It is a desperately worrying statistic that nearly one billion people in the world lack clean, healthy drinking water. Residents in the UK can turn on a tap and access safe drinking water whenever they like, but the situation is very different for the people of Africa.
Every day millions of people in Africa, usually women and girls, walk miles to have access to any water at all. The length of time it takes to collect the little water they can get means that they do not have time to do anything else during the day. Children do not get the chance to have an education simply because they are too busy collecting water.
Graph for water scarcity in Africa (fictional graph created for school purposes)
Price of water
|
Demand
|
1
|
11
|
2
|
9
|
3
|
5
|
4
|
1
|
5
|
2
|
X axis demand of water
Y axis price of water
From the above graph we can see that the demand of water falls down when the price for water increases considering other things being equal but the phenomenon “other thing being equal” is not undertaken when the price is 5 rand and the demand increases to 2 as the cause may be due to less suppliers causing a monopolistic type of business strategy.
An actual look at South Africa’s increase in demand for water
The main reason for the growth in demand for water is because of population growth. The graph shows population growth is highest in developing countries. Future growth to 2050 is only expected to come from developing countries. Unfortunately these regions are also the regions with greatest water shortage. The graph below which shows a slightly different projection for population growth shows how water demand grows at almost twice the rate of population growth.
Factors Affecting demand for water
- Rainfall, temperature and evaporation rates – Precipitation and temperature varies widely across the state. Areas with high temperature and low rainfall need to use more water to maintain outdoor landscaping.
- Population growth – As communities grow, new residential dwellings are constructed with more efficient plumbing fixtures, which causes interior water use to decline per person as compared to water use in older communities. Population growth also increases overall demand.
- Water prices – Water prices can influence demand by providing a monetary incentive for customers to conserve water. Rate structures have been established in many districts to incentivize water conservation, but the effectiveness of these rate structures to deter excessive use and customers sensitivity to water prices vary.
Bibliography
igeogers.weebly.com
Note: The data you see in this blog consist of contents from another well-established site except for the fictional graph seen above. Therefore, the intention of making this blog was not for money but for better understanding on water scarcity in relation to a school activity.
Credits:
Maktoum
Kshitij
Sidhaanth
Tharian
Tharian
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