In the 2050s, one-third of the world's rivers could be affected by water scarcity or be polluted by nitrogen.
In the 2050s, one-third of the world's rivers could be affected by water scarcity or be polluted by nitrogen. This is the result of a study by an international team of scientists, including researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and led by scientists of Wageningen University. They assessed the scarcity of clean water under ongoing climate change and show how water pollution from intensified agriculture and untreated sewage could limit clean water supply.
While water scarcity is widely studied, the impact of future water pollution from human activities on the water supply is not yet fully understood. In their study, published in Nature Communications, the research team focused on nitrogen as a pollutant.
Using a newly introduced Clean-Water Scarcity indicator, the scientists assessed future water quantity and quality in more than 10,000 global river sub-basins. In 2010, about 10% of the world’s sub-basins were classified as water-scarce when considering only water quantity, while 25% of the world’s sub-basins are affected by quantity & quality-induced scarcity. The scenarios for 2050 show that pollution is disturbing the world’s clean water supply: In the worst-case scenario, about 30% of the world’s sub-basins could be affected by shortage of clean water in the year 2050, either in terms of having not enough water or the water being polluted.
Read more at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)
Photo Credit: Hans via Pixabay
