PART 5: AVAILABILITY OF SAFE DRINKING WATER AROUND

THE WORLD

The most important factor when

considering a country's water
wealth is the amount of rain it
receives. Using this measure, for
example, Brazil and Russia are
two of the most water wealthy
nations, and the United Arab
Emirates and Kuwait are two of
Figure 1 A child carries water containers in Kuwait to collect water
the most water poor.
However, having plenty of water does not mean that there is plenty of safe
water for everyone. The number of people needing water has to be
considered. In China, which has the largest population in the world at over 1.3
billion, the water availability is about 2800 km3. This works about at about
2300 m3 person-1 year1. In Singapore, which has only 0.60 km3 of water
available, the supply is only about 110 m3 person-1 year-1. In these two
examples, a water-rich country seems to have enough water for its people, and
vice versa.
However, another very water-poor country, Mauritius, has a water availability
of only about 2 km3, but this supplies its 1.3 million population with 1700 m3
person year-1 The lack of water may be because of low rainfall and / or high
levels of evaporation; this is referred to as physical water scarcity. A second
reason for a lack of water is economic. A country may have a lot of water but
cannot afford to extract it, purify it and make it available for the population.
Such as country is suffering from economic water scarcity.
Even if water is available, it may not be safe to drink (potable). There are many
ways of ensuring that water is potable but all of them involve two main
principles:
• sanitation systems, which ensure that dirty water does not mix with
water intended for human use
• water-treatment processes, which ensure that the water supplied to
people is safe to drink.

Figure 2 A water treatment plant

Worldwide, however, sanitation and clean water are not available to everyone.
In 2000, the United Nations (UN) said that its aim was to halve, by 2015, the
proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water
and basic sanitation. Since then 2.1 billion people have gained access to
improved sanitation. But, despite this progress, 2.4 billion are still using
unimproved sanitation facilities; 946 million of these still practice open
defecation. A child dies every 2.5 min from diseases linked to open defecation.
In some LEDCs, less than a quarter of the population has access to safe water.
In Europe and North America, it is taken for granted that 100% have such
access.
Just as access to safe water varies from country to country around the world, it
also varies within countries. One striking contrast is between rural and urban
areas. In many cities and towns, more people have access to both clean water
and improved sanitation than in rural areas in the same country.
The main reasons for this difference are that:
• there is more wealth and more wealthy people in cities
• large numbers of people can act together to pressurise authorities to
provide safe water
• it is cheaper to install piped water when many people live close together
than in a scattered rural community.
At a larger scale, differences in the availability of water can also lead to actual
KEY TERMS conflict: water wars. Currently such conflicts
are quite restricted in range. There is some
Physical water scarcity: a situation in
which there is simply not enough tension over the use of the River Jordan in the
water for human needs Middle East. There has also been tension
Economic water scarcity: a situation around the Aral Sea in Asia, between
in which there is enough water Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan,
available but the money does not Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. However, as
exist to extract and / or treat
enough of it for human needs
populations grow and cultures develop, it is
believed more areas of such tension, and even
war, may arise.
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
1) Copy and complete the following paragraph about the water cycle.
Liquid water is found on the surface of the Earth in............................,
............................and............................. It is also found inside plants.
Water turns from a liquid to a gas, water vapour, in a process
 called.............................................. The water vapour
then............................to form clouds. Liquid water falls from clouds to
the Earth in the process of .........................................Some of the water is
prevented from reaching the ground by plants in the process
of....................................... Water that reaches the ground may enter it in
a process called.................................................The rest enters rivers
by………………………….
2) Explain why nearly 70% of fresh water on Earth is very difficult for
humans to use.
3) Using Figure 4.1, calculate the percentage of the Earth's water that is in
lakes. Show your working,
4) Explain why desalination plants are common only in oil-rich countries.
5) Suggest and explain which of groundwater, surface water or ice caps and
glaciers is likely to be the main source of fresh water for humans.