Water shortages have become a primary vehicle of climate change, and an extremely visible effect of human influence on the environment.  Pollution has rendered some supplies useless, while other sources have simply been depleted.  Not only are water shortages detrimental to human health, they also pose a threat to energy production.

In China, the northern region is very dry, and experiences frequent droughts despite the construction of man-mad canals.  Coal-fired power plants in the north have exacerbated the issue of water supply, and further polluted available supplies.  Chinese coal-fired power plants consume 7.4 billion cubic meters of water each year, enough to meet the needs of 406 million people (nytimes.com).

The United Nations predicts a 40 percent global shortfall of water availability by 2030. Not only is will this cause people to go without water, but it will damage food production and energy production, as 98% of energy sources today require water (scientificamerican.com).  The clearest way to confront water shortages is to decrease consumption, and the best way to accomplish this is to decrease the amount of water that is used in energy production and more efficiently use water in agricultural production.

There are numerous ways to achieve this multi-faceted reduction of water consumption.  For the individual, one can take shorter showers, be conscious of a running tap, and eat less meat.  According to the National Geographic Society, a vegan, a person who doesn’t eat meat or dairy, indirectly consumes nearly 600 gallons of water per day less than a person who eats the average American diet. Intelligent travel plans can also help lessen the impact people have on the world’s water supply.  A single gallon of gasoline tanks about 13 gallons of water to produce, Even a short 700 mile flight costs over 6,000 gallons of water (environment.nationalgeographic.com).

Finally, in addition to reduction of consumption, individuals and industries can focus upon recycling.  Recycling a pound of paper, less than the weight of your average newspaper, saves about 3.5 gallons of water (environment.nationalgeographic.com).

Sources:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/water-shortage-may-cripple-global-power-supply/
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/water-conservation-tips/