Globe and Mail: Changes in Global Water Supply Hint at Future Crises

Satellite data suggest that world global water supplies are dispersing in some regions as glaciers and polar ice melts and consolidating in others – due to population growth, dams, rising demand for water and climate change. The analysis, based on 14 years of satellite data produced by the NASA-led satellite mission GRACE, provides “a comprehensive map of water trends around the world,” reports Ivan Semeniuk for the Globe and Mail. “Those trends encompass changes in where water is stored across Earth’s surface, including groundwater, soil moisture, glaciers, snow cover and surface water.” The study identified 34 regional trends including reduced water abundance in the polar regions, Canada’s heartland, the Middle East, Eastern Brazil, parts of China, northern India and Africa. Researchers urge policy steps to prevent crises; "The GRACE data provide motivation for multilateral cooperation among nations, states and stakeholders, including development of transboundary water-sharing agreements, to balance competing demands and defuse potential conflict33. Government policies that incentivize water conservation could help to avert a ‘tragedy of the commons’ scenario, that is, opportunistic competition for groundwater outweighing the altruistic impulse to preserve the resource.” – YaleGlobal