A triple increase in global river basins with water scarcity due to future pollution
In a study, published in Nature in February 2024, scientists warn about dire consequences for future clean-water scarcity due to current and future nitrogen pollution. The study expands on existing knowledge in the area by adding a water pollution aspect to their assessment of scarcity, thus going beyond classical water quantity-induced scarcity assessments.
“Until a few years ago, global water scarcity assessments focused mainly on changes in the quantity perspective of water availability. However, decreasing water quality caused by increasing and newly emerging pollutants also became an important reason for limiting water to be safely used by nature and humans, aggravating the water scarcity problems. For example, agricultural intensification and urbanization have added excessive pollutants such as nutrients, pathogens, plastics, and other chemicals to the water bodies”. (Wang et al., 2024).
The projections in the study indicate that the number of sub-basins with water scarcity triples due to future nitrogen pollution worldwide, potentially increasing the number of people impacted by water-scarcity by 3 billion.
The authors conclude that since nitrogen pollution in rivers today induce water-scarcity for billions of people and is likely to continue to cause water scarcity in 2050, we urgently need better pollution control strategies to avoid dire negative impacts of water scarcity on nature and humans.
The article: ”A triple increase in global river basins with water scarcity due to future pollution” was published 06 February 2024 in the journal Nature.
