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Water Crisis

There is a global water crisis due to increasing demand from population growth and climate change making areas drier. Only 1% of the Earth's water is fresh water available for human use. The Middle East faces severe water shortages as it has very low average rainfall and a growing population. Countries in the region address this through desalination of seawater, though this is expensive, and through water recycling methods like greywater reuse and rainwater harvesting. Developing more sustainable and affordable fresh water solutions is important to address the crisis.

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Pedro Ferreira
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
22 views

Water Crisis

There is a global water crisis due to increasing demand from population growth and climate change making areas drier. Only 1% of the Earth's water is fresh water available for human use. The Middle East faces severe water shortages as it has very low average rainfall and a growing population. Countries in the region address this through desalination of seawater, though this is expensive, and through water recycling methods like greywater reuse and rainwater harvesting. Developing more sustainable and affordable fresh water solutions is important to address the crisis.

Uploaded by

Pedro Ferreira
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A water report Water in crisis

1 Read the water report. Why is there a


water crisis?

2 Read the report again. Circle T (true),


F (false) or NI (no information).
1 99% of water on the Earth isn’t drinking
water. T F NI
2 Because of climate change, hot, dry
countries will get hotter and drier. T F NI
3 Average rainfall in the Middle East is
significantly lower than in many other
countries. T F NI

F
4 Desalination is a popular method of rom space, the Earth looks blue because 70% of its surface is
producing fresh water in the Middle East. T F NI covered with water. But only 1% of this is fresh water that we
can drink. The rest is seawater or ice.
5 Grey water is a mixture of sewage and
kitchen water. T F NI The amount of water on the Earth has stayed the same for
millions of years, but the human population hasn’t. There are
3 Answer the questions about the text. over 7 billion people and the number is rising every year – so
the demand for fresh water is rising. The other thing that has
1 Why can’t we use all of the water on the Earth? changed is the weather. Too much carbon dioxide gas in the
Earth’s atmosphere is making the planet hotter – and scientists
are predicting that wet countries will get wetter and dry places
2 Why do we need more fresh water than before? will get drier.
The Middle East is one of the driest places on the Earth. Average
3 What problems is the Middle East facing? rainfall is between 20–40 cm per year compared to 72 cm in the
rest of the world. This situation may get worse with climate
change. The population in the Middle East has increased
4 What are the bad things about desalination? dramatically in the past 40 years. A bigger population needs more
water not just for individual households, but also in all sectors of
the economy, both agricultural and industrial.
5 How does recycling water help the water crisis? So how can this region generate more fresh water? There are
different ways to do this. Desalination is an industrial process
that separates seawater into fresh water and salt. Many of the

4 Answer the questions with your own ideas. Gulf States use desalination to produce fresh water. However,
because it costs so much, poorer countries cannot afford to use
1 Has the weather changed in your country over the this method. It also has an environmental impact because the
last few years? If yes, how has it changed? industrial process produces carbon dioxide. Today, scientists
are working to develop technologies to make them more
environmentally friendly – and to reduce costs.
Recycling and reusing water is another method. Rainwater
2 Do you know what methods your country uses to harvesting simply means collecting rain as it falls and storing
get fresh water? it in containers or a reservoir so that we can use the water in the
garden or for animals. As cities and towns get bigger, and people
use more water, there is also a lot more waste water. Grey water
is kitchen, bath and shower waste water. This water, along with
sewage from toilets, usually ends up in the sea. But we could treat
3 What different ways can you think of to help save this water separately and reuse it for things like washing clothes,
water in your home? flushing the toilet or watering plants.

How to make fresh water


Fill a large bowl with salt water and stand an empty glass in the
middle. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put a small stone
in the middle. Put the bowl in the sun, and leave it for a few hours.
You should see water droplets form on the inside of the plastic wrap,
which then drip down into the glass. Then drink the water!

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