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Graphic Truth: When it comes to freshwater, Canada is king
Water covers 71% of the Earth’s surface, but good ol’ H2O is a much more precious resource than it appears.
Less than 0.8% of Earth’s water is freshwater in lakes, rivers, or underground aquifers. And much of that already tiny fraction has been rendered unusable by pollution or is lost to poor management and inefficient agricultural practices. What’s worse, climate change and overexploitation of existing water resources mean that communities from California to Cambodia are struggling to provide safe water at an affordable price.
The good news for Canadians is that they have an absolute abundance of fresh water, more than 74,000 cubic meters of renewable water per person – enough for each to fill 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools!
It far outstrips peer economies in the G-7, as well as Brazil, Russia, and China, who along with the United States and Canada constitute the five countries with the most freshwater in absolute terms. Americans can fill a bit over two Olympic pools each, but none of their peers in Western Europe could even fill one.
But here’s the bad news: Freshwater is not easy to move, as Americans in Western states can tell you. Folks in Michigan have plenty (though, as Flint’s experience showed, not all of it is safe to drink), but keeping a green lawn and a full pool in LA is going to cost you a hefty chunk of change.
So what’s the solution? As discussed at a GZERO Live event sponsored by Suntory last week, the low-hanging fruit is agriculture. A whopping 90% of the freshwater humans use today is for irrigation farming, where much of it is lost to evaporation or seeps into the ground without nourishing crops. More efficient techniques and equipment can help farmers achieve the same yields with less water — but they will need financing and proper policy support too.
Ian Explains: The problem of our diminishing water supply
Water is a vital resource the world can't live without, yet it's something we often overlook. Did you know that there is only one ocean on Earth? It's true. It might have a different name depending on where you are in the world––Atlantic, Pacific, Indian––but they're all connected. And they cover a staggering 71% of our planet's surface, representing 96% of all water on earth.
Freshwater, the kind we need to survive, is becoming scarcer every day, Ian Bremmer explains on GZERO World. Climate change and increasing demand for water are putting pressure on one of the world's most precious resources. As a result, droughts and severe water scarcity are becoming more common.
Four billion people, half of the world's population, experience at least a month of water scarcity each year, which could displace as many as 700 million people by 2030. Water scarcity leads to hunger, displacement, and conflict, which makes protecting the world's water supply one of our most urgent problems.
While we've made efforts to protect our oceans, scientists say we need to do more to ensure we have access to the freshwater we need.Watch the GZERO World episode: The uncomfortable truth about water scarcity
The Graphic Truth: Has clean water access improved?
In many low- and middle-income countries, availability of safe, drinkable water remains scarce. Though access has improved significantly in many places over the past two decades – by 152% in Afghanistan, for instance – the very low baseline means that still only 28% of that population has access to high quality drinking water. Meanwhile, countries like the Central African Republic, Zambia, Nepal, and Pakistan saw their access reduced over the past two decades. Here’s a snapshot of the relative change in access to safe drinking water around the world from 2000-2020.
A woman drinks water in El Crucero town, Nicaragua.
Hard Numbers: Water woes, COVID fatigue in Hong Kong, Ukrainians come and go, Beckham’s Instagram followers visit Kharkiv, Russian death toll
2.2 billion: Three decades since the UN declared March 22 World Water Day to raise awareness about conservation efforts and the need for access to clean water, 2.2 billion people — almost a third of the global population — lack access to safe drinking water.
71.5 million: Soccer great David Beckham is the latest celeb to weigh into the Ukraine crisis, giving access to his Instagram account, with its 71.5 million followers, to a Kharkiv-based doctor. Using Instagram stories, the doctor, a pediatric anesthesiologist, showed the harsh conditions faced by pregnant women, new moms, and newborns in the war-torn city.
320,000: More than 320,000 Ukrainian citizens living abroad — mostly men — have returned home to help fight since the fighting began, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine says. Meanwhile, some 10 million Ukrainians have been forced to leave their homes, with some 3.5 million fleeing the country and another 6.5 million internally displaced by the violence.
125,000: Hong Kong will begin to ease COVID restrictions from April 1, shortening quarantine times for travelers and allowing schools to resume in-person classes. The zero-COVID policy enforced by the city — a commercial hub — has led to around 125,000 people leaving since the beginning of February.
9,861: Was it a leak? A mistake? A hack? Whatever it was, a well-connected Russian tabloid said Monday that the official death toll for Russian soldiers in Ukraine is 9,861. The webpage was swiftly taken down, but if the four-week number is true, it would surpass all US combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan combined and be the largest combat loss for the Kremlin since the decade-long Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s.Trash tracking satellites help Indonesia tackle marine waste
JAKARTA (AFP) - Every year, pounding rains wash away mountains of plastic waste from the streets of Jakarta, with some of it ending up as far away as Bali's beaches. So scientists are turning to satellites to trace the rubbish and figure out how to tackle the problem.
Four arrested over latest water pollution case in Selangor
KUALA LUMPUR • Malaysian police have arrested four suspects following the latest water pollution that shut down four water treatment plants in Selangor and leaving more than one million people in the Klang Valley with dry taps.
4 arrested over latest water pollution incident in Selangor that caused disruption to more than 1m households
The latest water cuts came less than three weeks after the last supply disruption.
Water cuts in Selangor to over 1m accounts as plants shut down due to contamination again
PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Yet another suspected contamination in Sungai Selangor has forced water supplier Pengurusan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Air Selangor) to issue a stop-work order on its Phase 1,2,3 and Rantau Panjang water treatment plants causing unscheduled water cuts to 1,196,457 accounts in the state.