Question

What is water scarcity and what are its main causes?

Answer 1

Water scarcity is nothing but shortage of water to meet the needs of the humans.

• Water scarcity is caused by unequal access to water, excessive use of water among different social groups and in most cases it is caused by over-exploitation of water.
• Due to variations in annual precipitation and seasons, the availability of water varies over time and space.
• Due to rapidly increasing population, there is more demand for food, which in turn leads to more demand for water for personal use and for increasing food grain production as well which leads to over exploitation of water resources during dry season months and to expand irrigated areas.
• Hence one can also say that the growing population and unequal access to water is one of the important causes for water scarcity.
• More pressure is exerted on existing freshwater resources due to the constant increase in the number of industries.
• Apart from being heavy users of water, industries also meet the majority of their power requirements through hydroelectric power.
• The water scarcity problem has been further aggravated due to urban lifestyles, dense and large populations in urban centres.
• In urban areas there are many large colonies or housing societies which make use of their own groundwater pumping devices to meet water requirements. This has led to massive depletion of groundwater resources as there is not much scope for replenishing itself.
• Another major problem behind water scarcity is pollution of water resources due to fertilisers, pesticides, chemicals, domestic and industrial wastes, thus making the water unusable even if there is ample water.