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Climate change will have a negative effect on water quality
andavailability. How far do you agree?
Water is important to both society and ecosystems we reliable
source of clean drinking
water to sustain our health. We also need water for agriculture,
energy production,navigation, recreation, and manufacturing. In
many areas climate change will create a
higher than normal demand for water causing the quality and
quantity of the water to
decrease. In some areas water availability will not be an issue.
The bigger problem inthese places will be the treat of sea level
rise and flooding, these things will cause a
decrease in water quality. One example of a place that is
beginning to suffer from water
shortages due to climate change is the Midwest of the United
States.
Impacts of climate change on water cycle and on demand:
Rising temperatures increase therate of evaporation of water
into the
atmosphere. This causes atmosphere
to contain more water than normal.
The rapid evaporation will dry outof some areas and will create
excess
precipitation in other areas.
Change in the amount of rain that
falls during storms is clear evidence
that the water cycle is changing.
There has been a 20% increase in
rainfall in the past 50 years duringthe most intense 1% of
storms
across the globe but water decrease in the USA itself. Winter
temperature rises causemore precipitation to fall as rain rather
than snow. This causes snow to melt earlier in the
year altering stream flow, which have their sources up in the
mountain. With rising
temperatures animals and humans need more water to maintain
health. Many activities
such as farming, energy making, growing livestock etc, also
require water. The amount ofwater will be reduced by climate
change, which
will increase demand and competition for water
supplies.
Impacts on water supply:
The amount of water in the west of the US isalready limited.
Over the past 50 years the west of
the USA has had less rainfall and an increase in
the length of droughts. It is predicted that therewill continue
to be fewer rainfall, less snowpack
on the mountains and earlier annual snowmelt
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which will lead to a decrease in water quantity during the
summer months when water is
at highest demand. It will be especially challenging for water
management programs to
meet demand throughout the year.
Impacts on water quality:
Water quality could suffer in areas which are experiencing
increased rainfall. In theMidwest and Northeast the increase causes
problems due to the fact that sewage systems
and water treatment plants are overwhelmed by the larger than
usual amounts of water.
Rain can cause rivers to be filled with trash, chemicals,
sediments, animal wastes andother materials making the water
unsuitable to use, unsafe or in need of treatment.
Freshwater along the coast face threats from sea level rise, as
saltwater moves into fresh
water it is instantly contaminated. This forces water managers
to look for other water
supply areas or to send water through the costly process of
desalination. As freshwater isremoved from rivers for human use,
the saltwater moves upstream, causing the death of
animals not used to living in and off saltwater. The same with
drought; this can cause
costal water resources to become more saline and harm water
quality in the area.
In conclusion I think that it is evident that climate change
does cause a significant change
in the quality of water and the availability of the vital
resource. I fully agree with the
initial question and I feel that people should really take
notice in order for us to have amore sustainable future and not
suffer the consequences.
Stephen Sheedy
Sources:
http://globalchange.gov/what-we-do/assessment/previous-assessments/global-climate-
change-impacts-in-the-us-2009
http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch3.htmlhttp://downloads.climatescience.gov/sap/sap4-4/sap4-4-final-report-all.pdf
http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12491
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/water.htmlhttp://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/waterq3/WQassess4h.html
http://globalchange.gov/what-we-do/assessment/previous-assessments/global-climate-change-impacts-in-the-us-2009http://globalchange.gov/what-we-do/assessment/previous-assessments/global-climate-change-impacts-in-the-us-2009http://globalchange.gov/what-we-do/assessment/previous-assessments/global-climate-change-impacts-in-the-us-2009http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch3.htmlhttp://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch3.htmlhttp://downloads.climatescience.gov/sap/sap4-4/sap4-4-final-report-all.pdfhttp://downloads.climatescience.gov/sap/sap4-4/sap4-4-final-report-all.pdfhttp://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12491http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12491http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/water.htmlhttp://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/water.htmlhttp://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/waterq3/WQassess4h.htmlhttp://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/waterq3/WQassess4h.htmlhttp://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/waterq3/WQassess4h.htmlhttp://www.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts-adaptation/water.htmlhttp://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12491http://downloads.climatescience.gov/sap/sap4-4/sap4-4-final-report-all.pdfhttp://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg2/en/ch3.htmlhttp://globalchange.gov/what-we-do/assessment/previous-assessments/global-climate-change-impacts-in-the-us-2009http://globalchange.gov/what-we-do/assessment/previous-assessments/global-climate-change-impacts-in-the-us-2009
