NIVEL II
Water scarcity
Liquidity crisis
As water becomes ever more scant the world needs to conserve it, use it
more efficiently and establish clear rights over who owns the stuff
1 “NOTHING is more useful than water,” observed Adam Smith, but “scarcely anything can
2be had in exchange for it.” The father of free-market economics noted this paradox in
318th-century Scotland, as rain-sodden and damp then as it is today. Where water is in
4ample supply his words still hold true. But around the world billions of people already
5struggle during dry seasons. Drought and deluge are a costly threat in many countries. If
6water is not managed better, today’s crisis will become a catastrophe. By the middle of
7the century more than half of the planet will live in areas of “water stress”, where supplies
8cannot sustainably meet demand. Lush pastures will turn to barren desert and millions will
9be forced to flee in search of fresh water.
10Where water is available, when and in what condition matters hugely. About 97% of the
11water on earth is salty; the rest is replenished through seasonal rainfall or is stored in
12underground wells known as aquifers. Humans, who once settled where water was
13plentiful, are now inclined to shift around to places that are less well endowed, pulled by
14other economic forces.
15Climate change is making some parts of the planet much drier and others far wetter. As
16people get richer, they use more water. They also “consume” more of it, which means
17using it in such a way that it is not quickly returned to the source from which it was
18extracted. (For example, if it is lost through evaporation or turned into a tomato.) The big
19drivers of this are the world’s increased desire for grain, meat, manufactured goods and
20electricity. Crops, cows, power stations and factories all need lots of water.
21To make matters worse, few places price water properly. Usually, it is artificially cheap,
22because politicians are scared to charge much for something essential that falls from the
23sky. This means that consumers have little incentive to conserve it and investors have little
24incentive to build pipes and other infrastructure to bring it to where it is needed most. In
25South Africa, for example, households get some water free. In Sri Lanka they pay initially a
26nominal 4 cents for a cubic metre. By contrast, in Adelaide in Australia, which takes water
27conservation seriously, an initial batch costs $1.75 per cubic metre. Globally, spending on
28water infrastructure faces a huge funding shortfall. A hole of $26trn will open up between
292010 and 2030, estimates the World Economic Forum, a think-tank.
30In many countries people can pump as much water as they like from underground
31aquifers, because rules are either lax or not enforced. Water use by farmers has increased
32sharply in recent decades. This has allowed farmers to grow huge amounts of food in
33places that would otherwise be too dry to support much farming. But it is unsustainable:
34around a fifth of the world’s aquifers are over-exploited. This jeopardises future use by
35causing contamination. It also damages the layers of sand and clay that make up aquifers,
36thereby reducing their capacity to be replenished.
37People do not drink much water—only a few litres a day. But putting food on their tables
38requires floods of the stuff. Growing 1kg of wheat takes 1,250 litres of water; fattening a
39cow to produce the same weight of beef involves 12 times more. Overall, agriculture
40accounts for more than 70% of global freshwater withdrawals.
41And as the global population rises from 7.4bn to close to 10bn by the middle of the
42century, it is estimated that agricultural production will have to rise by 60% to fill the
43world’s bellies. This will put water supplies under huge strain.
44Food for thought
45Extravagance must be tamed. Farmers produce far more food than finds its way into
46stomachs. Some estimates suggest that as much as a third of all food never actually makes
47it to a plate, wasting as much water as flows down Russia’s Volga river in a year. Richer
48households are responsible for throwing out the largest share of unwanted victuals.
49Poorer ones may never even see the produce that rots on slow, bumpy journeys to
50market.
51Water is vital not only for food and domestic well-being. It is “fundamental to economic
52growth”, points out Usha Rao-Monari, head of Global Water Development Partners, an
53investment outfit backed by Blackstone, a private-equity giant. Scarcity stalls industrial
54development by squeezing energy supplies. Electricity generation depends upon plentiful
55quantities; nuclear power requires water both for cooling turbines and the reactor core
56itself, for example. Coal-fired plants cannot function without it.
57Power generation is a thirsty business. Overall about 41% of America’s withdrawals go
58towards cooling power stations. In countries such as Brazil, where hydroelectric power
59provides more than two-thirds of the country’s needs, scarcity is also a worry, particularly
60when dam designs rely on rivers fed by rainfall . Spikes in energy prices often follow dry
61periods. Zambia endured sporadic blackouts that began a year ago and lasted until April,
62when drought crippled power generation from the Kariba dam.
63As poor countries develop, global demand for electricity from industry is expected to
64increase by 400% over the first half of the 21st century. The majority of water-intensive
65industries, such as coal mining, textiles and chemicals, are found in countries that are
66particularly prone to water shortages: China, Australia, America and India. Industry can
67increase strains on supplies too, by polluting water, making it unfit for human use. Over a
68third of China’s waterways have been spoiled by industrial effluent and other nasties.
Source: The Economist
ACTIVIDAD I
1) Traducir el fragmento subrayado.
2) ¿Qué consecuencias del cambio climático se mencionan? ¿Qué diferencias
basadas en el nivel económico de la población se destacan?
3) Referirse al precio del agua y sus consecuencias. ¿Qué ejemplos se mencionan?
4) ¿Qué se señala respecto del uso del agua por parte de los granjeros?
5) Referirse a la cantidad de agua dulce que demanda la agricultura. Mencionar
ejemplos que aparecen en el texto.
6) ¿Qué crecimiento poblacional se predice para mediados del siglo? ¿Qué efecto
producirá?
7) ¿Por qué se hace referencia al derroche?
8) ¿Qué se señala sobre la generación de energía? ¿Qué ocurre en los Estados
Unidos, Brasil y Zambia?
9) ¿Qué se afirma en el último párrafo?
ACTIVIDAD II
Indicar a qué refieren las palabras destacadas en negrita y subrayadas.
ACTIVIDAD III
Traducir los siguientes bloques nominales que aparecen en el texto:
a) a huge funding shortfall (renglón 28)
b) global freshwater withdrawals (renglón 40)
c) the largest share of unwanted victuals (renglón 48)
d) electricity generation (renglón 54)
e) spikes in energy prices (renglón 60)
f) water-intensive industries (renglones 64 y 65)
Objetivos de lengua y gramática:
Frase/bloque/sintagma nominal.
Referencia (anáfórica y catafórica).
Intensificadores (much drier, far wetter, particularly prone).
Comparación de igualdad (as much water as they like).
Vocabulario específico: rain-sodden, damp, scant, supply, drought,
deluge, fresh water, demand, salty, aquifers, underground wells,
source, evaporation, scarcity, withdrawals, rainfall, water shortages,
effluents.
