Are the worlds water resources decreasing?
• Only 2 per cent of the total water available at any given time on Earth is freshwater, approximately 70 per cent of which is located in the ice caps. Globally, over a short period of time (a few centuries in this case), total freshwater delivered through the world’s hydrological cycle remains constant. However, water is not distributed evenly around the world. In any given river basin, freshwater delivery through rain differs from year-to-year. Many of the planet’s largest river basins run through thinly populated regions, while numerous densely populated zones possess inadequate water supplies, a problem which has been worsened by increasing pollution. Freshwater supplies have been further stretched by demands from irrigation, industry, urbanization and rising living standards. • 3. How is climate change likely to affect the availability of water resources? • Rising temperatures will accelerate the hydrological cycle, changing the temporal and spatial distribution of freshwater, tho
