The most promising technologies for resolving water scarcity include:

1. Desalination – Advanced reverse osmosis and solar-powered desalination to convert seawater into fresh water.

2. Atmospheric Water Harvesting – Devices that extract water from air using condensation or absorbent materials.

3. Water Recycling & Reuse – Advanced wastewater treatment and greywater recycling for irrigation and industrial use.

4. Drip Irrigation – Precision agriculture techniques to reduce water wastage in farming.

5. Smart Water Management – IoT and AI-based monitoring systems to detect leaks and optimize water distribution.

6. Nanofiltration & Advanced Membranes – More efficient and cost-effective water purification methods.

7. Rainwater Harvesting – Improved storage and filtration systems for collecting and using rainwater.

These innovations can help address water shortages globally.

No.

Water issues are always local issues, and while many of the water stressed regions in the world are proximate to seawater or saline aquifers, desalination is only a solution for those that can afford to pay the cost in energy to obtain it. Moreover, water demand is often in areas where desalination cannot be used or will not provide a solution.

As an example of the first, two of the most water-stressed regions in the world right now are Inner Mongolia and Ningxia provinces, very far inland without access to seawater. The Chinese government has proposed a megaproject to bring desalinated water from the Bohai Sea in a 600 km pipeline transporting 340,000 cubic meters a day over that distance and a 1.4 km elevation. This is a true megaproject idea that most Western analysts (and many Chinese ones) have said has dubious investment return, and has ignited national debate in China over its engineering feasibility and cost, which is most likely measured on the order of US$10 billion.

An example of the second type of problem would be the Caspian Sea. The Caspian Sea's problem is that water inflows are so low that the level of the sea, which is mildly saline, cannot be maintained. Although desalination can be used to increase the quality of the water available to humans, the fundamental problem - that there is just not enough of it available to maintain water levels for things like navigation - can't be solved by desalination.

There is also the energy constraint. Broadly speaking there are two main approaches to desalination, one of which is thermal (using multiple effect evaporation or multiple effect distillation) and the other one of which is pressure-based (using membrane processes in reverse osmosis). Both of these take a significant amount of energy, using either heat or electricity. Desalination is now only widely practiced in places that can either afford to pay for that energy (i.e., they are rich), or have very advantaged energy resources, usually both. The Persian Gulf countries have cheap natural gas or oil for thermal resources; Australia has coal, and both places are rich. In California the Carlsbad Desalination project makes up for a relative paucity of energy resources with wealth, and in places like Texas where energy is more abundant you can also find desal. However, most of the desalination capacity in the US is for brackish water, requiring less energy and infrastructure than treating sea water.

Top ten desalination-using countries Source: Desalination.com

In no place has renewable energy achieved the reliability to successfully serve the needs of water production, though many places have put up renewable energy capacity to serve at least some demand.

The high cost of desalinated water means that it is even today generally only used for the most expensive applications:

source: Desalination.com |

However, direct municipal use of water makes up well under 50% of the use of water worldwide, despite it being the most expensive to the end user (and therefore profitable for desalination ventures). The most thirsty users of water - power stations, industry, and most of all, agriculture, rarely use desalinated water.

In truth desalination and other sources of water withdrawals are only one leg on which global water supplies need to be supported. The others are increases in usage efficiency and, most importantly, changing consumption patterns to be sustainable and reflect local resources - that means no more cotton, pistachios or rice in Texas or the California central valley. It's simply not feasible from a cost, energetic or technical perspective to make up all projected water growth from now on using desalination alone.

1. Desalination Technologies

Converting seawater into freshwater is a game-changer for regions with limited freshwater sources

2. Water Recycling & Reuse

• Advanced Wastewater Treatment: Converts sewage into drinkable water through multi-stage purification.
• Greywater Recycling: Treats and reuses water from showers, sinks, and washing machines.

3. Atmospheric Water Harvesting

Extracting water from the air is an innovative approach for arid regions.

• Fog Nets: Capture water droplets from fog in mountainous and coastal regions.
• Hydrogel Water Harvesters: Materials that absorb moisture at night and release it as drinkable water during the day.

What are possible solutions to water pollution?

There are several innovative and cost-effective ways to remove pollution from water:

*Physical Methods:*

1. Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs): Efficient, compact, and energy-saving.

2. Ceramic Water Filters: Low-cost, long-lasting, and effective against bacteria and viruses.

3. Solar Still: Uses solar energy to evaporate and condense water.

*Biological Methods:*

1. Wetland-based Treatment: Natural, low-maintenance, and effective for nutrient removal.

2. Biofilm Reactors: Efficient, compact, and suitable for small-scale treatment.

3. Algae-based Treatment: Utilizes algae to absorb pollutants.

*Chemical Methods:*

1. Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs): Effective against organic pollutants.

2. Ion Exchange Resins: Efficient for heavy metal removal.

3. Electrocoagulation: Low-energy, chemical-free, and effective for heavy metal removal.

*Hybrid Methods:*

1. Nanofiltration-Ultrafiltration (NF-UF) Systems: High-efficiency, low-pressure.

2. Bioreactor-Nanofiltration (BNF) Systems: Combines biological and physical treatment.

3. Solar-Powered Distillation: Integrates solar energy with distillation.

*Natural and Low-Cost Methods:*

1. Plant-based Treatment (Phytoremediation): Utilizes plants to absorb pollutants.

2. Sand Filtration: Simple, low-cost, and effective for particulate removal.

3. Activated Carbon from Agricultural Waste: Low-cost, sustainable.

*Innovative Materials:*

1. Graphene-based Membranes: High-efficiency, anti-fouling.

2. Bio-inspired Membranes: Mimic nature's filtration mechanisms.

3. Nanocellulose-based Materials: Sustainable, high-performance.

*Cost-Effective Solutions:*

1. Decentralized Treatment Systems: Suitable for small communities.

2. Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS) Approach: Low-cost, community-driven.

3. Open-Source Water Treatment Technologies: Accessible, affordable.

Some notable organizations working on innovative water purification solutions:

1. UNEP

2. UNICEF's Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Program

3. The Water Innovation Network (WIN)

4. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras's Water Research Center

5. Stanford University's Water and Energy Nexus (WEN) Initiative.

Sankaranarayanan, T.

The State of California creatively drove at least 10% of it’s population out of the state in the last 10 years by enacting silly laws, raising taxes to unsustainable levels, and other obnoxious rulemaking. This population went to other states, like Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Texas, and Arizona, where finding the water to feed them is now another states problem. Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, Tennessee, and Texas are “dry” states, which eliminates the sale of beer, booze, and bubbly, saving untold millions of gallons of hydration. The middle east has been doing it for years and stays dry by design. Survivalists are experts at drinking their own pee. I hear it’s refreshing with a piquant aire and sweet acid aftertaste, but I haven’t tried it.

Most inventors are exploring pulling water from air humidity, floating in icebergs from both of the artic areas, and doing whatever Israel does except nowhere near as efficiently. North Dakota was set to put an aqueduct from the glaciers in the Canadian Rockies to water their crops, but it got cancelled by Alberta when the Keystone XL pipeline got cancelled, in retaliation. I’ve heard that LaBatts Beer is illegal now in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Oh, the humanity! Michigan has sent their Naval Reserve to Lake Superior and Lake Huron to take back Canada’s access to our Great Lakes. It appears a water rights war is brewing now in Niagara. The National Hockey League has voted to use roller skates from now on, and Starbucks is forced to selling coffee flavored hot milk, which they call a latte. Will we ever learn?

I am reusing my answer from Tamil-Quora (Original answer is here: சென்னை நீர் பற்றாக்குறைக்கு நீண்டகால தீர்வை வழங்குவதற்கு நாம் என்ன செய்யலாம்? கேள்விக்கு சிவகுமார் பினாயூர் இராமகிருஷ்ணன் (Sivakumar Ponaiyur Ramakrishnan)-இன் பதில்).

My answer was focused on what we can do (rather than just government).

1. Water conservation: Easier said than done. Lot of people talk about it but very few people understand it and even lesser number of people actually implement it. I have lived in Dindigul in mid-80s. We used to get drinking water once every 6–7 days then. Each family would get not more than 3–4 pots of drinking water for the next 1 week. I remember how preciously we used to save it and ration it. Such a rigor is very much needed in a state like TN where there is no perennial river.
2. STP should be made mandatory and all toilets must flush with grey water only. All plants must be watered using STP treated water. This will save a lot of gallons
3. Excess STP water maybe discharged into nearby lake or pond (after treating the water properly). This will help increase the water table and also revive dead lakes / ponds.
4. Avoid RO plants, RO machines for purifying water. These machines waste about 60–70% of the water and there is no proper reuse of this leftover water.
5. This is not an immediate measure, but a long term one (which we can do for the benefit of our children). When we buy land, please check if it is built on a dried lake bed or water body. If yes, then let’s avoid it. It may sound funny; some people might think that what if I let it go, someone else might buy this. This could be true; but please note that even large oceans gets filled one drop at a time. However little this may be, it will have domino effect and we can do our bit to protect a lake for our children
6. Beyond this, the government is taking measures like sending water in trains to affected areas etc. I would also recommend reclaiming of all water bodies, however difficult it might be. So that when the rain comes, we have enough places to store it for future usage.

Water scarcity has already become a real problem, just that it does not arrive in your or mine area yet

Time to act now, otherwise I overheard once that world war 3rd will happen for water

And unfortunately, it seems so real nowadays

But as a human we have the power to change our destiny, this is why Sadhguru is launching a Conscious planet movement in 2022, just to make people aware of the real disaster in front of us.

Let's be with it everyone

In fact,, the innovative solutions that humans have established through modern science and technology is root cause for the water scarcity issues that we have started seeing. This will only increase with more and more innovative solutions for human centric consumption

We need to go back to basics, create a long-term master plan, and implement it as given below: -

We misunderstand water. Water by itself will not stay in a place without an ecosystem. The fast drying up of modern lakes and tanks is the evidence. No amount of rainwater harvesting, water recycling, or efficient water use is going to help. They are just band-aids and give a good press to some people, not a solution.

Steps needed for a permanent solution:

1. Prevent sewage, industrial waste, plastics, and chemical pesticides from getting into lakes and rivers.

2. It is extremely important that we ensure the chemical pesticides and plastic waste do not get into the lakes, ponds, and rivers. Otherwise, the solution will not work. Shut down the chemical pesticide and plastic industries if required and move to natural alternatives.

3. Create artificial lakes or ponds—at least one for each kilometer radius. Reclaim the destroyed lakes if required. For example, the auditorium at the National Games Village Complex can be converted into a lake. What sports can we play when there is no water to drink?

4. Plant and grow root-stock-based forest trees and traditional trees around them and on the banks of rivers.

5. Grow water plants in them( other than weeds) and Pandanus fascicularis(kaitha fruit) a plant on the banks. Do not remove them. This is very important for the ecosystem.

6. Ensure that genetically modified fish, commercial fish, and plants are completely eliminated from the lakes and rivers.

7. Interconnect the lakes and ponds to manage flooding.

8. Do not use them for any commercial purposes, including tourism and boating. Leave them to nature.

That is it, then we will never have a water problem if we do this for all lakes and rivers.

The problem with water isn’t scarcity, it’s treatment and distribution. The world is 70% water. Problem is, most of it is unfit to drink because of salinity or salt content.

Of the world's total water supply of about 332.5 million cubic miles of water, over 96% is saline or salt water. And, of the total freshwater, over 68% is locked up in ice and glaciers. Another 30% of freshwater is in the ground. Fresh surface-water sources, such as rivers and lakes, only constitute about 22,300 cubic miles (93,100 cubic kilometers), which is about 1/150th of 1% of total water. Yet, rivers and lakes are the sources of most of the water people use everyday.

There are industrial desalinization plants, but they use an enormous amount of electricity and the ocean water they treat has to be charged for at a much higher rate than water sourced from a land-based aquifer, river, or lake.

The U.S. Great Lakes contains the largest single source of fresh water on earth and most of it is drained into the Atlantic Ocean by way of the St. Lawrence River. Every day, trillions of gallons of relatively clean, fresh water is washed over the falls and into the ocean.

I’ve always thought we could create pipelines to connect say, two of the Great Lakes, Michigan, and Superior, to the upper regions of the Colorado River and allow some of that water to help keep river flow normal, thereby supplying users downstream in the U.S. and Mexico with water for consumption and agriculture. It would be a massive undertaking, but with today’s pipeline technology, it’s doable. Now, I realize there’s such a thing as the Great Lakes Compact, which prohibits water being taken from the Lakes for any destination beyond the Great Lakes Basin, but treaties are made to be broken, especially in times of trouble and with the severe droughts and low river levels we’ve seen in the past 10 years, these are definitely “troubled” times.

Reasons for Water Scarcity:

1. Unscientific agriculture: Crops like paddy consume a lot of water so it ould be shown in the areas where water is in surplus causing a stress on our water resources.
2. Power Subsidy to farmers: Governments provide free electricity to farmers so the use underground water without realising the importance of it.
3. Climate change: Cities like Chennai are experiencing floods and droughts in very short inerval of time becaue of climate change and climate change is causing uneven distribution of water.
4. Pollution: Lot of water is being discharged in our rivers and other water resources without being regulated which is making our water resources unusable.
5. Pesticides and Fertilizers: Excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers are causing water pollution and make water unhealthy for human consumption.
6. Ineffective water storage and Recharge: There is no effective underground water recharge method is used,even rooftop water harvesting is not being utilized in India.
7. Lack of water treatment pants or infrastructure is also a big problem. In India almost 60 % water is being discharged untreated into other water bodies
8. Non recycling: Waste water can be reused after treatment but we need to develop infrastructure for it.
9. Poverty: In big cities rich people are using showers daily but in adjacent slums people don't have water even fir drinking.
10. Salinity: We know that 71% of earth is covered in water but 97 % of it is in oceans which is saline and can't be used directly so we need desalination plants to use and distribute it with pipelines ti long distances

So in short water is not scarce on earth but our uncontrolled usase,pollution,uneven distribution makes it scarse

No technology can solve those problems.

It is not the under development of technology that causes hunger or poverty. It is the way how wealth is distributed between people that keeps the problem to stay. Technology in a way makes things worse.

When human had low or no technology, we need each other to survive. That is when I would share my fruit with you even if I have only one fruit. Yet when food is no longer a problem, when I no longer need you to survive, I see you more like a rival. I want to have more fruits than you so that you will admire me because I enjoy that feeling. I even want you to have no fruit at all so that you will ask for mercy and do what I tell you to, such as grow more fruits for me. And my kids, I will ensure they are superior to your kids, too. Since I no longer worry about survival, and you are working to keep it up, I will have time to develop technology.

Shall I develop a technology which will free you or secure my superior position? We both know the answer.

Desalination plants work well and can supply whole cities. I suspect these technologies will become increasingly important as the world suffers from more frequent, longer lasting droughts because the use of desalination to supply urban metropolises can free up a lot of water for natural systems and agriculture, strengthening ecosystems and food security as a result.

Another important option is the opportunity to pursue water sensitive urban design (WSUD). By increasing the volume of permeable surface area in our built environment, we can lesson the impacts of our urban form on ecosystems and the water cycle.

The long and short of it is that more water can enter the soil and be accessed by more plants and animals as a result. By allowing rainfall to infiltrate the soil, natural reservoirs (that are often cut-off from fresh input by urban development) can also be recharged and there will be less run-off flowing into drains. Rivers, lakes, dams and subterranean resorvoirs are all waterbodies that can all benefit. So, there will be less water that gets dumped into the ocean without performing its natural ecosystem services and because of this, less pollution from roadways will be carried into the ocean as well.

Instead, with WSUD, pollution gets sequestered deep under ground as natural processes filter the water. What's more, WSUD reduces flood risks and can be used to increase urban biodiversity, as it often includes more green spaces, wetlands, planters, and native species. As such WSUD should be on the radar of governments, ecologists and urban planners everywhere!

Tackling water scarcity requires a multi-pronged approach that includes both short-term solutions to alleviate immediate pressures and long-term strategies for sustainable water management. There are several steps that can be taken:

Water Conservation: Encourage water conservation practices at both individual and community levels. This can include fixing leaks, using water-efficient appliances, and promoting behavioral changes such as taking shorter showers or turning off faucets when not in use.

Better water management: Implement more efficient water management systems such as drip irrigation in agriculture, which reduces water wastage compared to traditional methods such as flooded fields. Additionally, using advanced technology for water monitoring and distribution can help optimize water use.

Wastewater Treatment and Reuse: Invest in wastewater treatment facilities to reuse and recycle water for non-potable purposes such as irrigation, industrial processes, and even in some cases proper treatment. After drinking water can also be used.

Rainwater Harvesting: Promote rainwater harvesting techniques to harvest rainwater for domestic or agricultural use. This can include simple methods such as installing rain barrels or more complex systems for mass capture and storage.

Desalination: In areas with access to seawater, desalination plants can provide an additional source of fresh water. Although desalination can be energy-intensive and expensive, advances in technology are making it more efficient and affordable over time.

Protection of water sources: Protect freshwater sources such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs from pollution, over-extraction and degradation. This includes enforcing regulations, enforcing environmental laws, and promoting sustainable land use practices.

Education and Awareness: Raise awareness of the importance of water conservation and sustainable water management practices through educational campaigns targeting schools, communities and industries. Empowering people with knowledge can lead to more responsible water use habits.

Policy and Governance: Develop and implement water management policies that prioritize sustainability, equity and access for all stakeholders. This can include integrated approaches to water resource management that consider the needs of different sectors and communities.

International cooperation: Addressing water scarcity often requires cooperation across borders, especially in regions where water resources are shared between several countries. Diplomatic efforts and agreements can help facilitate cooperation on issues such as international water management and pollution control.

Invest in infrastructure: Invest in infrastructure projects to improve water supply and distribution systems, especially in vulnerable areas. This includes building reservoirs, pipelines, and water treatment plants to increase access to clean water.

By integrating these approaches and adapting them to local contexts, communities and governments can work to reduce water scarcity and ensure a more sustainable water future for all.

Yes, desalination will become a global solution for water scarcity, mainly in coastal areas in dry countries. Sydney, Australia gets about a third of its water from Kurnell Desalination plant.
Israel and Australia appear to be leading the rest of the world in desalination technology.
Solar desalination works but is slow. A small solar still called the Eliodomestico yields 5 litres of fresh water a day. Reverse osmosis systems work better than solar, generally, but require high-pressure pumps to force seawater through semi-permeable membranes to filter out salt molecules. A new filter material looks promising; nanoporous graphene is a type of carbon grid which can filter salt from seawater 100 to 1,000 times faster than other reverse osmosis membranes in use, and will not require high-pressure pumps.
What should be done with sea salt left over from desalination? It can be made into salt licks for livestock, refined for human food use, or even made into salt fibers, similar to fibreglass, for use in construction materials.

I have found myself the rare possessor of a memory of scientific knowledge that was established in the 1980’s.

From 1940 to 1970 the world’s deserts expanded 10%. This displaced close to 300 million people from their ancestral farmlands and is largely responsible for the political chaos in Africa today.

By the late 1980’s scientists recognized that this was due to soot and smog, which act as cloud seeding, and caused moist air which would previously carry rain onto land, to rain instead in the oceans.

Now that Asia is using fossil fuels the way North America and Europe did in the last century the droughts are affecting the Americas from Chile to Alaska.

If we build wind and solar farms as fast as we can we will see the end of fossil fuels, because all wind and all solar farms are cheaper than all fossil and all nuclear generation. I think that long before the end of fossil fuels, reduced soot and smog will result in restored rainfall to much of the world.

High demand for water is called water scarcity. We can prevent water scarcity through a rooftop rainwater harvesting system.

The rooftop rainwater harvesting system

This system helps to store a huge amount of rainwater in storage tanks but it needs to be purified in case of long-term storage.

Shade balls covering system

We can prevent water scarcity on pool water by pouring shade balls to cover the entire pool because the shade balls block the sunlight entering into the pool.

This is a well known fact that water is scarce. Not any water, but the water which we can drink. Although earth is majorly covered by water (water covers 71% of the surface of Earth), but out of that water 97% of water is held by oceans which is saline i.e undrinkable.So why can’t we just make water chemically in laboratories? We know the formula, right? We know that it is formed by the combination of hydrogen and oxygen. So why don’t we do it already?

The problem with manufacturing of water-

It is not as easy as it appears to be. Combination of hydrogen and oxygen atoms is accompanied by release of tremendous amount of energy.

Hydrogen, being the simplest element in the world, consists of only 1 electron in its orbit. Oxygen on the other hand, has 6 electrons in its outermost orbit, 2 short of a completely filled outermost shell. There is an energy barrier which has to be overcome to bring these two elements together.

Also hydrogen is a highly flammable gas and oxygen supports combustion, so what happens when they come together, that too in large quantities?

This chemical reaction, when occurs, produces a large amount of energy, which may amount to a full scale, deadly explosion.

The laboratories and the facilities required to contain such great and spontaneous emission of energy would be too expensive to be practically and economically viable.

One way to ‘make’ water would be to extract the water that is already present in the air as water-vapor. Using sheets of cooled metal, the air temperature can be rapidly dropped, allowing the water vapour to condense.

1. Water cycle has stopped functioning.
2. The total amount of water on earth has decreased.
3. The amount of potable water is decreasing because of over usage.
4. Due to increasing frequency of floods and droughts.

The consumption of water has increased. There is an increasing frequency of floods.

Water scarcity is defined as a water deficiency or a lack of safe water supplies. As the population of the world grows and the environment becomes further affected by climate change, access to fresh drinking water dwindles. Globally, 785 million people lack access to clean drinking water.

India's water crisis is often attributed to lack of government planning, increased corporate privatization, industrial and human waste and government corruption. In addition, water scarcity in India is expected to worsen as the overall population is expected to increase to 1.6 billion by year 2050.

One of the defining features of economics is scarcity, which deals with how people satisfy unlimited wants and needs with limited resources. Scarcity affects the monetary value people place on goods and services and how governments and private firms decide to distribute resources.

Stay Healthy…Stay Blessed ❤️

Naturally produced water is way more efficient than artificially manufactured ones. We can realise that producing water gives out a lot of energy, as we know it has a very stable interatomic bond by the fact that we require hours of electrolysis (correct me if I am wrong) to separate Hydrogen and Oxygen. Burning of Hydrogen is a way to produce water, but it is way too powerful a combustion. Powerful enough to launch spaceships, and Hydrogen is used as a fuel there.

Moreover, the requirement of the technology to produce water is too cumbersome and expensive. By the mention of the process itself you can realise the drawbacks of this process and it's safety issues.

Furthermore producing water may actually harm the environment as the balance of naturally produced substance may alter. And well, FYI water vapour is a greenhouse gas. Meaning, excess water may lead to global warming.

So our only goal should be to save and treat water as much as needed. Because we all know that, "Earth has enough for our need, but not for our greed". :)

To get good water from bad, there are two primary methods, desalinization and reverse osmosis. RO is very inefficient, in that there is generally a lot ow waste water produced, which would have to be dumped somewhere, or further purified at quite a cost.

Desalinization requires a lot of energy to vaporize the water, which leaves the impurities behind as solids, much easier to dispose of. Desalinization will become much more practical when we convert most of the world’s energy to nuclear. Then we can produce as much water as is needed, but we still might need very long pipelines to deliver it to the right places. There is no doubt that in water short areas, the price of water will eventually become high enough so that people will not use it very inefficiently, as they do now in most places.

This is a pretty broad and vague question. Technology can reduce scarcity or drive it. If used well, technology can reduce scarce resources by making things more available or accessible. A huge role for technology is energy efficiency. Dr. Skip Laitner testified to the U.S. Congress in 2007 that from 1970 to 2005 76% of all energy capability added to the U.S. was in the form of energy efficiency savings. This is easier to understand if you recognize that the average car in 2005 traveled twice as far on a gallon of gasoline than the average car in 1970.

Technology might work the other way. People are claiming that technology is driving lithium shortages. This isn’t really accurate. What is accurate is that the demand for lithium has grown larger than some of the existing resources, and new ones have to be opened up. Lithium is actually quite common, but we are pretty new at using it. Lithium is also very recyclable, but there aren’t a lot of lithium recycling operations in existence yet.

New battery technology eliminates the need for lithium, at least in some products. You can do an internet search for iron flow batteries to read about one such example.

Technology is driving many fish species to the point where they are endangered. We could use technology to limit this, but we have to do so. It won’t happen automatically.

There is no such thing as "water scarcity." Water flows in a cycle, and the cycle here on Earth is a closed system. With such a closed system and with a lot of terrestrial and aquatic scapes, water gets moved to different areas of the world leaving other places next to bone dry. This all depends on the plant life that exists in that area that has an influence on water dispersal in the system.

What people don't understand about water cycling is how plants fit into this picture, nor how modifying the landscape to make water-resistant urban areas covered in asphalt and concrete, and destroying perennial vegetation (from forests to grasslands) to create farmable land actually actively discourages water to come to these areas. Too often these numbers get tossed around about how much water is used to produce beef or a bushel of wheat without really understanding what's going on in the ecological system.

When a landscape that was once treed, for instance, is cleared for agricultural land like that which happened in many parts of the world and which is happening now, the influence those trees once had on the landscape to rainfall patterns is no longer present. That's because the high rate of transpiration that once came from these wooded areas which enriched the atmosphere with water vapour is no longer there. Usually when forests are present, they sustain themselves by producing their own precipitation, because they are physically creating and perpetuation the conditions where they can grow. Now how they do that is, again through transpiration, or evapo-transpiration. Moist air from the trees rises because it's warm. As it rises, it cools, and condenses to form clouds. A partial vacuum is created where this condensation occurred, creating an air pressure gradient where these forests can bring in moist air from the ocean. The "small water cycle" that forests and surrounding regions also create (which is the creation of a micro-climate and localized environmental conditions for small areas) comes into play because the moisture that is brought in from this large water cycle into the small water cycle develops and brings the much-needed, sustaining rains.

So when these areas are deforested or cleared of all vegetation--trees, shrubs, grasses, forbs--to make way for farmland which is essentially bare soil exposed to the sun, this too clears the air for sustaining rains. It inherently discourages rain to come to the land. Dry bare ground begets dry air. The reason this is so is because when the heat of the sun hits the soil the heat just sits there and doesn't get turned into moist water vapor that would return to the atmosphere if the ground were covered with plants. It's just like making toast: the heat from the elements in the toaster force the moist air out of the bread until it dries out. If you leave the bread out for too long moisture continues to leave it until it's so dry that it breaks into pieces all too easily by hand. This is similar with what happens when the sun heats bare soil for a lengthy period of time. So with bare soil, because it is dry (and as it dries it destroys microbe activity, becomes overly oxidized, and compacts causing water that does land in the surface to run off more than soak in), and because no perennial plants exist to release water vapour into the atmosphere through evapo-transpiration, the rains stop coming completely.

This is exactly what happened in Western Kenya. In just 15 years, over 500,000 acres of land was cleared and developed into agricultural land. As a result, the once-full rivers dried up. In 2009, the rainy season that usually occurs from August to November didn't come. And when the rain does come, it's weak. So weak that it exacerbates the dry conditions already present in the area, and even shut down the hydropower station run by the Japanese.

Christopher Columbus's son Ferdinand, who wrote a biography of his father's voyage to the New World, was quoted to have experienced the same phenomenon: "On July [22nd, Columbus] departed for Jamaica... Every afternoon there was a rain squall that lasted for about an hour. The admiral attributes this to the great forests of that land; he knew from experience that formerly this occurred in the Canary, Madeira, and Azore Islands, but since the removal of forests that once covered those islands they do not have so much mist and rain as before."

This same thing is happening with cities. These large "concrete jungles" are essentially water-proofed hot plates that act just like what I described above with the bare, exposed soil. They create climates that repel water, not encourage it.

All of these things, and more, create the facade of "water scarcity." Water isn't scarce, it's just diverted to the wrong areas and comes at the wrong times.

I like the 20 Coming Attractions identified in Project Drawdown’s modelling of global warming solutions. Everything from marine permaculture to AVs.

Short term solution - legally pressure the Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka governments to open the water immediately. Most probably they may not abide for any order.

Long term solution -

1. Rain water harvesting every possible place.
2. Ground water enrichment stations for every few kilometers of Metal roads, rain fed water Streams (மழைகால சிற்றோடைகள்)
3. Permanent ban for san quarrying. Import sand for cheap cost abundantly and sale it at lowest price as possible. So, politicians wont try to scratch rivers, if they have no profit out of it.
4. Ground water usage must be stringantly regularized.
5. Rejuvenation of all water bodies, irrelavant of small or big.
6. Must stop felling any tree at any place without getting permission. Tree plantation in a mission mode, continueosly.
7. Stop usage of Papers. Encourage usage of one sided sheets (Reuse) for official purpose too.

“Can advances in technology help solve the problem of freshwater depletion and shortage?”

Absolutely! We have a water shortage, because we have overpopulated the globe. So any technology that helps us slow our breeding (education helps here a lot), or actually kills us off (warfare, disease), will allow for more water per person.

The rate that water is “naturally” made “fresh”, depends on solar power to evaporate water from the oceans. We cannot heat the oceans faster, because this would do like #2 above, and kill more people with hurricanes, typhoons, and floods.

If we used solar power to condense SOME water vapor from the air, then we’d have a bit more: a billboard in Peru creates clean drinking water from air humidity

Plus we can work on ways to work with “grey” (or “purple pipe”) water, where we’d have wasted “fresh” water on those things before.

These are some of the ways to prevent water pollution.

• Prevention of industries from releasing polluted water into nearby rivers or water sources.

• Reduction of oil spills by using efficient oil transportation methods and also extra care.

• Rain water harvesting.
• Proper/efficient irrigational methods. Water mixes with the fertilisers used by farmers which leads to water pollution.

• Plantation of tress to store water at the ground level for future purposes.
• Following basic ethics regarding water storage and consumption/ prevent water wastage.
• Proper sewage treatment and maintanence.