【明報專訊】Around 70 percent of Planet Earth's surface is covered by water. According to the United Nations, fresh water accounts for 2.5 percent of all water resources, but only 1 percent is suitable for human use. Global warming is affecting normal rainfall. This, coupled with the depletion of underground water, ecological destruction, the use of water in agricultural, economic activities and pollution, has worsened the scarcity of water resources. A 2017 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF said that 2.1 billion people around the world did not have access to safe water.

Cape Town and Australia

Cape Town, the second biggest city of South Africa, has been affected by the El Ni?o effect in recent years, which has brought about low rainfall and prolonged periods of drought. Magalie Bourblanc, an expert in water resources, said that as early as 2004 there were already people who warned that a water shortage crisis might happen in Cape Town. But the government refused to build a seawater desalination plant, saying that it would be too costly. It has begun to build seawater desalination plants and reclaimed water plants only recently.

In August 2018, Australia suffered from the worst drought in recent years. For three months rainfall in New South Wales was just 20 percent of the normal amount, and there was drought in 99 percent of regions. The eastern part of the country, which produces one third of Australia's wheat, has been severely affected. As fodder was in short supply, extra livestock was killed.

Beijing

The BBC reported that China accounted for around 20 percent of the world's population, but its clean water made up just 7 percent of the world's total. Even Beijing was facing the problem of water shortage. Not only did the city's water reserves drop, but pollution was also a big problem. According to official figures from 2015, 40 percent of Beijng's surface water sources were so polluted that the water was unsuitable not only for drinking, but also for agricultural or commercial use.

Southeast Asia

Water resources can be used for electricity generation. The Mekong is a river in Southeast Asia. The river and its branches flow across many nations, and they have all built dams for power generation. As of mid-2018, there were at least 12 power-generating dams in the basin of the Mekong. Vietnam is located near the Mekong's lower reaches. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the prime minister of Vietnam, called on other nations to take action as Mekong's water was declining in quantity and quality. This was causing Vietnam problems such as prolonged periods of drought, seawater flowing onto farmland and erosion of coastlines, affecting the livelihoods of over 200 million people.

Translated by Terence Yip

[通通識 第616期]