Ways to solve the problem of water scarcity. Lack of drinking water in the world. Reasons for the lack of fresh water on Earth

The total volume of water on Earth is approximately 1400 million cubic meters. km, of which only 2.5%, that is, about 35 million cubic meters. km, falls on fresh water. Most of the fresh water reserves are concentrated in the perennial ice and snow of Antarctica and Greenland, as well as in deep aquifers. The main sources of water for human consumption are lakes, rivers, soil moisture and relatively shallow groundwater reservoirs. The operational part of these resources is only about 200 thousand cubic meters. km - less than 1% of all fresh water reserves and only 0.01% of all water on Earth - and a significant portion of them are located far from populated areas, which further exacerbates the problem of water consumption.

In terms of the total volume of fresh water resources, Russia occupies a leading position among European countries. According to the UN, by 2025 Russia together with Scandinavia, South America and Canada will remain the regions with the most fresh water supply, more than 20 thousand cubic meters. m / year per capita.

According to the World Resources Institute, over the past year, the world's most water-poor countries were 13 states, including 4 republics of the former USSR - Turkmenistan, Moldova, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.

Countries with up to 1 thousand cubic meters. m of fresh water on average per capita: Egypt - 30 cubic meters. m per person; Israel - 150; Turkmenistan - 206; Moldova - 236; Pakistan - 350; Algeria - 440; Hungary - 594; Uzbekistan - 625; Netherlands - 676; Bangladesh - 761; Morocco - 963; Azerbaijan - 972; South Africa - 982.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

The problem of fresh water on Earth is becoming more and more urgent every year. The planet's population is increasing, industrial production is also growing, followed by a significant increase in the consumption of fresh water. The global problem of fresh water is that water resources are not replenished.

Thus, the reserves of fresh water on the planet are gradually decreasing, and if the extensive way of spending water resources is not changed, this can lead to a shortage of fresh water in most regions, and then to an environmental disaster.

What are the ways to solve the shortage of fresh water?

There are many approaches and technologies here:

1) Conservation of fresh water reserves in reservoirs.

This allows not only to preserve water resources, but also to have a supply of water in case of unforeseen disasters.

2) Technologies for water processing.

Domestic and waste water must be processed and treated. This saves a significant amount of fresh water.

3) Desalination of salt water.

Technologies for processing salt water into fresh water (desalination) are becoming more advanced and require less material costs. Converting salt water to fresh water is a great solution to the fresh water problem.

4) Breeding techniques for crops.

With the help of modern technologies of genetic selection, it became possible to breed agricultural crops that are resistant to salty soils. These plants can be watered with salt water, and this saves a significant amount of fresh water.

Another interesting way to save fresh water when watering plants is with drip irrigation. For this, agricultural land is supplied with a system of branched pipes of small diameter, through which water flows directly to the plant or its roots (when the system is underground) and this dramatically reduces the consumption of fresh water.

6) Waste water.

Since agriculture consumes a very significant amount of water resources, wastewater can be used for irrigating plants. This practice is not applicable in all cases, but when used, it gives an effective result.

7) Artificial forest.

An unusual solution to the problem of freshwater scarcity in the arid regions of the world is the creation of an artificial forest in the deserts. In practice, such projects have not yet been implemented, but work is underway on them.

8) Wells and glaciers, etc.

Huge reserves of fresh water are concentrated in glaciers. If you melt some of them skillfully, a significant amount of water can be released. Another option for producing fresh water is drilling deep wells.

More exotic options include the technology of influencing rain clouds and the formation of water condensation from fog.

Thus, with the use of modern environmental technologies, the problems of using fresh water can be largely solved in the near future.

The lack of fresh water every year becomes an increasingly hot issue for our civilization.

In this article, we will consider the possible consequences of this global problem. Immediately, we note that the problem of lack of clean drinking water applies not only to the arid regions of our planet, it applies to all countries in which ineffective "unreasonable" use of water resources is carried out. People feel the lack of fresh water on all continents, without exception.

The consumption of water by mankind is inexorably growing and in the 20th century reached 5,000 km 3 per year, while it is necessary to take into account that the rate of its pollution is also growing. Every year 2,800,000,000 people face a shortage of fresh water for 1 month. Currently, about 700 million people live in regions provided with water resources below the minimum level. At the same time, the trend is such that by 2025 this figure will increase to 3,000,000,000 people. An interesting fact is that during the period when the population grew 3 times, water consumption increased approximately 17 times.

The most problematic regions are currently considered - the Middle East and Africa, and in the near future this problem may become radically acute in countries such as India and China.

Reasons for the shortage of fresh water

• Global changes in the Earth's climate.
• Changes in the weather - as a consequence of global warming.
• An increase in the number of floods and droughts - as a result of changes in weather.
• Aggressive pollution of water resources, as a result of household and economic human activities.
• The growing demand for fresh water, due to the growth of the world's population.
• Irrational use of water by humans.

Lack of fresh water - possible consequences

The global shortage of fresh water, with almost 100% probability, will lead to the following consequences:

• the development of industries that consume large amounts of fresh water will slow down or completely stop;
• the quality of life as such will decrease;
• it is obvious that the shortage of clean fresh water will deal a significant blow to agriculture (currently, 3/4 of all water consumed by mankind is accounted for by agriculture);
• experts considered that in countries that constantly experience a lack of water, a decrease in GDP by 6% is possible;
• lack of clean drinking water can cause inter-regional political and military conflicts;
• the consequence of the lack of clean drinking water will inexorably lead to an increase in the number of various diseases and epidemics;
• due to the lack of clean drinking water, a noticeable decrease in the birth rate and a decrease in the population is possible;

What to do …

What to do!? Much has been written and said about this, but we will once again list the most important, from our point of view, measures that humanity can take today:

• Restoration and protection of the planet's natural eco-system;
• High-quality collection and treatment of waste water;
• High-quality collection and treatment of agricultural wastewater;
• Implementation of water-saving technologies in agriculture;
• Development and implementation of water-saving technologies in industry and household appliances;
• Saving water in households;
• Use in industry and agriculture of water in a closed cycle;

The above list is only a small fraction of all possible conservation actions

2015-12-15

Today mankind lives in a period when fresh water on Earth is sorely lacking. The shortage of fresh water is becoming one of the main factors hindering the development of civilization in many regions of the world ...

Description of the problem

During the period from 1950 to 1980 alone, the consumption of fresh water per year increased fourfold and reached 4000 km 3, and this growth continues. Water consumption per inhabitant of a modern city ranges from 100 to 900 liters per day. And this is only for household needs. However, in many countries this figure is less than 10 liters, as a result of which more than two billion people on earth are not provided with even sufficient drinking water.

Over the past 30 years, the average fuel consumption per 100 km by passenger cars has more than halved, but a person still needs at least two liters of drinking water per day. We live in the so-called End of Oil Age, Beginning of Renewable Resources Age. According to UN experts, in the 21st century, water will become a more important strategic resource than oil and gas, since a ton of clean water is already more expensive than oil (North Africa, Australia, South Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia, the USA (some states). It is estimated that every dollar invested in improving water and sanitation brings in an impressive $ 25 to $ 84 in revenue.

The main sources of fresh water are the waters of rivers, lakes, artesian wells and desalination of sea water. The amount of water in the atmosphere at any given moment ranges from 10 to 14 thousand km 3, while in total all river channels and lakes contain 1.2 thousand km 3. Every year, about 600 thousand km 3 evaporate from the surface of the land and ocean, the same amount then falls in the form of precipitation, and only 7 % the total amount of precipitation is the annual river runoff. From a comparison of the total amount of evaporated moisture and the amount of water in the atmosphere, it is easy to see that it is renewed 45 times in the atmosphere during the year. So, the main source of fresh water - water in the atmosphere - turns out to be unused.

Currently, two methods of water desalination are mainly used: distillation by evaporation (70%) and filtration through membranes (30%).

Both methods are quite expensive as they require significant energy consumption. The membrane method is quite sensitive to mechanical contamination of water, in addition, with an increase in the temperature of desalinated water, the performance of membrane installations decreases. As a result of the operation of both types of systems, a significant amount of salt is obtained, which must be removed, which leads to environmental pollution by powerful desalination plants. In addition, burning oil to generate the energy required to operate these plants results in air pollution. The use of natural processes makes it possible to obtain huge amounts of fresh water in the southern regions, practically without affecting the environment.

A large number of countries located in arid and hot regions of the world suffer from a lack of fresh water, although its content in the atmosphere is significant. Water in the atmosphere is unevenly distributed, more than half of all water vapor is in the lower layers (up to 1.5 km) and about 50% in the troposphere. On the Earth's surface, the average absolute humidity over the globe is about 10-12 g / m 3, in tropical zones it is more than 25 g / m 3. In deserts and steppes, where there are practically no sources of fresh water, the absolute humidity in the surface air layer ranges from 15 to 35 g / m 3 and changes significantly during the day at the surface of the earth, reaching maximum values ​​at night. This resource of fresh water is constantly renewing, the characteristics of condensate that can be obtained in most areas of the Earth are very high: the condensate contains two to three orders of magnitude less toxic metals compared to the requirements of sanitary services, practically does not contain microorganisms, and is well aerated. The use of moisture contained in the Earth's atmosphere, with a minimum impact on the environment, will solve all the problems associated with a shortage of fresh water, and, as will be shown below, it is possible to create such installations that practically do not require energy consumption, which allows us to assert that this water will be the cheapest of all that are obtained in other ways.

There are many places on our planet with almost ideal conditions for obtaining fresh water from the atmospheric air.For example, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a state with a population of more than 25 million people, which occupies almost 80% of the Arabian Peninsula and several coastal islands in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, In terms of surface structure, most of the country is a vast desert plateau (altitude from 300-600 m in the east to 1520 m in the west), slightly dissected by dry river beds (wadis). Al-Khasa lowland (up to 150 km wide) stretches in places along the coast of the Persian Gulf. The climate in the north is subtropical, in the south it is tropical, sharply continental, dry. Summers are very hot, winters are warm. The average annual rainfall is about 70100 mm (in the central regions the maximum is in spring, in the north - in winter, in the south - in summer); in the mountains up to 400 mm per year. In areas of deserts and some others, it does not rain at all in some years.

Almost all of Saudi Arabia does not have permanent rivers or water sources; temporary streams are formed only after intense rains. The problem of water supply (which is about 1520 km 3) is being solved through the development of enterprises for desalination of sea water, the creation of deep wells and artesian wells.

The average July temperature in Riyadh ranges from 26 to 42 ° C, in January from 8 to 21 ° C, the absolute maximum is 48 ° C, in the south of the country up to 54 ° C with a relative humidity of 40-70% (relative humidity can be defined as the ratio of the density of water vapor to the density of saturating water vapor at the same temperature, expressed as a percentage), and each cubic meter of air contains up to 24 g of water. When the temperature drops by 10-15 ° C, up to 12 g of water can be isolated from each cubic meter. Considering that the daily temperature drop can be more than 20 ° C, it becomes clear why abundant dew often falls in the Sahara.

To obtain significant amounts of condensate from atmospheric air, two conditions must be met: temperatures below the "dew point" and the presence of condensation centers. If a drop with a radius greater than the critical one is introduced into the supersaturated vapor, then the growth of the drop will lead to a decrease in the thermodynamic potential and, therefore, condensation will occur. If the radius of the droplet is less than the critical one, then the droplet will evaporate, since with the growth of the droplet in this case the thermodynamic potential increases. With a decrease in temperature, which occurs in the Sahara at night, very often the vapor turns out to be in a metastable state, and for the appearance of the second phase in the atmosphere, that is, for the formation of drops, it is necessary to have “nuclei” larger than the critical size. These can be small drops of water or dust particles, or the earth's surface. For example, for a 0.1 µm droplet to grow at a temperature of 10 ° C, a supersaturation of more than 200% is required. Small nuclei of condensation in the atmosphere live long enough, but they are small for condensation to occur, while large nuclei are quickly removed as a result of Stokes subsidence. In the climatic conditions of the countries of the Middle East, at night, temperature conditions in many cases are favorable for the formation of precipitation, however, the absence of condensation nuclei in the lower atmosphere does not allow the drops to develop sufficiently. Therefore, it is necessary to create a highly branched system of condensing surface and convective ventilation conditions for blowing it with humid atmospheric air.

If water vapor has condensed and is in the air in the form of small droplets, then obtaining water is reduced to its mechanical extraction from humid air. Experiments on obtaining water by this method have been carried out in many parts of the world. This method of obtaining water takes place in natural ecosystems. It is well known that the mountains and the forest, as it were, "comb out" the fog. Even if there is no rain, but if a cloud passes through the forest in the mountains, then moisture condenses on the branches and leaves of trees and then falls on the ground. The receipt of condensed moisture on bushes, trees or on artificial water catchers has been experimentally confirmed in 47 places in 22 countries of the world. In the districts of the city of Feodosia, in the Tuva Republic, on the ancient mounds of Altai and in the Transcaucasia, heaps of rubble (gabions) were found, folded by people to condense atmospheric moisture.

The most interesting were the Feodosia structures, which, unfortunately, have now been dismantled.

In the city of Feodosia in Russia until the 80s of the XIX century there was no water supply from any one powerful source, but there were quite a large number of city "fountains". Water was brought to them by gravity through pottery pipes in the direction from the mountains surrounding the city. There were no signs of springs or any water supply structures on these mountains. The fact was that the condensate was collected from the rock, on which special rubble heaps were installed. In this case, the effect of capillary condensation was used. During the heyday of Feodosia in the 15th-14th centuries, its population reached more than 80 thousand people, but all water supply was carried out using such condensation gabions.

Solutions

Recently, attempts have been made to create such artificial installations in Russia. Thus, in the Laboratory of Renewable Energy Sources of the Faculty of Geography of Moscow State University named after M.V. Lomonosov professor Alekseev V.V. with employees, the design of the stationary installation "Rosa-1" with an estimated capacity of 20-40 m 3 of fresh water per day in the Mediterranean region has been developed. It is designed to obtain fresh water by condensing atmospheric moisture onto a system of expanded condensing surfaces blown by moist atmospheric air.

Condensation of water vapor contained in the air when it is cooled in the evening and at night is a natural process. It is actively used by natural ecosystems, but its use for economic purposes is a difficult problem due to the small specific (per unit area) amount of condensate formed. The authors of the Rosa-1 unit set themselves the task of localizing in the devices they proposed and intensifying the process of condensation of atmospheric moisture in order to obtain results that provide, from the technical and economic point of view, the possibility of economic use of these devices, mainly in arid zones devoid of water sources. In doing so, they rely on the historical experience of using analogs of these devices for obtaining fresh water, which are pebble (gravel) "heaps".

By this analogy, the authors also propose to use a pebble filling of a certain volume, in which the process of condensation of atmospheric moisture is localized, since a necessary condition for such localization is the maximum development of the condensation surface, that is, some structures are proposed for condensation of atmospheric moisture, the basis of which, with various general geometric shapes, is as follows called gabions, which are a mesh container made of wire filled with pieces of crushed stone with a nominal diameter of 10 cm. in atmosphere.

The main indicator of the operation of the device under consideration is its productivity, which, when compared with capital investments and operating costs, determines the cost of a unit of production (fresh water), which, in turn, gives an answer to the question of the possibility of economic use of the device. A prototype of such an installation was installed in the city of Obninsk, Moscow Region, but its performance turned out to be extremely low, primarily due to the poor performance of the gabions, the effective cooling of which was impossible. However, the work did not stop there, and the group of Professor V.V. developed several other schemes of installations such as "Source" and others. However, it was not possible to achieve the design productivity that would allow the creation of an industrial installation.

Our task was to develop a diagram of an installation for obtaining fresh water from atmospheric air (the diagram of the installation is shown in Fig. 1 and 2), using renewable energy sources with an increase in the efficiency of the condensing surface and ensuring full autonomy during operation. To do this, in an installation for condensing fresh water from atmospheric air, containing solar collectors, solar panels,

The main indicator of the operation of the device under consideration is its performance, which, when compared with capital investments and operating costs, determines the unit cost of a refrigeration system, a water collector, an air duct and a ventilation system, a highly efficient system of condensing panels of a special design is introduced as a condenser, and surface layers of the earth at some depth. The effect is achieved due to the fact that a highly efficient system of condensing flat thin-walled panels is used as a condenser, and natural sources of cold are used as a source of cold - surface layers of the earth at a certain depth.

It contains a housing 1, heat exchange panels 2, cooling tanks 3, a pumping station 4, a heat exchange column 5, a water tank 6, a storage station 7, flat solar collectors 8, solar panels 9 and an automatic control system 10. Heat exchange panels 2 are installed vertically flat heat exchangers welded from two thin-walled (0.1-0.5 mm thick) sheets with internal channels through which the cooling liquid (water) flows from the refrigerator. The refrigerator is made in the form of several cooling tanks 3, which are large-capacity tanks (more than 20-60 thousand liters) filled with water and buried in the ground to a depth of 5-10 m. Heat exchange column 5 is a vertically installed cylindrical tank with a volume of up to 2000 l, filled with water, which is heated in the daytime by flat solar collectors (SC) 8 (devices that convert solar energy into thermal energy of the coolant).

The installation works as follows. During the daytime, thermal energy is accumulated in the heat exchange column due to the operation of flat solar collectors (SC) and electric energy in the accumulator station batteries due to the operation of solar cells (SB). At night, the temperature of the surface of the earth and air begins to decrease due to radiation. Due to the heat exchange column filled with hot water, which is heated in the daytime by flat solar collectors (SC), a warm air flow is created in the exhaust pipe of the unit body.

As a result of the pressure difference, atmospheric air enters through the open lower part into the interior of the housing and comes into contact first with the lower tier, and then with the upper tiers of the heat exchange panels, and through the chimney it goes into the atmosphere.

If the relative humidity of the air is close to 100%, then the water vapor in it condenses on the surfaces of the heat exchange panels, and the resulting water flows into the tank. If the relative humidity is less than 100%, but more than 50%, then first the air is cooled at the surface of the heat exchange panels to a temperature when the steam becomes saturated, and then condensation occurs. The condensation process will also continue during the day, only at first the warm atmospheric air will be cooled by the surfaces of the heat exchange panels, since cold water flows inside the heat exchange panels, which is pumped from large-capacity tanks filled with water and buried in the ground to a depth of more than 5 m, to a temperature until the steam in it becomes saturated. When the water in the refrigerator reservoir is heated above the set temperature, the automatic control system connects another reservoir to work, and in the disconnected reservoir, water is cooled by natural heat exchange with the cold soil of the earth. Then the process is repeated in the same sequence. Provided that the plant operates for 10 hours a day, the daily rate of water production for a plant with an outer diameter of 15 m and a condensation surface of about 2500 m 2 should be 15 to 25 tons.

In order to confirm the possibility of obtaining fresh water on an autonomous installation for obtaining water from atmospheric air, experimental studies were carried out. Experimental studies were carried out on the territory of the pilot production facility of the N.E. Zhukovsky (the city of Zhukovsky, Moscow Region) in July 2005 from 17:30 to 18:30 hours in variable cloud conditions with an average ambient temperature of 25 ° C and a relative humidity of about 70 % ... A flat heat exchange panel made of corrosion-resistant steel 0.3 mm thick with a total surface area of ​​0.5 m 2 was used as the condensing surface. The panel was connected to the water supply network using flexible hoses and a branch pipe, and from another branch pipe of the panel, water was drained into the sewer. To carry out the experiment, we used water from the water supply system, the temperature of which at the entrance to the panel did not exceed 12-13 ° C. The water supply rate to the panel was 5-6 l / min. To create an air flow, a household fan was used, with which the panel was blown at a speed of 2-3 m / s. The experiment lasted for one hour. The water obtained as a result of condensation was collected with a sponge (due to the short time of the experiment) from the surface into a measuring container. As a result, 0.28 liters of water was obtained in one hour. That is, the capacity of the installation for the conditions of Moscow (very unfavorable from the point of view of obtaining maximum productivity) is approximately 0.56 l / h. Thus, 10-12 liters of fresh water can be obtained from one square meter in 10 hours, and the productivity of an industrial plant with a condensation area of ​​2500-3000 m 2 can reach 32 tons of water per day. For the operation of this installation does not require any energy, except for solar, it functions in automatic mode and is absolutely environmentally friendly.

The experiments carried out confirmed not only the possibility of obtaining fresh water on an autonomous installation for obtaining fresh water from atmospheric air, but also its rather high efficiency, but, unfortunately, today there is not a single industrial installation for condensing water from the atmosphere, although there are several household solutions to obtain 10-100 liters of water per day.

The main markets for such industrial installations will be the countries of the Persian Gulf, the USA (California, etc.), Australia, Central Asia, Southern Europe, North Africa, India, China.

Water condensed from the atmosphere is a completely renewable natural resource, renewable energy sources are used for production, the cost of water will be significantly lower than water from desalination plants, at the same time, the cost of desalinated water will increase several times until 2030.

Investment attractiveness of the project. For investors and funds who decide to invest in a project at an early stage of development, there are prospects for earning investment income, comparable to investing in the early stages in companies such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Skype, Instagram and others. In the next decade, new companies will enter the market with technologies that are at the level of early R&D today. This will entail the creation of a new international industry, the development of new technologies on different continents.

Industrial installations for obtaining at least 20 thousand liters of water per day are planned to be created using technologies that have no analogues in the world.

These installations will be completely non-volatile, electricity from PV panels or wind generators will be used as a source of electricity for the operation of all units and assemblies (this depends on the regional specifics), part of the electricity will be sold through traditional energy networks.

To achieve maximum energy efficiency and economic efficiency, we plan to install not single installations, but to install AWG Farms ^ which will simultaneously operate 15-30 installations, this will allow us to receive from 300 thousand to 600 thousand liters of water per day, or from 90 thousand to 200 thousand tons of water per year.

Patents and know-how. Today materials and documents are ready for several patents for which international patent protection is needed. In the process of creating the production of industrial installations, at least several hundred patents will be created and filed to protect inventions and know-how.

Production. To create the production of industrial installations, it is necessary to have a highly developed infrastructure, modern pressing and welding equipment, the latest developments in the field of stainless steels, materials science, PV-industry, material scientists, designers, engineers, heating engineers, technologists, logistics, RES specialists (renewable energy sources) etc. After completing work with MVP, we plan to create a production of industrial designs within a year.

Industrial installations for obtaining at least 20 thousand liters of water per day are planned to be created using technologies that have no analogues in the world. These installations will be completely non-volatile (electricity from PV panels or wind generators will be used).

Marketing and Sales. The main regions of the world in which there is a great interest in industrial water condensation plants are: MENA countries, Central Asia, South Europe, India, Australia, USA, China, North and South America.

We consider the following types of organizations as customers and partners: private and public companies responsible for water supply and utilities; private and public companies involved in the development of alternative energy and renewable natural resources; private and public funds and agencies; international organizations and foundations; various charitable and other socially oriented organizations.

Until 2025, the total investments of all countries in alternative technologies for obtaining water are estimated at $ 150-400 billion.

Investment, need for financing. To complete the tests and create an MVP, 15-20 million rubles are needed. To create the production of industrial installations, $ 2224 million is needed.

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2. Kuznetsova V.N. Ecology of Russia: Reader. - M .: AOMDS, 1995.
3. Nebel B. Environmental Science: How the World Works. Per. from English - M .: Mir, 1993.
4. RF patent. No. 20564479 "Installation for condensation of fresh water from atmospheric air".
5. RF patent. No. 2131001 "Installation for obtaining fresh water from atmospheric air."
6. United States Patent No. 6.116.034 System for Fresh Water From Atmospheric. AIR / Sep / 2000.
7. RF patent №2256036. Stand-alone unit for condensing fresh water from atmospheric air.
8. Semenov I.E. Autonomous installation for condensation of fresh water from atmospheric air. Das int. Simposium "Okologiche, technologiche und rechtlihe Aspekte der Lebensversorging". ERO-EGO. Hannover. 2012.
9. Semenov I.E. Autonomous unit for condensation of fresh water from atmospheric air // ViST, No. 12/2007.
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Chemistry for grade 11 (O.S. Gabrielyan, 2007),
task №4
to chapter " §17 The role of water in chemical reactions».

Scientists say that in the next 25-30 years, the world's fresh water reserves will be cut in half. Fresh water today accounts for about 3% of all water on earth. Approximately 75% of the world's fresh water is found in icebergs and glaciers; virtually all of the rest of the fresh water is underground. For humans, only 1% of water reserves are easily accessible, but even despite such a small figure, this would be quite enough to fully satisfy human needs, if all fresh water (namely this 1%) were distributed evenly over those places where a man dwells.

Today, North Asia, the Middle East, much of Africa, northeastern Mexico, most of the western states of America, Argentina and Chile, and virtually the entire Australian continent have an unstable freshwater supply.

How do we use fresh water? Over the past forty years, the amount of clean fresh water per person has decreased by almost 60%. Agriculture is the main consumer of water. Today this sector of the economy consumes more than 85% of all available fresh water. It is for this reason that those products that are grown on artificially irrigated lands are much more expensive than products that are replenished due to natural precipitation.

Today, more than eighty countries are experiencing a shortage of fresh water. The problem of fresh water is becoming more acute every day. In China alone, more than 300 cities experience a shortage of fresh water. the lack of water in the countries of the East is especially affected. Political tensions often arise between states due to lack of water. Improper use of groundwater leads to the depletion of their reserves, the rate of decrease of which is from 0.1 to 0.3% per year. For example, in the USA alone, the rate of water withdrawal from underground sources is 25% higher than the rate of their natural recovery. If this rate of resource consumption continues, then within 20 years some areas in the United States will become unproductive. Also in the United States, more than 37% of such bodies of water as lakes are polluted and unsuitable even for swimming. Approximately about 95% of water is unfit for human consumption in developing countries.

Demands increase and the amount of water decreases. Today, nearly 2 billion people in over 80 countries have limited drinking water supplies. In only nine countries, fresh water consumption exceeds the rate of natural renewal. By 2025, almost 50 countries with a total population of 3 billion will face water shortages. Even despite the abundance of rains that fall in China, half of the country's population is not adequately provided with drinking water on a regular basis. In the United States, groundwater pumping is 25% faster than its recovery rate. In some parts of the country, the consumption exceeds the recovery by 160%! Groundwater as well as soil is recovered too slowly, about 1% per year. But even these numbers do not stop the Americans. On average, a US resident consumes four times more fresh water than a European.

The greenhouse effect is becoming more evident. More and more gases are emitted into the atmosphere. The Earth's climate is disturbed every year. Already, there is a significant redistribution of atmospheric precipitation, the appearance of droughts in countries where this should not be, snowfall in Africa, unprecedented frosts of minus 30 ° C in Italy, Spain and other European countries - all this is a consequence of the greenhouse effect and global warming.

The result of such changes can be a decrease in crop yields, an increase in the number of plant diseases, an increase in the number and species of harmful insects. Everything goes to the fact that the ecosystem becomes unstable, cannot adapt to such rapidly changing conditions.

Emissions from industrial and chemical industries are a real poisonous "cocktail" for the atmosphere, the main reason for the decrease, and in some cases, the destruction of fields and forests. To reduce the impact on nature on the part of man, one should first of all abandon or at least reduce the consumption of fossil energy sources by an average of 60-80%. But today it is practically unrealistic, since we all live in an industrialized world and cannot refuse benefits in any way.