(Newswire.net — December 6, 2015) — Fresh water is normally lost between its sources to sites where it is used, and accurately accounting for that loss is vitally important for the survival of agriculture and human population around the world. However, the Stockholm scientists just announced their findings which show the loss of freshwater is 20 per cent higher globally than it was previously estimated – mostly due to irrigation process and constructions of dams. This increase in water loss equals whopping two thirds of the Amazon’s annual flow. Accoridng to the findings, it would seem our civilisation is on the threshold of crossing the line when it comes to safe water usage.
It is evident that due to a growing number of the people in the world, the need for water is growing too, but being so, water usage and its acceessibility has to be monitored more closely than before. Authors of a new study, Fernando Jeramillo and Georgia Destouni of Stockholm University, found that previous studies had underestimated the influence of irrigation and dam building processes.
These two processes have a large impact on ‘evapotranspiration’, which happens when plants take the water and release it through their leaves or when water evaporates from the Earth’s surface. This is very important when it comes to water consumption. People think that water consumption is just what we use and spend for drinking or during production processes, but it is not so. Water consumption is all the water that is taken, but not returned to its source straight away.
In that sense, irrigation and dam building cause more water to be lost than it would naturally occur. Furthermore, when water evaporates into the atmosphere at one location, it does not necesarily return to the same place, or in the same quantity- which accompanied by human interference results in water shortage.
“The human-caused increase in this loss is like a huge river of freshwater from the landscape to the atmosphere. We have changed so much of the freshwater system without knowing it and our study shows we have already passed a proposed planetary boundary for freshwater consumption.This is serious regardless of whether we have crossed a real boundary or if the boundary was underestimated”,- said Georgia Destouni, professor at the University of Stockholm.
It is predicted that climate change will become a major threat when it comes to water safety throughout the world, which means that together with people’s meddling in the water cycle, better and stricter monitoring and usage techniques are a must. Experts say that people spend water quite recklessly, totally unaware of its preciousness, so world policy towards water has to be changed to make people more careful for their own sake.