Is fresh water becoming more scarce?

Question

I've read that corporations are using an increasingly larger amount of fresh water for industrial purposes and dumping an increasingly larger amount of waste products into the fresh water supply.

I've also been told that underground water tables are dropping, desalinization projects are uneconomic and would threaten the fishing industry, and damming rivers prevents sediments from being washed out to farmlands and pulls salt-water higher upstream.

Is there reason to believe these problems real? If not, why are people worried about them? If so, can anything be done to help the situation?

Answer 1

every thing you say is true ,coupled to the fact that each year 70 million more people are using water
,and there is less and less water,they are overpumping deep carbon aquifiers to irrigate this production ,having exausted the surface aquifiers

Our consumption of water is ever increasing and our drinkable water supply is shrinking because of polution ,and the production of potable water is less all the time because of deforestation.
we are living in a bubble economy and when the bubble bursts
food prices will sky rocket,and so will the price of water.

the wars of the future will be for water and we will be up to our ears in the wrong water
RISING SEAS result in more landloss
The northpole is melting ,and we will know it without ice in our life times.
this does not affect the sea level because it is ice that is already in the water.but the melting ice from Green land and the south pole ,are another matter.these will effect sealevels and the melting ice means billions of tons of fresh water lost ,in the salty seas,because 75 % of all the Earths sweet water is /was locked up in ICE

SOLUTIONS
if you want to help the planet ,plant a tree every week ,if EVERYONE on the planet did this, we would be able to reverse the destructive processes,and start creating more biomass again.

reduce carbon emisions,and they are already working on that by alternative forms of energy and regulations on carbon producing materials,aerosol cans,burning rubbish,industrial chimneys,powerplants etc.

the world bank pays large subsidies for reforrestation to capture carbon and the best tree for this is the Pawlonia

Waterharvesting projects ,such as millions of small dams.to redirect over ground waterflows from the rains into the ground to supply subteranian water supplies.

the protection of existing forrests.and the production of water

stop building more highways,urban planning to include vegetation stop building cities encourage people to return to the land to conduct their business from there which now has become possible thanks to the internet.

education to motivate people to auto sufficiency by building more home food gardens.

education on environmental awareness
education on family planning to curb over´population

Agricultural education and improvements to follow the principals or sustainability and soil management.

more land design to prevent bush fires,such as--fire breaks

regulations and control for public behaviour

alternative effeciant public transport to discourage the use of the internal conbustion engine

recicling wastes,limit water use

i am a Permaculture Consultant for the department of Ecology for the regional government in Guerrero Mexico

Answer 2

Yes, I think the problems are real. People aren't worried about them because they can't yet see it affecting them on a day to day basis, (and assume that technology will provide an answer before the problem becomes extreme). Making more people aware is the most immediate thing that can be done.

Answer 3

Yes it is. Those problems are real and have been happening for a long time. You have to worry about them, because water is one resource wee are finishing due to overconsuption and pollution.
Education and information is the best way to slow the speed of the problem, to end it, you simply would have to eradicate human species from earth, we are TOO many!