A Perspective on Water Crisis Essay

Global peeing crisis is mavin of the braggygest problems that the world is facing. Fresh urine resources be increasingly becoming scarce now and probably for the next decades. Less than one-half of 1% of all the body of body of peeing supply on the syllabuset comprises the operational modern and exculpated smashed (Maude). humankind already used more than half of the worlds keen fresh body of weewee and by the year 2025 the wasting disease of fresh body of peeing entrust increase to three-quarters. Global piddle consumption becomes double every 20 years and if this trend continues, the supply of fresh peeing go forth not be enough for the expect of the worlds commonwealth by 2025. human Bank and World Heath Organization noted that in that location argon about 2 billion mountain shake up no glide slope to clean and safe weewee and about 1 billion masses subscribe no enough clean water to meet their insouciant water requirements. Depleted water resou rces atomic number 18 attributed to the intensive urbanization, deforestation, water diversion, industrial farming and population ripening. As the world population increases, the consumption of kind freshwater may grow six-fold (Maude). As a result of water crisis, lots of people suffer and die from water and sanitation tie in diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, and hepatitis.Unfortunately, exclusively about of the lamentableest countries in the globe atomic number 18 the ones who be experiencing water shortage. Uganda is locate at the Sub-Saharan Africa and is among the distressingest countries around the globe. The rural argona relies simply on countrified industry however, secondary than half of the arable solid ground is subject for cultivation. Large part of the land argona (more or less 82%) of the landed estate is arable, however more than 67% of the country has poor ferralitic soil which has nearly disconnected its mineral content callable to prolonged weathering. Thus, becoming soil management is needed for the soil to regain its lost nutrients.The economy of the country has a great potential, considering the potentials of its agriculture and natural resources. on that point is a great possibility that Uganda provide recover from tryingies, most peculiarly from poverty. However, due to swell up-nigh brisk problems that the country is facing, it seems to be difficult for Uganda to thresh from poverty. One of the biggest problems that the country is facing today is water crisis. piddle crisis by all odds affect the country as a whole alters to Ugandas poverty and worsen her current situation (Dauda, 2003).The country of Uganda is definitely endowed with water resources. About 18% of the total surface area of the country is cover with renewable water resources including lakes, rivers and wetlands. Approximately, it green goddess supply an individual of Uganda with 2,800 m of water in a year (Dauda, 2003). Th ese fresh water resources are considered as the essential resource for experienceing life, preserving the environment, uphold festering and alleviating poverty in the country. It has compute impact the quality of life of Ugandans and their productivity as a whole.water system is very essential to Uganda since it plays an essential role in the production of adapted supply of food for the country as well as furnish electric index finger all over the country. It is the key resource of the countrys agriculture, food processing and separate agro-industries which provides employment to the people of Uganda. deflection from supporting Ugandas agriculture and industry, water overly provides electric power to the country. Indeed, it is the source of hydropower which is the countrys main resource of abundant and barefaced electric power.The socio-economic development of the country depends altogether on the energy produced from hydropower. unforesightful power supply so-and-sonot support Ugandas large-scale manufacturing industries and agro-industries which may look at to scurvy economic level of the country (National weewee tuition say, 2005). The major freshwater resources of Uganda embarrass rain, surface or open water and groundwater. rain is the most vital source of freshwater of the country. The rainfall pattern in the country greatly influences the land use potential and consequently the population dispersion.The rainfall pattern of Uganda is influenced by the local topography and the presence of Lake capital of Seychelles. Rainfall in Uganda tilts to increase with altitude meanwhile, rainfall is apt to decrease with the distance from the lake. spicy rainfall is noted on the central and western separate of Lake Victoria and over the mountain. An different doer that determines the incident of rainfall is the countrys season. The most stable rain season in Uganda is from the months of March to may meanwhile, the reported variable rainy m onths in Uganda is from October to December (National pee using report, 2005).The major freshwater resources of Uganda are in the form of lakes and rivers. These open sources are often used for the supply of hydropower in the country. The major resources of hydropower in Uganda are the Nile River and Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria supports the fisheries industry of Uganda and provide water supply to the majority of people of Uganda. Indeed, the Lake is withal supporting the agriculture industry along its shoreline (National Water organic evolution Report, 2005). However, the Lakes potential use for the future is now in inquire since it is experiencing dying up which triplets to lower water levels.The available water go away in Lake Victoria may not be enough to sustain the required hydroelectric power generation (Xinhua News Agency). Other water bodies include Kyoga, Albert, George, Edward, Ruizi, Katonga, Kafu, Mpologoma and Aswa (National Water maturement Report, 2005). Som e of these lakes, most e fussyly those on the western and central part are alike drying up due to drought which threatens the cattle industry in the area. Cattles produce little access to water which may lead to lower production rate and low quality of Cattles (Xinhua News Agency).In addition to drought, the quality of surface water has been deteriorating with time. In most parts of the country, surface and ground water are already polluted due to increased urbanization and population as well as human activities such as poor verdant practices, poor sanitation practices, industrial waste discharge, and mining activities (National Water phylogenesis Report, 2005). Aquifers, which can only be generated and recharged by endogenous precipitation, are also essential resource of freshwater in Uganda. It is the major source of water in rural, semi-arid and arid areas in the country.The occurrent of groundwater is heightsschoolly dependent on the geologic formation in the country. Ug anda is endowed with productive aquifers water this can be attributed to the geology of Uganda which is dominated by crystalline Basement Complex of pre-Cambrian age. some(prenominal) than 90% of the country is underlie by different kinds of rocks which predominantly include granites, granitoid gneisses and gneisses. Ground water resources are generally make up on the subway system layer of unconsolidated materials such as weathered bedrock, silt and clay.This groundwater can only be extracted through wells. The highest yielding and productive groundwater can be found in weathered-fractured bedrock which has high permeability (National Water culture Report, 2005). In general, the groundwater of Uganda is in good and sound condition. There are no traces of cyanogenic substances that may threaten the health of the people in Uganda. Moreover, these aquifers adjudge significant amount of minerals such as aluminum, calcium, magnesium metal cations, chloride, iron, atomic number 25 and chromium that may not curtilage harm to the people of Uganda.Consequently, there are few parts of the country that are found to have high amounts of these minerals and have traces of high nitrate and chromium levels in some areas. Aside from high amount of minerals, it was also reported that some parts of the country have found to be positive in Coliform bacteria. pollution of the aquifers is attributed to deterioration of the borehole casings, leaching of sewage wastes, weathering of aquifer environment as well as poor sanitation condition in the areas around the aquifers (National Water Development Report 2005).In general, the handiness and preservation of water resources in Uganda solely relies on diverse environmental, sociological and cultural factors. The approachability of freshwater resources depends on the dispersion of water bodies on the country. It is kn protest that freshwater resources in Uganda base a great part of the country. However, due to its uneven d istribution and seasonality, availability of water is stock-still a big problem on most parts of the country. Ugandans find it difficult to have an easy access to fresh and clean water.Women together with their young are spending so much time and energy on passing a mile-long way just to fetch water from areas with adequate supply of clean water. The uneven distribution of water resources in the country also influences the agro-industry in the country. Cattle raisers tend to transfer from place to place just to find safe and sufficient water for the cattles. As a result, disease spread and transfer brought by the cattles becomes prevalent on various regions of the country (Xinhua News Agency).Meanwhile, uneven distribution of groundwater greatly influenced the accessibility of Ugandans to clean water. Regions endowed with productive groundwater are therefore rich in geological characteristics (National Water Development Report 2005). The occurrence of extreme weather conditions ha s a great effect on the availability and safety of water on the country. Heavy rains may cause to fill and consequently may contaminate the water resources of the some regions in the country. dirty water may result to more serious problems such as disease outbreaks, epidemics and even death.Contaminated water is the key reason to the high and increasing mortality rate of Ugandans especially of infants (National Water Development Report 2005). It is reported that most number of mortality occurs on infants and this can be attributed to less accessibility to clean and safe water. Meanwhile, erratic rainfall and seasonality of the occurrence of rainfall in the country resulted to desertification of arable lands. These definitely affect several(prenominal) industries in the country especially those that greatly depend on water (i. e. agricultural industries) (Dauda, 2003).Some of the suspected major reasons of water resources deterioration in Uganda are rapid growth population, urbaniz ation, industrial enterprise, relentless environmental degradation and deforestation as well as pollution. High population density greatly influenced the availability of water resources in Uganda. The population of Uganda in 2007 is approximately 30. 9 million and more than half of it is comprised of infants. The country has an average annual growth rate of 3. 4% which is one of the highest growth rates in the globe. The demand for water relatively increased while the supply decreased with high population density.And as what the country is experiencing, there is no enough clean water for all. Increased population attach to by urbanization and industrialization resulted to increased pollution and deforestation. Most of the land bodies are converted to industries which produces toxic wastes that pollute the environment especially water bodies. This contributes to the decreased supply of water in Uganda. Depleted water supply is also attributed to poor agricultural practices in the c ountry such as cultivation, pastoral activities, and livestock practices. scant(p) sanitation is also identified as a possible cause of freshwater shortage in Uganda.Some of the land owners that cultivate their own lands seem to be unaware of environmentally sustainable practices. They have poor knowledge on these methods that they do any practices which may pollute their environment. These practices accompanied by poor sanitation go away indeed bring prejudicial effect on Ugandas environment. Poor sanitation practices are among the factors that contribute to depleted water supply and water related diseases in Uganda. fetching and purifying water are very labor intensive, considering the distance that Ugandans walk just to discover clean and safe water.They often share and die hard polluted water from water resources where farm animals usually dwell. However, as an effortless routine, it became arduous to the people of Uganda to fetch water from distance places and to consume so much time purifying the water that they fetched. People tend to trim the hazard that the contaminated water may bring them they just subscribe the water as ease without purifying it. As a result, development of water related diseases became prevalent in Uganda (Dauda, 2003). Another major factor that leads to water shortage in Uganda is spheric warming.Majority of Ugandas water table, especially the northern and northeastern part is dry due to global warming and environmental degradation (Dauda, 2003). Global warming may also contribute to the occurrence on the extreme weather condition in the country such as El Nino and La Nina. Moreover, these parts of the country are experiencing wide fluctuations in the availability of water amongst wet and dry seasons as well as variations in the onset of rainfall as a result of the extreme weather conditions (National Water Development Report 2005).Prolonged drought, which leads to drying up of significant water tables of Uganda, has al so menace the food security in the country. Due to prolonged drought, production of raw material foods of Ugandans such as sorghum and millet relatively decreased (EuropaWorld). Just uniform any other country, Uganda is rich in traditions and belief. They value their culture so much it comes to a point that their beliefs and traditions hinder the possibility of development in their country. There are existing cultural norms that are related to the water bodies in Uganda.Some of the water bodies in Uganda are believed to have special healing powers for many an(prenominal) diseases and supernatural dwellers as well. Moreover, these water bodies have potentials for many significant uses such as hydropower resource and irrigation for agricultural industries. However, due to confining cultural attachment of people of Uganda to these water resources, the government found it difficult to create potential programs that will optimize the use of the water resources in the country (Nation al Water Development Report 2005).Aside from various problems state previously that have great impact on freshwater availability, Ugandas near regions seem to contribute on the water crisis that it is experiencing. Majority of Ugandas freshwater resources have existing surmounting frontiers which bound the country from maximize its use on its own water resources within its territory. Though they have legal riparian rights to have a share on the water resources, these transboundaries definitely affect the socio-economic growth of the country since water is considered to be as the key player in the development of Uganda (Encounter Uganda Well Health).For one thing, these transboundaries attend as the main competitors of Uganda from the available water resources. People of Uganda have little access to large water resources since they are restricted to come crossways the boundary of another country. Moreover, these crossing frontiers not only prevent Uganda from optimizing its ava ilable freshwater resources but source of food and employment as well (National Water Development Report 2005). In order to unravel the existing problems in Uganda, its government decided to make some modifications on its various sectors, most especially the water sector.Several studies and situational analyses are conducted by the water sector that leads to preparation of comprehensive strategy of water sector and enthronisation strategies. The government has anticipated many factors and they made it possible that the strategies may still be implemented on the sector up to 2015. The government has already started implementing some of the strategies and one of these is Sector Wide Approach to Planning (business deal). SWAP requires all stakeholders to participate in the planning and implementation of the sectors activities while optimizing benefits for all.The strategy has provided a regular budget on the programs that are made which is relatively different to the previous programs that the sector has made (National Water Development Report 2005). Another significant program that also aimed to call down sustainable management and development of water resources of the riparian regions is the Collaborative league Program. The program is focused in improving the coordination of efforts of the different stakeholders. The program is also focused on harmonizing strategies and plans that involves sustainable management and development of the shared water resources.This makes Uganda very eager to have a sozzled relationship with its neighboring regions. Uganda became enthusiastic with regard to making joint plan, management and development of the water resources that they shared. Ugandas aim on making collaboration with her transboundaries is for all of them to obtain fair benefits from the water resources as well as to ensure that they will get sufficient supply of clean water. Fair utilization and consumption of shared water provide a high opportunity for sustai nable use of resources as well as sustainable growth and development.Moreover, Uganda will be able to support its economic and social objectives through collaborating with its cross frontiers (National Water Development Report 2005). The riparian countries including Uganda will have comparable to(predicate) advantages from the equitable use of shared water. While building a close relationship with the riparian countries, the potentials of the existing industries in Uganda may be demonstrable through collaboration with her neighboring regions. Advancement in its industries may lead to economic development of the country and in turn advancement on the quality of life and well being of its whole nation.Meanwhile, there are potential conflicts identified in the implementation of collaboration program between the riparian countries. Aside from the common objective that the riparian countries agreed on making the joint collaboration, these countries also have different interests which m ake a potential conflict between them. They made plans and implemented projects which do not take into favor the wide coverage of the shared water resources. They do not anticipate the possible conflicts that may arise by implanting their plans.As a result, some of their individual plans for the development of their own countries are contradicting with the plans of other countries. Plans of other countries will not be possible if other countries plan will be allowed. Another issue that makes the joint program mingled is the mistrust among the cross frontiers. This issue seems to be unavoidable since the riparian countries have different objectives and interest in joining the joint program. They refuse to sight their own data regarding the shared water resources as well as information of their plans and strategies.Since the riparian countries have no idea of the plans and programs of other riparian countries there are instances that the individual projects implemented are the same with other countries (National Water Development Report 2005). The last issue identified is the payoff of the environment. One of the minor objectives of the joint program is to conserve the environment however, it is found to be difficult to implement their plans and projects while not taking into consideration the possible negative effect that it may bring to their environment.The main headache here is the methods of the activities and projects as well as the way these are conducted. Countries located on the downstream of the shared water resources are threatened by the possible effect of the activities that the upstream countries are conducting. Also due to mistrust, they are not guaranteed that the upstream countries are performing the activities in a proper way. It is essential that both the upstream and downstream countries will conduct their programs and projects in such a way that these programs will not affect that conservation of environment that they are promoting in the country.Through this little start, there will be a great possibility that their countries will surpass big problems such as water crisis and most of all poverty.ReferencesBarlow, Maude. The global water crisis and the Commodification of the worlds water supply A Special Report issued by the International Forum on Globalization (IFG). Retrieved may 30, 2008, from http//www. thirdworldtraveler. com/Water/Global_Trade_BG. html Toure, Dauda. 2003. The Millennium Development Goals Progress Report for Uganda. Retrieved May30, 2008, from http//www. undg.org/archive_docs/6197-Denmark_MDG_Report. pdf 2005. National Water Development Report Uganda. Retrieved May 30, 2008, from http//www. unesdoc. unesco. org/images/0014/001467/146760E. pdf Xinhua News Agency. 2006. Lakes in Uganda dry up due to prolonged drought. Retrieved May 29, 2008, from highbeam. com/doc database. Encounter Uganda Well Health. Retrieved May 29, 2008 from water_website database. EuropaWorld. 2003, February 21. Northe rn Uganda The Forgotten Crisis. Retrieved May 29, 2008, from http//www. europaworld. org/week117/northernuganda21203. htm