Band 5+: Lack of fresh water is becoming a global issue of increasing importance. What problems does the shortage of fresh water cause? What measures could be taken to overcome these problems?

Over the last few decades, there have been several countries experiencing water scarcity, such as African and Asian countries and it has become a global issue. Therefore, before taking action to overcome this problem, knowing the cause of the problems is an important key.

The problem of water scarcity is mainly caused by several factors. Firstly, it is caused by climate change which has been occurring for the last few decades, which then affects negatively on the level of rainfall. For example, before the 1990s, Asian countries could experience a rainy season of around 6 months and it could be easily predicted by climate experts. However, after the 2000s this season only occurs less than 6 months and it impacts negatively on the availability of water in these nations. Moreover, this problem has also been exacerbated by an increase in population, especially in Asian countries which has increased almost doubled for only 20 years

Nevertheless, there are several actions that can be done to diminish the problem of water scarcity. First and foremost, the possible thing is through collaboration among countries to overcome the problem of climate change. This collaboration can be in the form of a regulation to prevent any destructive activity that can exacerbate climate change, such as excess utilisation of fossil fuel and deforestation. Moreover, this collaboration also can trigger the creation of certain technologies to deal with the problem of water scarcity, such as the technology of water desalination that alters seawater to fresh water. The second action is raising people’s awareness of water usage which can be done through a social campaign on how to manage and use water wisely. Therefore, by this campaign, even though the population has grown, the possibility of lack of fresh water can be minimised effectively

In conclusion, climate change and massive growth in population are the main cause of the water scarcity problem and these are a big problem that might be difficult to deal with. However, this problem can be effectively solved if there is a collaboration among countries to work together to overcome the problem, as well as an action to enhance people’s awareness of the utilisation of water