fall on industry, not agriculture (EPE).

10. Growth in energy consumption

According to calculations International Agency Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global demand for electricity should increase by 55% by 2030. Only the share of China and India will be 45%. Developing countries will account for 74%.

It is assumed that the amount of energy generated by hydroelectric power plants for the period from 2004 to 2030. will grow annually by 1.7%. Its overall growth over this period will be 60%.

Dams, criticized for their severe environmental impacts and the forced displacement of large numbers of people, are now seen by many as a possible solution to the water problem in the face of declining fossil energy supplies, the need to move to cleaner energy sources, the need to adapt to different hydrological conditions and the instability caused by climate change.

11. Biofuel production

Biofuels are being used to meet growing energy needs. However, the widespread production of biofuels further reduces the area under crops for growing plant foods.

Bioethanol production tripled over the period 2000-2007. and amounted to about 77 billion liters in 2008. The largest producers of this type of biofuel are Brazil and the United States - their share in world production is 77%. Production of biodiesel fuel produced from oilseeds for the period from 2000-2007. increased 11 times. 67% of it is produced in the countries of the European Union (OECD-FAO, 2008)

In 2007, 23% of the maize produced in the US was used to produce ethanol, and 54% of the sugarcane crop was used for this purpose in Brazil. 47% of vegetable oil produced in the European Union was used to produce biodiesel.

However, despite the increased use of biofuels, its share in total energy production remains small. In 2008, the share of ethanol in the transportation fuel market was estimated at 4.5% in the USA, 40% in Brazil, and 2.2% in the EU. While biofuels can reduce dependence on fossil energy sources, they can put disproportionate pressure on biodiversity and the environment. The main problem is the need for large amounts of water and fertilizers to ensure the crop. To produce 1 liter of ethanol, 1000 to 4000 liters of water are required. It is assumed that in 2017 the global volume of ethanol production will be 127 billion liters.

About 1/5 of the US maize crop was used in 2006/2007. for ethanol production, replacing about 3% of the country's gasoline fuel (World Development Report 2008, World Bank).

It takes about 2500 liters of water to produce one liter of ethanol. According to World Energy Outlook 2006, biofuel production is increasing by 7% per year. Its production, perhaps, does not create real problems in, where heavy rainfall occurs. A different situation is developing in China, and in the near future in India.

12. Tourism

Tourism has become one of the factors in the growth of water consumption. In Israel, the use of water by hotels along the Jordan River is credited with the drying up of the Dead Sea, where the water level has fallen by 16.4 meters since 1977. Golf tourism, for example, has a huge impact on water withdrawals: eighteen holes can consume over 2.3 million liters of water per day. In the Philippines, the use of water for tourism threatens rice cultivation. Tourists in Grenada (Spain) typically use seven times as much water as local residents, and this figure is considered common in many developing tourist areas.

In Britain, the improvement of sanitation and water purification in the 1880s. contributed to a 15-year increase in life expectancy over the next four decades. (HDR, 2006)

Lack of water and sanitation costs South Africa approximately 5% of the country's GDP annually (UNDP).

Each inhabitant of developed countries uses on average 500-800 liters of water per day (300 m 3 per year); in developing countries, this figure is 60-150 liters per day (20 m 3 per year).

Every year, 443 million school days are missed due to water-related illnesses.

Development of the water market

Water Crisis Management

In the Millennium Declaration adopted by the UN in 2000, the international community committed itself to halve the number of people without access to clean drinking water by 2015 and end the unsustainable use of water resources.

The relationship between poverty and water is clear: the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day is roughly the same as the number without access to safe drinking water.

Since 2001, water resources have been a top priority for the Natural Sciences Sector of UNESCO.

The problem of water is one of the most acute, although not the only one, for developing countries.

Benefits of investing in water resources

According to some estimates, Every dollar invested in improving water and sanitation yields between $3 and $34.

The total cost incurred in Africa alone due to lack of access to safe water and lack of sanitation facilities is about $US 28.4 billion per year or about 5% of GDP(WHO, 2006)

A survey of countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region found that groundwater depletion appears to have reduced GDP in some countries (Jordan by 2.1%, Yemen by 1.5% , Egypt - by 1.3%, Tunisia - by 1.2%).

Water storage

Reservoirs provide reliable sources of water for irrigation, water supply and hydropower, and for flood control. For developing countries, it is no exception when 70 to 90% of the annual runoff accumulates in reservoirs. However, only 4% of renewable runoff is retained in African countries.

virtual water

All countries import and export water in the form of water equivalents, i.e. in the form of agricultural and industrial goods. The calculation of used water is defined by the concept of "virtual water".

The theory of "virtual water" in 1993 marked the beginning of a new era in determining the policy of agriculture and water resources in regions experiencing water scarcity, and campaigns aimed at saving water resources.

About 80% of virtual water flows are associated with trade in agricultural products. Approximately 16% of the world's water depletion and pollution problems are related to production for export. The prices of goods sold rarely reflect the cost of water use in producing countries.

For example, Mexico imports wheat, maize, and sorghum from the US, which require 7.1 Gm 3 of water to produce in the US. If Mexico produced them at home, it would take 15.6 Gm 3 . The total water savings resulting from the international trade in virtual water in the form of agricultural products is equivalent to 6% of the total volume of water used in agriculture.

Water recycling

Agricultural use of urban wastewater remains limited, except in a few countries with very poor water resources (40% of drainage water is reused in the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip, 15% in Israel and 16% in Egypt).

Water desalination is becoming more and more accessible. It is used mainly for the production of drinking water (24%) and to meet the needs of industry (9%) in countries that have exhausted the limits of their renewable water sources (Saudi Arabia, Israel, Cyprus, etc.).

Water management projects

Approaches to solve the problem of water scarcity:

• Breeding crops that are resistant to drought and saline soils,
• water desalination,
• Water storage.

Today, there are political solutions aimed at reducing water losses, improving water management, and reducing the need for them. Many countries have already adopted laws for the conservation and efficient use of water, however, these reforms have not yet yielded tangible results.

The participants of the Venice Forum (The World Conference of The Future of Science, 2008) invite the leaders of major international organizations and governments of the world's leading countries to start large-scale investments in research related to solving specific problems of developing countries in the field of combating hunger and malnutrition. In particular, they consider it necessary to start as soon as possible a major project to seawater desalination for desert irrigation, primarily in tropical countries and create a special fund to support agriculture.

The structure of water consumption with a predominance of its agricultural use determines that the search for ways to solve the water shortage should be carried out through the introduction of agricultural technologies that make it possible to make better use of precipitation, reduce irrigation losses and increase field productivity.

It is in agriculture that unproductive water consumption is the highest and it is estimated that about half of it is wasted. This represents 30% of the world's total fresh water resources, which represents a huge savings reserve. There are many ways to help reduce water consumption. Traditional irrigation is inefficient. In developing countries, mainly surface irrigation is used, for which dams are built. This method, simple and cheap, is used, for example, in rice cultivation, but a significant part of the water used (about half) is lost due to infiltration and evaporation.

It is quite easy to achieve savings if you use the drip method of irrigation: a small amount of water is delivered directly to the plants using tubes laid above the ground (and even better, underground). This method is economical, but its installation is expensive.

Judging by the volume of water losses, the existing water supply and irrigation systems are recognized as extremely inefficient. It is estimated that in the Mediterranean region, water losses in urban water pipes are 25%, and in irrigation canals 20%. At least part of these losses can be avoided. Cities such as Tunis (Tunisia) and Rabat (Morocco) have managed to reduce water losses by up to 10%. Water loss management programs are currently being introduced in Bangkok (Thailand) and Manila (Philippines).

With growing shortages, some countries have already begun to include water management strategy into their development plans. In Zambia, this integrated water resources management policy covers all sectors of the economy. The result of this water management, linked to national development plans, was not long in coming, and many donors began to include investments in the water sector in Zambia's overall aid portfolio.

While this experience remains limited, some countries are already using treated wastewater for agriculture: 40% is reused in the Gaza Strip in the Palestinian Territories, 15% in Israel and 16% in Egypt.

Also used in desert regions seawater desalination method. It is used to obtain drinking and technical water in countries that have reached the limit in the use of renewable water resources (Saudi Arabia, Israel, Cyprus, etc.).

Thanks to the use of modern membrane technology the cost of water desalination has decreased to 50 cents per 1000 liters, but it is still very expensive given the amount of water needed to produce food raw materials. Therefore, desalination is more suitable for the production of drinking water or for use in the food industry, where the added value is quite high. If the cost of desalination can be further reduced, then the severity of water problems could be significantly reduced.

The Desertec Foundation has developed designs to combine desalination plants and solar-powered thermal power plants into one system, capable of producing cheap electricity on the coast of North Africa and the Middle East. For these zones, considered the driest in the world, such a solution would be a way out of water problems.

Southeast Anatolia Development Project in Turkey(GAP) is a multi-sectoral socio-economic development plan focused on increasing the incomes of the population in this least developed region of the country. Its total estimated cost is 32 million dollars, 17 million of them by 2008 have already been invested. With the development of irrigation here, per capita income has tripled. Electrification of rural areas and the availability of electricity have reached 90%, literacy of the population has increased, child mortality has decreased, business activity has increased, and the land tenure system has become more equal in irrigated lands. The number of cities with running water has quadrupled. This region has ceased to be one of the least developed in the country.

Australia also changed its policy by implementing a number of measures. Restrictions have been placed on watering gardens, washing cars, filling pools with water, and the like. in the largest cities of the country. In 2008 Sydney introduced dual water supply system - drinking water and purified (technical) for other needs. By 2011, a desalination plant is under construction. Investment in the water sector in Australia has doubled from A$2 billion per year to A$4 billion per year over the past 6 years.

UAE. The Emirates decided to invest more than $20 billion over 8 years in the construction and launch of desalination plants. At the moment, 6 such plants have already been launched, the remaining 5 will be built within the above period of time. Thanks to these plants, it is planned to more than triple the amount of drinking water. The need for investment in the construction of new factories is due to the growing population in the UAE.

Ambitious project planned in UAE Sahara Forest to turn part of the desert into an artificial forest capable of feeding and watering thousands of people by creating vast super greenhouses. Combination of solar power plants thermal type and original desalination plants would allow the Sahara Forest to literally produce food, fuel, electricity and drinking water from nothing, which would transform the entire region.

The cost of the Sahara Forest is estimated at 80 million euros for a complex of greenhouses with an area of ​​20 hectares, combined with solar installations with a total capacity of 10 megawatts. "Greening" the world's greatest desert is still a project. But pilot projects built in the image of the Sahara Forest may well appear in the coming years in several places at once: business groups in the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait have already expressed interest in funding these unusual experiments.

The Lesotho Highlands Water Project is a massive program (since 2002) of building dams and galleries that transport water from the highlands of Lesotho, an enclave country located inside South Africa and the size of Belgium, to the arid regions of the province of Gauteng, located near Johannesburg.

Ethiopia: Large investment in infrastructure (dams, provision of well water to rural areas. Increasing number of tenders across the country for projects to improve access to drinking water, large infrastructure projects (boreholes).

In Pakistan, the government is seriously considering forcibly melting the glaciers of the Pamirs and the Himalayas.

In Iran, rain cloud management projects are being considered.

In 2006, on the outskirts of Lima (Peru), biologists launched a project to create an irrigation system that collects water from fog. Large-scale construction is needed to create the structure for another fog tower project on the coast of Chile.

According to marketing research materials about water (excerpts),

For more detailed information(water prices in different countries peace, etc..

Seas and oceans are filled with water. It seems that there is quite a lot of water on Earth. But, in fact, the amount of water available for use is much less than all the water on Earth.

The value of water

Water is the basis and source of life on Earth. It occupies most of the planet, which is not surprising. After all, life arose in water, and only then spread to land and air. Both humans and animals are mostly made up of water. It is fresh water that is vital for man and all living creatures of the blue planet. And it makes up only 3% of all water reserves on Earth. The rest of the water, which is 97%, is salty and therefore undrinkable. Most of the fresh water supply is frozen in glaciers. This means that the amount of available fresh water is negligible compared to the total amount of water on the entire Earth. Therefore, it is so important to rationally use fresh water reserves.

The Importance of Rational Use

With rational use, the normal water cycle is maintained, and it is independently filtered. At the same time, the quantity and quality of fresh water remains at an optimal level. And thus, all living beings on the planet are provided with the necessary amount of water. And with the irrational use of water resources, the amount of water suitable for use becomes less and less, there is a shortage of water. The water becomes too polluted and unusable, and if it is purified, it is too slow.

Fresh water is also threatened by desiccation. Lakes and rivers dry up due to the general destruction of the ecosystem. Deforestation plays a significant role here. Forests should retain and purify water, and then gradually release it into natural reservoirs. Due to over-logging and forest fires, the amount of forest area on the planet is decreasing day by day. And this negatively affects the quantity and quality of drinking water. In turn, a decrease in the amount of clean water contributes to the impoverishment of flora and fauna. Increasingly, there is not enough water for people.

Water is the main element of the entire ecosystem of the Earth. The existence of life on Earth depends on the quantity and quality of fresh water. Widespread water pollution threatens the gradual disappearance of life on the planet. To improve the situation with the shortage of fresh water, it is necessary to carefully treat both the water itself and nature in general. The fate of the planet is in the hands of people. And it depends only on a person whether fresh water will be preserved on Earth, whether life itself will be preserved. It depends on the current generation whether future generations will have a chance to live, or whether they will be doomed to death.

Of the total amount of water on Earth, fresh water so necessary for humanity is a little more than 2% of the total volume of the hydrosphere, or approximately 28.25 million km 3 (Table 1).

Table 15.2

Fresh waters of the hydrosphere (according to M. I. Lvovich, 1974)

It should be taken into account that the main part of fresh water (about 70%) is frozen in polar ice, permafrost, and on mountain peaks. The waters in rivers and lakes make up only 3% of the land, or 0.016% of the total volume of the hydrosphere. Thus, waters suitable for all kinds of uses constitute an insignificant part of the total water reserves on Earth. The problem is further complicated by the fact that the distribution of fresh water across the globe is extremely uneven. In Europe and Asia, where 70% of the world's population lives, only 39% of river waters are concentrated.

In terms of surface water resources, Russia occupies a leading position in the world. Only in the unique Lake Baikal is concentrated about 1/5 of the world's fresh water reserves and more than 4/5 of Russia's reserves.

With a total volume of 23 thousand km 3, about 60 km 3 of rare natural water is reproduced in the lake annually.

Average annual total river flow Russian Federation in the 90s The 20th century is 4270 km 3 per year, including 230 kmE per year from adjacent territories to Russia.

Potential operational groundwater resources in Russia are about 230 km 3 per year.

In general, in Russia there are 31.9 thousand m 3 of fresh water per inhabitant per year. However, the distribution of fresh water, primarily river runoff, across the territory is extremely uneven and does not correspond to the population and the location of industrial enterprises (Table 15.3).

Table 15.3

Distribution of river runoff in some economic regions of Russia (according to N.

F. Vinokurova and others, 1994)

90% of the total annual river runoff falls on the basins of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. The basins of the Caspian and Azov Seas, where over 80% of Russia's population lives and where its main industrial and agricultural potential is located, account for less than 8% of the total annual river runoff. Water supply per 1 km 2 of the territory ranges from 130 thousand m 3 in the Central Black Earth region to 610 thousand m 3 - in the Volga-Vyatsky region, and per inhabitant - from 2.8 thousand km 3 in the Central Black Earth region to 307, 5 thousand km 3 in the Far East. The Rostov, Astrakhan, Lipetsk, Voronezh, Belgorod, Kurgan regions, the Republic of Kalmykia and some other territories are insufficiently provided with their own water resources.

In the Kurgan region, on average, 1.15 thousand m 3 of water resources fall per person per year, which is 6.6 times less than in the Ural region, and 27.7 times less than in the Russian Federation as a whole.

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Water reserves on Earth

The main volume of water is concentrated in the World Ocean - 96.5% of the total reserves, 1338000 thousand km 3. Thus, fresh water accounts for about 3.5%.

Again, most of the fresh water is concentrated in glaciers (68.7% of the volume of fresh water or 24064.10 thousand km 3 - 1.74% of the total reserves) and underground (groundwater is divided into fresh and salty). Fresh water - 10530 thousand km 3 or 30.1% of the total fresh water supply and 300 thousand km 3 - is ground ice or 0.86% of the total fresh water supply. Fresh underground waters, as a rule, lie at a depth of 150-200 m, their use is 100 times greater than the use of water on the surface.

The waters of fresh lakes contain only 91 thousand km 3 or 0.26% of the volume of fresh water.

Water in the atmosphere - 12.9 thousand km 3 - 0.04%;

water in swamps - 11.47 thousand km 3 - 0.03%;

water in rivers - 2.12 thousand km 3 - 0.006%;

biological water - 1.12 thousand km 3 - 0.003%.

The largest freshwater body of water in the world (82680 km 2) in terms of mirror area is Lake. Upper. However, in terms of water volume (11,600 km 3) and maximum depth (406 m), it is significantly inferior to Lake. Baikal (24000 km 3 and 1741 m, respectively) and Lake. Tanganyika (18900 km 3 and 1435 m, respectively).

The largest fresh water reservoir in Europe is Lake. Ladoga. The area of ​​Ladoga is 17700 km 2, the volume of water is 908 km 3, the maximum depth is 230 m. The total area of ​​swamps on the globe is ~ 3 million km 2 or 2% of the land. Almost 60% of the bits are located in Russia, and the least in Australia (~ 0.05% of its area). The water in the atmosphere is water vapor and its condensate (droplets and ice crystals). The higher the temperature, the more water vapor in the air. Biological water is the water of living organisms, in which on average it is about 80%. The total mass of living matter is estimated at 1400 billion tons. Hence the mass of water is 1120 billion tons or 1120 km3.

Water consumption (water as a resource)

Water, the most important component of the natural environment, has always been subjected to anthropogenic impact, which has especially intensified in the last century. Water consumption by industry and agriculture has now reached enormous proportions.

According to experts, irretrievable water consumption is ~ 150 km 3 per year, i.e. 1% sustainable freshwater runoff.

The demand for water is increasing all the time, and recently the acceleration of this increase is about 3.1% per year, i.e. in 10 years, water consumption can increase by ⅓.

The average total resources of river waters of the globe are 46.8 thousand km 3 per year, of which in Russia - 4.3 thousand km 3 per year (9.1%) with an area of ​​​​17.08 million km 2 ( 11.5%) and the population in 2002 - 145.2 million people. (~2.6%). The average water supply of 1 inhabitant of Russia is 80 m 3 per day, while on average in the world this value is 22.5 m 3 per day.

However, 90% of Russia's river flow falls on the basins of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. The basins of the Caspian and Azov Seas, where the main industrial and agricultural potential of Russia is concentrated and over 80% of the population lives, account for less than 8% of the total annual river runoff. This leads to tension in the water management balances in these river basins.

World fresh water reserves in lakes are 91 thousand km 3, of which more than 25% (24.5 thousand km 3) are in the lakes of Russia, including Lake Baikal - 23 thousand km 3 and Ladoga - 908 km 3 (the largest lake in Europe).

The operational groundwater reserves of explored deposits in Russia are estimated at 29.1 km 3 per year, potential - 230 km 3 per year, with general estimates in the world - 23,400 km 3 (slightly less than 10% - in Russia). Currently, according to the UN, over 400 million people live in regions where there is not enough water, and according to estimates in 2050, their number will increase to 2 billion people. More than 1 billion people do not have safe drinking water. In developing countries, up to 75% of diseases are associated with the consumption of undrinkable water.

The lack of water in surface sources and its pollution leads to an ever-increasing abstraction of groundwater. In parts of the US, China, India, Yemen, and other countries, groundwater is being used up faster than it is being replenished and is steadily declining. As a result, even such large rivers as the Colorado in the USA, the Yellow River in China, not to mention small rivers, often dry up and no longer flow into the ocean, as before.

Water consumption is growing year by year, and the water is getting dirtier. One liter of sewage makes 8 liters of fresh water unsuitable for drinking, and the volume of world runoff has already exceeded 1.5 thousand km 3 per year. It is easy to calculate that already ¼ of the waters of the rivers are undrinkable.

Many experts are convinced that the world has entered an era of wars for resources, among which the most important is water (there is simply nothing to replace it). According to forecasts, by the middle of the century, only 3-4 countries in the world will not experience an acute shortage of fresh water.

According to the UN experts, the highest quality of drinking water today is in Finland, Canada and New Zealand. Russia is in 7th place. The lowest quality is in Belgium, Morocco and India.

In terms of reserves per capita, Denmark (at the expense of Greenland), French Guiana and Iceland are in the lead. Russia is not even in the top ten. Kuwait, Palestine and the United Arab Emirates are the worst endowed with water.

Water is one of the most important factors determining the distribution of productive forces, and very often the means of production.

Agriculture consumes the most water. For example, when growing

1 ton of wheat requires 1500 tons of water;

1 ton of rice - 7000 tons of water;

1 ton of cotton - 10,000 tons of water.

The demand for water is also great for industry. For the production of 1 ton of products, water is consumed (in m 3):

steel, cast iron - 15-20 m 3;

soda ash - 10 m 3;

sulfuric acid - 25-80 m 3;

nitric acid - 80-180 m 3;

viscose silk - 300-400 m 3;

synthetic fiber - 500 m 3;

copper - 500 m 3;

plastics - 500-1000 m 3;

synthetic rubber - 2000-3000 m 3.

The operation of a thermal power plant with a capacity of 300 thousand kW requires 300 km 3 of water per year. An average chemical plant annually consumes 1-2 million m 3 of water. In a city with a population of over 3 million people. daily water consumption is more than 2 million m 3, and annual - 1 km 3. Fresh water consumption from 1940 to 2000 in the United States is presented in Table. No. __.

Table __

Fresh water consumption (km 3 /year) in the USA

Read in the same book: Land monitoring | Soil and human health | Receipt of pollutants from the atmosphere | Burial of highly hazardous waste in the oceans | Ecological consequences of marine pollution | Ecological consequences of pollution by chlorinated hydrocarbons | Ecological consequences of pollution of sea waters by heavy metals | Protection of the marine environment from oil pollution | Measures to combat spilled oil | Legal basis for the protection of the seas | mybiblioteka.su - 2015-2018. (0.098 sec)

HYDROSPHERE (from Greek hydor - water and sphaira - ball * a. hydrosphere; n. Hydrosphare, Wasserhulle; f. hydrosphere; and. hidrosfera) - intermittent water shell of the Earth, which is a collection of all types of natural waters (oceans, seas, surface land waters, groundwater and ice sheets). In a broader sense, the composition of the hydrosphere also includes atmospheric water and the water of living organisms. Each of the water groups is divided into subgroups of lower ranks.

Delivery of blue daisies in Moscow (Antananarivo)

For example, in the atmosphere, waters can be distinguished in the troposphere and stratosphere, on the surface of the Earth - the waters of the oceans and seas, as well as rivers, lakes and glaciers; in the lithosphere, the waters of the basement and sedimentary cover (including the waters of artesian basins and hydrogeological massifs).

The bulk of the water of the hydrosphere is concentrated in the World Ocean, the 2nd place in terms of the volume of water masses is occupied by groundwater (waters of the lithosphere), the 3rd place is taken by ice and snow of the Arctic and Antarctic regions (surface waters of land, atmospheric and biologically bound waters make up fractions of a percent of the total volume of water in the hydrosphere, see table).

The surface waters of the land, occupying a relatively small share in the total mass of the hydrosphere, play an important role as the main source of water supply, irrigation and watering. The amount of fresh water in the hydrosphere available for use is about 0.3% (see Water resources), however, river and fresh groundwater in the water exchange zone are intensively renewed in the process of the general water cycle, which makes it possible to use them indefinitely for a rational operation. The modern hydrosphere is the result of the long evolution of the Earth and the differentiation of its matter.

The hydrosphere is an open system, between the waters of which there is a close relationship, which determines the unity of the hydrosphere as a natural system and the interaction of the hydrosphere with other geospheres. The influx of water into the hydrosphere during volcanism, from the atmosphere, the lithosphere (squeezing out of water during the lithification of silts, etc.) occurs continuously, as well as the removal of water from the hydrosphere. The burial of waters in the lithosphere extends over entire geological periods (tens of millions of years). The decomposition and synthesis of water also take place in the hydrosphere. The individual links of the hydrosphere differ both in the properties of the medium containing water and in the properties and composition of the water itself. However, due to the water cycle of various scales and durations (ocean-continent, intracontinental cycle, cycles within individual river basins, lakes, landscapes, etc.), it is a single whole. All forms of the water cycle constitute a single hydrological cycle, during which all types of water are renewed. The most rapidly updated biological waters that are part of plants and living organisms and atmospheric waters. The longest period (thousands, tens and hundreds of thousands of years) falls on the renewal of glaciers, deep underground waters, waters of the World Ocean. Management of the water cycle, its use for the needs of the national economy is an important scientific problem of great economic importance.

Date: 2016-04-07

How much fresh water is left on the planet?

Life on our planet originated from water, human body 75% consists of water, so the issue of fresh water reserves on the planet is very important. After all, water is the source and stimulus of our life.

Fresh water is considered to be water that contains no more than 0.1% salt. At what, no matter what state it is in: liquid, solid or gaseous.

World fresh water reserves

97.2% of the water that is on planet earth belongs to salty oceans and seas. And only 2.8% is fresh water. On the planet it is distributed as follows:

• 2.15% of the water reserves are frozen in the mountains, icebergs and ice sheets of Antarctica;
• 0.001% of water reserves are in the atmosphere;
• 0.65% of water reserves are in rivers and lakes. From here it is taken by a person for his consumption.

In general, it is believed that the sources of fresh water are endless. Since the process of self-healing is constantly taking place as a result of the water cycle in nature. Every year, as a result of the evaporation of moisture from the oceans, a huge supply of fresh water (about 525,000 km3) is formed in the form of clouds. A small part of it still ends up in the ocean, but most of it falls on the continents in the form of snow and rain, and then ends up in lakes, rivers and groundwater.

Fresh water consumption in different parts of the world

Even such a small percentage of available fresh water could cover all the needs of mankind if its reserves were evenly distributed over the planet, but this is not so.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has identified several areas whose water consumption exceeds the amount of renewable water resources:

• Arabian Peninsula. For public needs, five times more fresh water is used here than is available in available natural sources. Water is exported here with the help of tankers and pipelines, sea water desalination procedures are carried out.
• Under stress are water resources in Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Almost 100% of renewable water resources are consumed here. More than 70% of renewable water resources are produced by Iran.
• Fresh water problems also exist in North Africa, especially in Libya and Egypt. These countries use almost 50% of water resources.

The greatest need is experienced not by those countries where there are frequent droughts, but by those with a high population density. You can see this using the table below. For example, Asia has the largest area of ​​water resources and Australia the smallest. But, at the same time, every inhabitant of Australia is provided with drinking water 14 times better than any inhabitant of Asia. And all because the population of Asia is 3.7 billion, while only 30 million live in Australia.

Problems in the use of fresh water

Over the past 40 years, the amount of clean fresh water per person has decreased by 60%. Agriculture is the biggest consumer of fresh water.

antananarivo - profile | GOSSIP

Today, this sector of the economy consumes almost 85% of the total volume of fresh water used by humans. Products grown with artificial irrigation are much more expensive than those grown on soil and irrigated by rain.

More than 80 countries of the world are experiencing a shortage of fresh water. And every day this problem is getting worse. Water scarcity even causes humanitarian and state conflicts. Improper use of groundwater leads to a decrease in their volume. These reserves are depleted annually from 0.1% to 0.3%. Moreover, in poor countries, 95% of the water cannot be used for drinking or food at all due to the high level of pollution.

The need for clean drinking water is increasing every year, but its quantity, on the contrary, is only decreasing. Nearly 2 billion people have limited water intake. According to experts, by 2025, almost 50 countries of the world, where the number of inhabitants will exceed 3 billion people, will feel the problem of water shortage.

In China, despite high rainfall, half of the population does not have regular access to sufficient drinking water. Groundwater, like the soil itself, is renewed too slowly (about 1% per year).

The issue of the greenhouse effect remains relevant. The climate of the Earth is constantly deteriorating due to the constant release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This causes an anomalous redistribution of precipitation, the occurrence of droughts in countries where they should not be, snowfall in Africa, high frosts in Italy or Spain.

Such anomalous changes can cause a decrease in crop yields, an increase in plant diseases, and the reproduction of pest populations and various insects. The planet's ecosystem is losing its stability and cannot adapt to such a rapid change in conditions.

Instead of totals

In the end, we can say that there are enough water resources on planet Earth. The main problem of water supply is that these reserves are unevenly distributed on the planet. Moreover, 3/4 of fresh water reserves are in the form of glaciers, which are very difficult to access. Because of this, in some regions there is already a shortage of fresh water.

The second problem is the contamination of existing available water sources with human waste products (heavy metal salts, oil refinery products). Pure water that can be consumed without prior purification can only be found in remote ecologically clean areas. But densely populated regions, on the contrary, suffer from the inability to drink water from their meager reserves.

The supply of fresh water on the planet is not endless. Of all water resources, fresh water makes up less than three percent. In addition, there is a constant decrease in fresh water reserves in the world.

The distribution of fresh water reserves across countries is very uneven. In some regions, there is an abundance of fresh water, and in some it is in short supply.

The largest supply of fresh water is located in the countries of Latin America - up to a third of all the water resources of the planet are located there.

The second place is occupied by Asian countries - about a quarter of the water belongs to them.

The share of the OECD countries (this association includes 29 states) accounts for about twenty percent of the world's water. Gives a huge part of fresh water.

The countries left after the division of the Soviet Union, together with some African states, own another twenty percent of the world's water reserves.

Finally, the Middle East and North America rank last on the world's list of water resources, accounting for the remaining two percent of water.

Fresh water in Africa is a scarce resource for most countries. In various African regions, there are more than three hundred million people who do not have a full source of drinking water.

There is also a huge problem with wastewater treatment systems in African countries. In many areas they are simply not available, in others the quality of existing ones is at a very low level.

As a result of the current conditions, more than five hundred thousand people do not receive water of sufficient quality, which leads to many infectious diseases. According to statistics, it is the unacceptable quality of water in regions with a low standard of living that causes more than eighty percent of all diseases.

If we consider reservoirs, then the largest reserves of fresh water are concentrated in. This is the world's largest treasury of fresh water, located in Russia. There are other large freshwater lakes that, together with rivers, provide the main resource for human consumption.

Some of the water resources are drawn from underground reservoirs. A significant amount of fresh water (up to 90% of all reserves) is located in glaciers (for example, in Greenland and Antarctica), but it is difficult to convert them into water, especially since they are located at a considerable distance from human habitation.

Given the ever-growing needs of the planet's population for fresh water, only the rational use of resources and their economical use can ensure the continued existence of life on the planet.