Water is a vital element for all life on earth. It plays an important role in agriculture, food production, health, environment, and every single aspect of our life. It is essential for developing and maintaining a healthy prosperous society. During the pas decades, Population growth has had a severe impact on degradation of global water supplies. As population growth we need more water for household usage, producing food, and even any sort of manufacturing products. Water scarcity happens when our available water resources is not enough for the demands of water usage in a region. Many countries around the world, including middle-eastern countries, have already been affected by this issue. In this following research paper I will talk about water scarcity, its characteristics, and its impacts on middle-eastern countries.
A good place to begin is with looking at the definition of water scarcity. What are the characteristics of water scarcity? What kind of impacts it had on past civilizations? How it is going to emerge in the next century? What we can do about it? According to the united nation report water scarcity “Water scarcity is defined as the point at which the aggregate impact of all users impinges on the supply or quality of water under prevailing institutional arrangements to the extent that the demand by all sectors, including the environment, cannot be satisfied fully. Water scarcity is a relative concept and can occur at any level of supply or demand. Scarcity may be a social construct or the consequence of altered supply patterns - stemming from climate change for example. Water scarcity already affects every continent. Around 1.2 billion people, or almost one-fifth of the world's population, live in areas of physical scarcity, and 500 million people are approaching this situation. Another 1.6 billion people, or almost one quarter of the world's population, face economic water shortage.” (Human Development Report 2006. UNDP, 2006