Two regions across the planet from each other with the same problem. They're running out of water. This past spring in Klamath, Oregon, farmers'wells ran dry. The groundwater levels in Punjab were so low NASA alerted India about it.
And they're not alone. Around 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity at least one month a year. And when the water runs low, more comes at a cost. So why are we running out? And who is profiting?
Just 1% of the water on Earth sustains all life, and it doesn't just disappear. It travels around the planet in what's called the water cycle. Let's quickly brush up on that. When the air is hot, it warms the water. Water then evaporates into the atmosphere.
There it cools and condenses, forming clouds. They move around the planet horizontally in what are called atmospheric rivers. When there's enough water in a cloud, it rains. And if it's cold enough, it snows.
In the spring, snow melts to feed rivers, providing a source of water to the land during the coming hot months of the year. But climate change is messing this all up. Rising temperatures mean more water falling as rain instead of snow.
And the little snow there is evaporates rather than flowing downstream. Less snow means less water during the summer. All this means there is more water in the air and less water on the ground.
Over time, the ground dries out, like an unused sponge. The issue with this is that wet ground absorbs water much better than dry ground. So when it rains after years of drought, the water just washes away, leading to things like flash floods. So, the longer droughts last, the more water is needed to refresh the land.
In short, climate change speeds up the water cycle. More evaporation, more rain, more drought, and less water for us. And as the world population grows, we're using more and more of it. The question is, for what?
Well, 70% of it goes to agriculture. In some countries, it's even higher. In Iran, that number jumps to 90%.
Producing meat uses more water than any other food product. And to support those levels, we've changed the natural way waters flow. Especially in the 50s, 60s, but also later, we've seen really a boom of dam building.
Because everyone wanted, for good reasons, to use water resources to lift people out of... poverty and to boost economic development. Susanne Schmeier is an associate professor in water law and diplomacy at IHE Delft, an education facility specifically dedicated to water. Not only with dams, but generally with all the water infrastructure that benefits a certain economic use or a certain sector over others, especially local communities, you have an increase in inequality in terms of who's using water.
That's what happened in Klamath, Oregon. Where a series of dams supplied water to alfalfa and potato farms, river water levels dropped and fish populations important to the region's indigenous people plummeted. And remember how the changing water cycle means less water for us?
Over time, even the surface water available to Klamath farmers wasn't enough. Local communities have to, if they're able to, draw on groundwater resources and start drilling wells. The U.S. government actually encouraged the farmers of Klamath to do this. But this emergency drought measure stayed in place until the groundwater was severely depleted.
11,620 kilometers east, in Punjab, India, communities are facing a similar issue. Because of significant agricultural activity and dependence on the groundwater, there is a significant groundwater depletion in Punjab. which is visible even from the satellite.
Samrat Basak is a hydrologist by training and researches urban water challenges and solutions. India started using more agricultural chemicals during the Green Revolution in the 1960s. Crop production expanded and significantly reduced famine. Punjab started supplying the country and later the world with rice, but at the expense of its groundwater.
There are now policies in place to improve the... situation but the water table hasn't recovered meanwhile local people's wells are running dry and what do you do then well you drill a deeper well the challenge is that that everyone may not have the right affordability to drill deeper every time to access groundwater in such cases people are depending on the external sources of water They can be water tankers or bottled water, but... Of course, those water are far more costlier than the water that is supplied by the government. On average, people with less money spend a higher percentage of their income on water. A minimum wage worker in the UK spent 0.1% of their income on safe water.
In India... the country with the largest number of people lacking safe water. A low-income person spends 17% of their household income on water. In Madagascar, purchased water sucks up 45% of a low-wage worker's income. And lack of water causes more harm than just thirst.
Persistent dehydration has severe health implications, and fetching water usually falls to women and girls. subjecting them to increased risk for assault. And water scarcity can also cause psychological trauma. Sometimes the pain is so much part of your life that you forget about the pain.
It's so much with you, living with you. Dr. Deepti Acharya is the author of a new book about the right to water. She was motivated to research the topic by her experience living with water scarcity. You can't even imagine that when you are in a queue for one or two hours and when you are trying to push the... When your turn comes, you are pushing the pump with the hope that maybe I will get some water and that water is not coming.
So for me, I think water stress is beyond the figures. It is, I think, emotional loss. And this emotional loss creates a market, like for private water providers, who might take over when governments fail to provide clean water. This might have...
positive short-term effects because if the company wants to make money it's going to make sure that the water is clean provided on time regularly and so on because that's the way they they make money and that's exactly what companies on the s p global water index are doing it contains 50 international companies that provide water utilities and services like purification the index has grown steadily since its creation in 2011 and shot up during the pandemic As clean water becomes scarcer, these companies'services are more in demand. And the more business they get, the more investors earn. But privatizing isn't always the way to go.
In many cases, it doesn't live up to expectations. Paris, France, and Manila in the Philippines actually re-municipalized their water after privatizing it. That's because in most cases, privatized water is also more expensive.
A lot of people will fall. Yeah, through the grid and then not have water at all anymore. There are those ready to profit from this situation as well.
In India, many water tanks are controlled by a so-called water mafia. They have started stealing water. They are collecting it. They are putting it in tanks.
They are selling it. So their investment is zero, but their profit is 100%. And then there's the bottled water industry, which is worth almost 3 billion US dollars and expected to grow by around 7% per year. Major players in the market include Coca-Cola and Nestle, which have been accused of both causing and profiting from water scarcity.
In the United States and Canada, for example, Coke takes water from municipal sources, bottles it, and sells it to people who often don't have clean water at home. In India and Mexico, Koch was accused of severely depleting groundwater after opening bottling plants. And Nestle has come under fire for over-extracting water from Native American reservations in water-stressed California. So is there any way to ensure more people have safe, affordable, available water? Investing in infrastructure is the most direct way to improve access, both repairing broken or damaged pipes and building new connections, as well as wastewater recycling facilities.
Another direct way is to reduce meat consumption. It takes around 15,000 liters of water to produce one kilogram of beef, and the vast majority of our freshwater feeds industrial agriculture. Going further, starting a process of decommissioning dams and letting watershed ecosystems regenerate helps tackle the root of the problem. On the Klamath River, four hydroelectric dams are scheduled to be torn down in the next few years. Another push is to give nature rights in the courtroom.
This would mean people could bring court cases on behalf of rivers, for example, against their polluters. The Yurok tribe established rights of nature for the Klamath River in 2019. It's finally bringing the environment ecosystem to the table on their own right, and not only with the perspective of what use they provide to us in terms of ecosystem services. I think it's a great tool for raising awareness.
Still, the main problems remain. Much of the planet's fresh water is unsustainably managed, and climate change means there's less for us to use. But changing our diets and restoring our ecosystems can make a difference.
Fun fact! Earth's the only known planet where water exists in all three states. Three states. Solid, liquid, and gas. If you like this video, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe.
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