The regions most suffering from water scarcity - Africa and parts of Asia

Water scarcity is the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water usage within a region. It already affects every continent and around 2.8

billion people around the world at least one month out of every year. More than 1.2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.

• Water scarcity involves water stress, water shortage or deficits, and water crisis. While the concept of water stress is relatively new, it is the difficulty of obtaining sources of fresh water for use during a period of time and may result in further depletion and

deterioration of available water resources. Water shortages may be caused by climate change, such as altered weather patterns including droughts or floods, increased pollution, and increased human demand and overuse of water. A water crisis is a

situation where the available potable, unpolluted water within a region is less than that region's demand. Water scarcity is being driven by two converging phenomena:

growing freshwater use and depletion of usable freshwater resources.

• Water scarcity can be a result of two mechanisms: physical (absolute) water scarcity and economic water scarcity, where physical water scarcity is a result of inadequate natural water resources to supply a region's demand, and economic water scarcity is a result of poor

management of the sufficient available water resources. According to the United Nations Development Programme, the latter is found more often to be the cause of countries or regions experiencing water scarcity, as most countries or regions have enough water to meet household,

industrial, agricultural, and environmental needs, but lack the means to provide it in an accessible manner.

• The reduction of water scarcity is a goal of many countries and governments. The UN recognizes the importance of reducing the number of people without sustainable

access to clean water and sanitation. The Millennium Development Goals within the United Nations Millennium Declaration state that by 2015 they resolve to "halve the

proportion of people who are unable to reach or to afford.

Africa

• Africa is the poorest continent on the globe, affected many plagues - such as malaria and

AIDS - as well as the place where the largest part of the population suffers from malnutrition or

hunger.

•Africa is one of few regions of the world where rivers are the element uniting and

organizing the natural space. Over 30% of the surface of the continent are the landlocked areas (bigger part of the Sahara Desert, the western part of Kalahari

Desert, part of the Great Rift Valley), lying within the zone of the tropical dry climate. The typical phenomena for this climate are the periodic creeks and rainfalls. The permanent rivers constitute 1/3 of the African continent and are present within the equatorial climate. The Niger River is the largest river of the West Africa. The

countries like Guinea, Mali, Niger, Benin have a direct access to it.

Rivers of Africa.

Central Africa.

• The western outskirts of Central Africa are drained into the Atlantic Ocean by the Ogowe, the Sanaga River and the

Benue River (a tributary of the Niger River).

• In South Africa, river network is scarce and most of the creeks are of a periodic or episodic character. However, there are considerable water-power resources. The largest river is the Zambezi (2660 km long and

1 330 000 km2 basin) on which two great hydrotechnical systems the Lake Kariba and the Cahore Bassa lake were built. Water supply is one of the most serious problems of contemporary Africa. In countries such as

Ethiopia, Sudan, RSA, Uganda and Mozambique less than 30% of the population has the access to potable water, only Libya and Egypt are characterized by a high 80% rate of access to the water.

• The main problem in Africa is the lack of drinking water. There is a lack of available water intakes and the indicators of water pollution often exceed any reasonable limits. In fact, these

bodies of water are a major cause of diseases and parasites hatching in the human body. This is how a "death spiral" winds up - dirty water - disease - no medicines available.

Most experts agree that water resources in Africa are not effectively distributed to regions with serious water shortages. There aren't conducted any adequate measures for its acquisition, too. In sub-Saharan Africa, irrigation works are carried out in only 18% of the 39.4 million. hectares

of land potentially suitable for cultivation.

• The World Health Organization estimates that more than 1.1 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water. Every single day, about 6 thousand children die from diseases associated with drinking water shortages. This means that each child dies every 15 seconds. "No access" to drinking water means that there is no water source within 15

minutes of walk range which means that the walk for water (there and back) takes at least half an hour. For people in Europe going to the bathroom doesn't take that long which is why many Europeans don't understand the problems of Africans. But in Africa, for example, it takes more than an hour for more than 40% of women to go and bring water home.

During the researches in Kenya it was found that the average "voyage" for water took two hours. But in Africa there are also areas where the daily collection of water lasts up to eight hours! Analysis of rural areas on the Dark Continent proved that 10 km of walk is a usual distance a person must travel to find water. In the dry season this distance doubles.

• A few hours or 20 kilometers of walking - that does not sound too good, but we are able to understand it. But when we multiply the daily result by all days of the year or the number of women forced to go hiking in search of water, the sensation becomes overwhelming. It

was calculated that in search for water women of South Africa travel a distance compared to the distance between the Earth and the Moon multiplied sixteen times!

• In view of the serious problem of the water scarcity in Africa, a lot of organizations were created in order to improve the situation.

The most important are:

• • Water for AfricaWater for Africa is the African company founded to regenerate African natural

resources. It deals with problems related to the environment and energy resources.

• AfricareThe Africare operates in Africa since 1970. The priority of this institution is the

development of water resources, improving water infrastructure and gaining the access to drinking water. The Africare actions are based on:

- building dams- building and maintaining water reservoirs

- teaching people the necessity of living a hygienic life.

• watercanWatercan is a leading Canadian charity dedicated to the fight against global poverty. It is helping the poorest people in the struggle for access to clean water, sanitation and basic education in the field of personal hygiene.

Climate change, natural disasters, poverty, armed conflicts, population growth and urbanization - all these factors have a direct impact on an access to water. Lack of access to water can affect every person on Earth. Consciously or

not, we all contribute to the reduction of drinking water resources. Only the combined efforts of all societies, governments and institutions can prevent the deepening of the crisis.

• - About 400 million people in Africa do not have access to pure drinking water - said today the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire Daniel Kablan Duncan at the

opening in Abidjan African conference on drinking water and water treatment.

- We need to realize that the drinking water and the experience of African population contribute to the development of our continent - said Duncan.

• He also stressed that "more than 70% of the hospitals in Africa deal with people suffering from diseases related to water quality" to which they have access. 

• In a report published last year, the NGO Save the Children estimated that the number of children at risk of malnutrition in the coming years will reach 450 million. And one of the main causes of malnutrition is a

lack of access to pure drinking water. Untreated water is also the source of many deadly diseases to which children are adopted.

• At a conference organized in Abidjan by the African Association of Water Resources specialists arrived in 1200 from 40 countries. The meeting will last until Thursday.

• According to the Secretary General of the Association Sylvain Usher problems arising from the lack of proper infrastructure is the main reason why some people in Africa do not have access to safe drinking

water, although the continent has it in abundance.

Asia

 West Asia, Southeast Asia, Western Asia, Front - Asia geographical region comprising the island of Cyprus, peninsulas: Asia Minor, Arabic, Sinai;

mountainous area at the interface between the continents of Asia and Europe (the so-called Caucasus) and heights: the Armenian and Iranian.

Within the West Asian countries are the Middle East and South Caucasus.

Water Resources

• In the most countries in the region a big problem is the lack of natural water resources. Along with the very rapid population

growth demand for water, not only drinking water but also water used in industry and agriculture increases. Another problem is the

salinity of inland waters, and man-made waste.

• The main source of water supply for agriculture are rivers, including the two largest rivers in the area - the Euphrates and the Tigris, flowing in the fertile valley of Mesopotamia. In the more arid areas where rivers appear only periodically the dams are built in order to collect water from the sudden and heavy rainfall. Water for agriculture is also recovered by the wastewater treatment.

The desalination plants provide drinking water for the industry.

• There are several major aquifers in Asia. In Saudi Arabia, there are two large areas of such type of the Palaeozoic and Triassic origins are located beneath the Jebel Tuwaiq and areas lying

west of the Red Sea. The other aquifers are located in central and eastern Saudi Arabia, including Wasia and Biyadh.

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