water scarcity
Not enough water
Water scarcity is a shortage of fresh water relative to demand.
It can mean physical scarcity—not enough water exists in a region—or economic scarcity, where water exists but infrastructure or resources to access it are lacking.
Climate change is worsening water scarcity in arid regions.
The term appears frequently in discussions of agriculture, public health, and geopolitics.
Rising planetary temperatures
- melting glaciersIce fields shrinking from warmth
- desertificationLand becoming barren, infertile
- evaporationLiquid turning to gas
- weather patternsRecurring atmospheric conditions
El Niño · climate adaptation · climate migration · IPCC · vulnerability · climate resilience · heat waves · climate refugees
Prolonged water scarcity
- rationingLimiting distribution during scarcity
- shortageDeficient supply of necessities
- desalinationExtracting salt from seawater
- conflictOpposition between parties
sanitation · hygiene · famine · migration · displacement · emergency · access · inequality
Need for fluid
- dehydrationExcessive fluid loss
- rationingLimiting distribution during scarcity
- preparednessState of being equipped
- resilienceCapacity to recover quickly
adaptation · foraging · endurance · resourcefulness · subsistence · emergency supplies · contamination risk · waterborne disease
Preventing waste or loss
- resource managementAllocating available means efficiently
- sustainabilityCapacity to endure indefinitely
- regulationOfficial rules governing conduct
- pricingEstablishing monetary amounts charged
allocation · governance · privatization · subsidies · legislation · public awareness · efficiency standards
Artificial water supply for agriculture
- crop failureWhen fields yield nothing
- food securityGuaranteed adequate nutrition access
- livestockDomesticated farm animals
- rice paddiesFlooded fields for grain
cotton farming · almonds · drip irrigation · subsistence farming · soil moisture · fallow fields
Excavated water sources
- reservoirsBodies storing water supply
- damsWater-blocking structures
- pipelinesTubes for transporting fluids
- distributionAllocation across recipients
storage · pumping stations · boreholes · cisterns · aqueducts · desalination plants · leakage
global warming
Rising planetary temperatures
- melting glaciersIce fields shrinking from warmth
- desertificationLand becoming barren, infertile
- evaporationLiquid turning to gas
weather patterns · El Niño · climate adaptation · climate migration · IPCC · vulnerability · climate resilience · heat waves · climate refugees
drought
Prolonged water scarcity
- rationingLimiting distribution during scarcity
- shortageDeficient supply of necessities
- desalinationExtracting salt from seawater
conflict · sanitation · hygiene · famine · migration · displacement · emergency · access · inequality · poverty
thirst
Need for fluid
- dehydrationExcessive fluid loss
- rationingLimiting distribution during scarcity
- preparednessState of being equipped
resilience · adaptation · foraging · endurance · resourcefulness · subsistence · emergency supplies · contamination risk · waterborne disease · coping strategies
conservation
Preventing waste or loss
- resource managementAllocating available means efficiently
- sustainabilityCapacity to endure indefinitely
- regulationOfficial rules governing conduct
pricing · allocation · governance · privatization · subsidies · legislation · public awareness · efficiency standards
irrigation
Artificial water supply for agriculture
- crop failureWhen fields yield nothing
- food securityGuaranteed adequate nutrition access
- livestockDomesticated farm animals
rice paddies · cotton farming · almonds · drip irrigation · subsistence farming · soil moisture · fallow fields
wells
Excavated water sources
- reservoirsBodies storing water supply
- damsWater-blocking structures
- pipelinesTubes for transporting fluids
distribution · storage · pumping stations · boreholes · cisterns · aqueducts · desalination plants · leakage
- Dystopia1984, Nineteen Eighty-Four, dystopian fiction, totalitarianism, Brave New World
- Environmental problemsair pollution, climate change, global warming, habitat loss, deforestation
- livestock problemsdisease, parasites, predators, injury, lameness
- Water Problemscontamination, turbidity, low pressure, dry well, dry wells
- desertsand, sand dunes, sand dune, dune, dunes
- environmentair pollution, ecology, clean air, biosphere, air quality
water scarcityflooding
Overwhelming water accumulation
deluge · inundation · saturation · monsoon · wetland
water, watery, scarce, watered, watering, saltwater, waters, scarcity, freshwater