REPORT4

If anything, there is one thing in the world which people need to live. This is water. While the human body can survive for weeks without food, it can only go on a few days without water. However, recently around the world, there has been a spiking water crisis, in countries all around the world. Three of these countries in clued China, the U.S. and India. These 3 countries all have 2 main things in common: they both have massive populations, with a combined populous of more than half of the global population. They also have water levels that are drastically dropping with every passing year. However in these countries, the people are taking measures to stop or at least slow down the crisis. The first country in which the water crisis is looming is in the Western United States, specifically Los Angeles, California. With the prospect of a looming drought in the West, the Mayor of Los Angeles has ordered the city Council to reexamine the prospect of using recycled wastewater as a source of fresh water. The mayor, who had opposed the water plan for decades due to safety concerns, has announced the proposal in mid May, as a part of the cities package to put itself under a stricter water budget. The plan would include fines for unnecessary water usage such as watering ones lawn during restricted times, tapping into more groundwater and recycling it, along with the aforementioned sewer purification system. The sewage water would undergo intense filtering and chemical treatment. This would allow for a near unlimited water supply as Los Angeles looms in the face of the largest water drought in decades. The Sierra Nevada mountains, whose snowfall provides one third of all of Los Angeles water has been short of expected snowfall totals this year, and the city has already began spending millions to help restore dried up and unused riverbeds, including the Owens river. It will cost about 1 billion dollars to retool the waterworks, refine the sewage system, collect more rainwater and increase reservoir production. This money will come in part from city grants, fines on polluters, and possible increases on water bills. Whatever, happens in the future, Los Angeles is making strides to better water r conservation practices. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world… “ Bhanwar Lal Yadav, once a cultivator of cucumber and wheat, has all but given up growing food. No more suffering through drought and the scourge of antelope that would destroy what little would survive on his fields.” Today, this man has reinvented himself as a vendor of his village’s most precious commodity; water. With India’s sweltering heat, the scarcity of water has become an everyday necessity. He has 130 feet of well, with electric pumps bringing up over 13,000 gallons a day of pure groundwater, which he sells to the government. Whatever is left, he sells to his thirsty neighbors. This huge depletion, multiplied by about 19 million is rapidly depleting the nations groundwater to dangerous levels, therefore drying out the soil. This can dangerously affect the nations ability to feed and farm its people. “However long it runs, it runs. We know that we are all ultimately doomed.” His words were quoted by the New York Times as being "prophetic". According to the Times, the Indian Subcontinent is divided into 5723 geographic blocks. About 1000 of those are considered to be running on average, meaning they are dangerously depleting their resources, especially water, which rainwater can only do so much to replace. 20 years ago, barely 250 fit into this mold. However, not even rain-drenched areas of India are immune. IN Jaipur, a place famous for its regal setting, and its prominent palaces, more than 80% of its groundwater pockets are seen as critical or dangerously depleted. In Punjab, 79%, IN Harayana, 59%, and in Tamil Nadu, 46%. Clearly, the water crisis is visible on the other side of the world. “SHIJIAZHUANG, China — Hundreds of feet below ground, the primary water source for this provincial capital of more than two million people is steadily running dry. The underground water table is sinking about four feet a year. Municipal wells have already drained two-thirds of the local groundwater. This quote was taken from the September 28th issue of the New York Times. It illustrates the rate at which China is growing, as it is draining sol much of its groundwater annually. In the North China Plain however, business is booming. The population topped over 11% last year, an is is not expected t o stop. Advertising companies are putting in ads for apartments bordering lakes filled with pumped groundwater. However, what makes this rapid decrease so deadly, is that China holds one third of the world populous. The groundwater that it produces is mainly consumed by plants, as a source of nutrition. The ruling Communist Party, which has been leery on using foreign gain exports to feed its people, has resorted once again to engineering as an alternative, in the form of the $62 billion South to North Water Transfer Project, which would transfer trillions of gallons northward every year along the Yangtze river Basin. However, with the North China Plain alone consuming 60% of its groundwater, with only one tenth of the national population, China is definitely in trouble.