How does water use of the past compare/contrast with water use today and how does our water use over time relate to the global water crisis?
Humans depend on the environment, and evolution has not reduced this dependency. Humanity’s dependence on the environment is not the only similarity between the past and the present. Even though it researchers have believed for a long time that the societies of the past did not damage their environments as the present industrialized societies do, it has been discovered that the effect of past societies’ environmental exploitation can be compared to that of the present, particularly in environmentally vulnerable areas. Examples of societies which caused the massive and irreversible collapse of the environments include the Easter Island, the Anasazi civilization and the societies which developed in the Fertile Crescent.
Similarly to present societies, ancient societies like the Angkor Empire tried to shape their environment in order to make it more hospitable. Angkor’s hydraulic engineering work is amazing, even today, and helped to create a fertile land, with reliable sources of water, which were kept under control by means of a complex system of dams, reservoirs and canals. The reservoirs helped to irrigate large areas in order to increase the rice production, while the canals and dikes diverted the water of rivers to the reservoirs. However, the hydraulic system failure, combined with the changing climate and other factors, led to the downfall of the empire. As compared to this ancient society, which could only shape its environment to a certain extent, as needed to survive and flourish, but which was eventually overwhelmed by the forces of nature, today’s societies have managed to control most of the world’s sources of fresh water, and have maximised the benefits from its use.
The massive exploitation of water resources over the time has led to a global water crisis. The effects of this crisis are likely to be experienced as early as 2040, and the most important problem behind the crisis is the use of water to produce energy. Alternative energy resources are the only sustainable solution for water consumption. Already companies around the world try to find solutions for the water crisis in order to avoid environmental collapse. For example, in India, one of the worst affected countries, “community water-management schemas and awareness campaigns among farmers have seen levels of water consumption fall significantly”. Furthermore, companies around the world such as Coca-Cola, or Nestlé have begun to spend significant amounts of money on projects which aim at reducing water use and improving water quality. While humans’ use of water threatens to lead to global water shortages and environmental collapse in a few years, the lessons of the past and alternative energy sources should help humanity to adopt efficient solutions in order to avoid an irremediable disaster.
What role does the Industrial Revolution play in the history of our water use/misuse?
The industrial revolution has changed the way in which humans live and think. While in the past centuries, agricultural work led to deforestations and the drainage of wet lands among others, after the industrial revolution, the environment has been impacted by pollution, increased water consumption among others. The new industries led to environmental problems, such as the poisoning of European waters. The Rhine pollution scandal in 1971 unveiled many of the underlying problems related to the environment. The emissions from fossil fuels in the past decades have led to the emergence of global environmental problems, such as climate change, which causes water shortage in already vulnerable areas, and leads to the accentuated consumption of groundwater.
The post-industrial methods of exploiting the planet’s water resources have led to shortage. While people have used underground water for millennia, they were limited by muscle and wind power in their exploitation. However, today, people make use of technology to exploit groundwater on a large scale. India’s groundwater resources are diminishing rapidly, as consumption rates makes it impossible for natural processes to replace it fast enough.
Also, dams have become now become larger and larger due to civil engineering and hydraulics. The construction of large dams and canals became politically motivated. Different governments tried to display their economic power by conducting large water management projects which sought to ensure the prosperity of the country, but also to boost their own popularity. Such dams pose great environmental concerns. For example, while in the past China built earthen dams 30 meters high, today, the Sanxia Dam, the highest in the world, is 185 m high, and has triggered great environmental concerns regarding the sustainability of the project. This is particularly true for China because it faces an important water deficit. The urbanization which followed industrialization led to grater water demands for domestic use. In China, the industry continues to expand. However, compared to other countries, its water use is extremely inefficient. In order to reduce the misuse of water resources, entire industries will need to be re-examined. As Basulto explained, the power generation industry has had a major impact on water quality and availability. According to a recent report, 40 % of all water used in the United States is destined for thermoelectric cooling.
The industrial revolution therefore led to climate change and to severe draughts which influenced the depletion of groundwater resources. It also governed the beginning of an era of large hydraulic projects which were meant to demonstrate the power of industrialized countries, with no concern for environmental damage. Finally, it determined an excessive use of fresh water and this led to water sources depletion. The future depends on the extent to which industries will be able to reinvent themselves, and to find solutions to the emerging water crisis.
Bibliography
“A World without Water”. Financial Times. Accessed January 31, 2016, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/8e42bdc8-0838-11e4-9afc-00144feab7de.html#slide0
Basulto, Dominic. “In the Wake of Toledo, We Beed Innovations to Prevent a World Water Crisis”. The Washington Post, August 2014. Accessed January 31, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2014/08/05/in-the-wake-of-toledo-we-need-innovations-to-prevent-a-world-water-crisis/
Bateman, Joshua. “China’s Looming Water Crisis”. The Ecologist, February 25, 2014. Accessed January 31, 2016, http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2291208/chinas_looming_water_crisis.
html
Diamond, Jared. Ecological collapses of past civilizations. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 138. 3(1994):363-370.
Edmonds, Richard. “The Sanxia (Three Gorges) Project: The Environmental Argument Surrounding China’s Super Dam”. Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters 2.4(1992): 105-125.
Kasa, Sjur. “Industrial Revolutions and Environmental Problems”, n.d., 70-74. Accessed January 30, 2016, http://www.cas.uio.no/Publications/Seminar/Confluence_Kasa.pdf
Mashru, Ram. “India’s Worsening Water Crisis”. The Diplomat, April 19, 2014. Accessed January 30, http://thediplomat.com/2014/04/indias-worsening-water-crisis/.
McNeil, John Robert. “The Hydrosphere: Depletions, Dams, and Diversions”, Something New Under the Sun: an Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World. New York: Norton &Norton, 2002.
Stone, Richard. “Divining Angkor”, National Geographic, 2009, accessed January 30, 2016, http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/07/angkor/stone-text, n.p.
“World Faces 'Insurmountable' Water Crisis by 2040 – Report”. RT, July 30, 2014. Accessed January 31, 2016, https://www.rt.com/news/176828-world-water-crisis-2040/
