The problem of water scarcity is one of the central factors that define global poverty. This research aims to examine the significance, development, and reasons for the issue to understand how people can improve it. It is determined that access to clean water becomes more problematic, and it influences the quality of life of people living in poverty. In addition, it is identified that humans become more informed about the issue and policymakers begin to consider it finding the methods to increase water supply. However, the causes leading to the emergence of this difficulty still threaten people today. Mainly, the pollution of water by plants and farms and the evaporation of water bodies contribute to people’s troubles living in poverty. Consequently, the problem requires more attention and the identification of new methods of improving this condition.
The problem of safe water scarcity is one of the significant troubles for people living in poverty. Shortage of water can be associated with the physical absence of water in the region or the lack of infrastructure required to supply water to households. The analysis of the role of this issue in modern society provides the chance to understand how it develops and how individuals and organizations may cope with this difficulty. Although the awareness about clean water scarcity increases, the topic requires much attention because it still influences the living conditions, health, and well-being of people and the causes of this problem still affect the situation.
The problem of global poverty is closely related to the issue of clean water. With the growth of the population, its increased use of water, and the contamination of water caused by the activities of humans, the problem of people’s access to clean water intensified. This trouble deserves attention because it is still getting worse, and it contributes to poverty in developing countries around the world. First of all, it is necessary to understand that disregarding the problem is not an option because water quality continues to deteriorate. The illustration of this idea can be the observations of Nadeem et al. (2018) who identified that “indiscriminate disposal of untreated industrial wastewater, household sewage” and the global warming effects continue to contaminate water (p. 209). Such a conclusion results from the analysis of Pakistan water quality these researchers performed. Since the population is increasing and the farms, plants, and cities continue to use chemicals and nutrients, all these wastes run into the rivers and other watercourses.
Besides, this problem influences the living conditions of people living in poverty. Restricted access to clean water makes humans have no safe drinking water. In addition, they have no sufficient amount of food, the preparation of which requires water, their sanitary life is inadequate, and they suffer from multiple waterborne diseases that predominantly affect their children. As a consequence, this situation also affects the personal well-being of humans. Nadeem et al. (2018) support the idea, introducing the results of their study of the subjective feelings of humans living in different proximity to regions with polluted water sources. Mainly, people who live near the locations where the water is contaminated feel less happy than those who have access to clean water. Therefore, the problem deserves attention because it defines objective conditions, quality of life, and subjective well-being of humans.
The first factor that affects the progress of this issue is the increased awareness about the problem and the spread of information connected with the water topics. Various studies and observations of the problem contribute to the formation of comprehension among humans. For instance, Arcipowski et al. (2017) describe the inappropriateness of the water supply and sanitation system in the Appalachian region. This research results from the group of specialists’ understanding of the problems that are associated with the clean water scarcity in the location. The group created “water-focused collaboration with community members” to help the community (Arcipowski et al., 2017, p. 1). Such an example demonstrates that people’s awareness of the problem leads to various water quality examinations in different regions, which gives hope for future generations.
Moreover, this topic moves towards acknowledging the problem by the authorities and policymakers, which may contribute to the improvement of water supply and sewage systems in various regions of the world. Although industrial and technological development negatively influences the climate, it may also help improve the state of affairs connected with water scarcity. Tortajada and Nambiar (2019) present the results of the policymaker and managers’ intervention in producing drinking and safe water. In particular, the research explains how they use innovative technologies to allow the population to reuse water. This example demonstrates that the authorities start to recognize that they have to direct their attention and efforts to the problem of clean water scarcity to cope with poverty.
The issue is caused by the process of industrialization and globalization accompanied by the contamination of water. Mainly, Haviland et al. (2017) indicate that “business corporations and political institutions” use various methods to overcome the competitors in the struggle for consumers’ attention and increased profits (p. 377). They focus only on their benefits and disregard the influence of their business on the environment and climate. Particularly, plants emit contaminated gasses into the air and pour chemicals into waterways. Also, farmers use agricultural chemicals and nutrients that appear in rivers. Then, the particles from gasses fall on earth with rain, and the water from rivers is carried to the water reservoirs that people use for their households. This fact signifies that the improvement of water quality will be possible when the business owners will use their social responsibility to unite efforts and change their approaches to managing their business.
The second cause of water scarcity is global warming, which leads to a reduction in water amount. The temperatures rise significantly, and the water from the rivers and other water bodies evaporates into the air. As a consequence, the amount of water left on Earth decreases. It may leave some parts of the world without the sufficient water supply that people need daily. Besides, global warming causes such natural disasters as droughts making the availability of water unpredictable. According to Haviland et al. (2017, p. 385), people from developing countries “suffer from global-induced droughts,” and they have to pay for the economic progress of the other countries that benefit from industrialization and globalization. This idea demonstrates that the unavailability of clean water results from the industrial and agricultural achievement of the developed countries, which caused the issue of climate change.
Today, people understand the problem of clean water shortages better. However, they have to pay more attention to it because the activities connected with globalization and climate change continue to affect the problem. Since people in some developing countries have insufficient water supply even now, they suffer from starvation, lack of hygiene, and water-associated diseases. Such a situation also influences their subjective feeling of happiness. The causes of this issue are the contamination of water by businesses and the decreased sizes of water bodies due to climate change. Since all these factors still threaten to reduce the quality of life of humans, policymakers have to regard the trouble of water scarcity to guarantee the improvement of the global poverty problem.
References
Arcipowski, E., Schwartz, J., Davenport, L., Hayes, M., & Nolan, T. (2017). Clean water, clean life: Promoting healthier, accessible water in rural Appalachia. Journal of Contemporary Water Research & Education, 161(1), 1–18.
Haviland, W., Prins, H., McBride, B., & Walrath, D. (2017). Cultural anthropology (15th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Nadeem, A. M., Cheo, R., & Shaoan, H. (2018). Multidimensional analysis of water poverty and subjective well-being: A case study on local household variation in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Social Indicators Research, 138(1), 207–224. Web.
Tortajada, C., & Nambiar, S. (2019). Communications on technological innovations: Potable water reuse. Water (20734441), 11(2), 251.