Disturbing study has been conducted with researchers from
Aarhus University in Denmark,
Vermont Law School and
CNA Corporation. The
study and analysis has lead researchers to conclude our energy needs and population growth will lead to severe water shortages in the next few decades.
Combining the new research results with projections about water shortage and the world population, it shows that by 2020 many areas of the world will no longer have access to clean drinking water. In fact, the results predict that by 2020 about 30-40% of the world will have water scarcity, and according to the researchers, climate change can make this even worse.
They conclude:
Three years of research show that by the year 2040 there will not be enough water in the world to quench the thirst of the world population and keep the current energy and power solutions going if we continue doing what we are doing today.
What can we do?
In the reports, the researchers emphasise six general recommendations for decision-makers to follow in order to stop this development and handle the crisis around the world:
Improve energy efficiency
Better research on alternative cooling cycles
Registering how much water power plants use
Massive investments in wind energy
Massive investments in solar energy
Abandon fossil fuel facilities in all water stressed places (which means half the planet)
Maybe the threat of
no more water can motivate people?