Human beings use water for everything from growing crops to shipping goods, generating electricity, supporting livestock and fish farms, drinking and bathing to relaxing and having fun.
Most of us take water for granted, not realising that without it we would not be able to survive longer than a few days, and climate change is something that more of us need to heed because it is producing changes that are affecting this precious commodity and threatening its availability, access and quality.
Drinking Water: It is predicted that there will be a marked decline in the quantity and quality of drinking water because:
- Flooding due to extreme rainfall will cause sewers to overflow, allowing untreated sewage to gush into fresh drinking water resources;
- Higher temperatures will create earlier spring snowmelt and loss of mountain snowpack, reducing the availability of drinking water downstream;
- Rising sea-levels could mean that saltwater could intrude into groundwater drinking supplies, especially in low-lying coastal areas, making the water undrinkable;
- Mountain glacier shrinkage threatens the fresh drinking water supplies for millions of individuals
Irrigation Supplies: Loss of mountain snowpack will reduce the availability of water for irrigation purposes, the timing of which will be affected by earlier spring snowmelt. Saltwater intrusion could also contaminate the supply from groundwater resources.
Power Supply: Falling water levels in rivers and lakes could pose a huge threat to the capacity of hydroelectric plants. Higher water temperatures would mean that the water is too warm to cool nuclear and coal plants, which would lead to brownouts.
Shipping Costs: Lower water levels in rivers and lakes could mean that ships could no longer safely carry cargo for fear of running aground; it could preclude the use of large ships altogether. Both of these sets of circumstances would increase shipping costs, which would increase the price of everything, including food.
Recreation: Even our recreational pursuits would be affected because reduced snowpack and earlier spring snowmelt would impact winter sports; lower water levels in lakes and rivers would impact summer sports and leisure time traditionally spent on or near the water, including beaches.
Get bottled spring water and buy water cooler from Living-Water. Hire water cooler and water cooler accessories in London.
