Study Warns of Major Water Shortage in 20 Years

 

Global Water Outlook 2025: Averting¹ an Impending² Crisis, uses ¹⁾sophisticated computer modeling to project how water demand and availability around the world are likely to evolve. The report includes global, regional and country-level data.

The lead author Mark Rosegrant,a senior research fellow with the International Food Policy Research Institute, a Washington-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainable solutions to global hunger and poverty. He said: "First of all if we continue with business as usual, we are going to see that increasing competition for water from these other sectors³ is going to really take a lot of water away from irrigation, and we are going to see shortages of food production and perhaps rising prices and declining yields," "But at the same time," he continued, "even though we are getting rapid increase in urban uses such as domestic and industrial uses, we are not seeing improvements in water quality. We will continue to see declines in water quality, and even very little inadequate⁴ increases in the number of people that have access to safe water."

Mr. Rosegrant says that if the world follows this ²⁾scenario⁵, it will be impossible to meet the United Nations declared goal of reducing by half the number of people without clean and safe water by 2015. "What I think is most ³⁾scary is that if you see an increased complacency by policy makers," he said. "You could go from this growing negative situation to a real serious water scarcity⁶ crisis where you have a breakdown⁷ in domestic and industrial water supplies in some of the big mega-cities in the third world. And a real decline in water use and rapidly rising prices to the poor for food as well."

According to Mr. Rosegrant, a crisis is avoidable if appropriate water management policies and technologies are put in place. "What has to happen is a rethinking of the way we manage water. Certainly we do need increased investments in hardware and infrastructure⁸, particularly to expand use of water for household, domestic and industrial uses in cities. There are a few dams for irrigation that are still worth building," he said. "But the real key will be to get more water out of the water we already have, to increase the efficiency of that water in all its uses."

The report also recommends pricing water to reflect its true cost and value. Requiring people of means to pay for their water would create an incentive⁹ for them to conserve¹⁰ it. It would generate the needed financial resources to provide water to those too poor to purchase it.

Mr. Rosegrant said: “The world can both consume less water and reap greater benefits, ” But he said: “to achieve ⁴⁾sustainable water use, we must act now. The required strategies take not only money and political will, but time as well. ”

I’m Rosanne Skirble.

 

1)    sophisticated[sE5fistikeitid]adj.诡辩的, 久经世故的

2)    scenario [si5nB:riEu]n.想定, 游戏的关,或是某一特定情节

3)    scary[5skZEri]adj.引起惊慌的

4)    sustainable[sE`steInEbl]adj.可以忍受的, 足可支撑的, 养得起的

1 averting   

防止，避免( avert的现在分词 )； 转移

参考例句：

• The margin of time for averting crisis was melting away. 可以用来消弥这一危机的些许时光正在逝去。
• These results underscore the value of rescue medications in averting psychotic relapse. 这些结果显示了救护性治疗对避免精神病复发的价值。

2 impending   

a.imminent, about to come or happen

参考例句：

• Against a background of impending famine, heavy fighting took place. 即将发生饥荒之时，严重的战乱爆发了。
• The king convoke parliament to cope with the impending danger. 国王召开国会以应付迫近眉睫的危险。

3 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

5 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

6 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。

7 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

8 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

9 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

10 conserve   

vt.保存，保护，节约，节省，守恒，不灭

参考例句：

• He writes on both sides of the sheet to conserve paper.他在纸张的两面都写字以节省用纸。
• Conserve your energy,you'll need it!保存你的精力，你会用得着的！