Peak water in an era of climate change
We live on a water planet, with vast amounts of water in the oceans, an extremely dynamic hydrologic cycle that brings renewable freshwater resources in the form of rain, snow, and river flows, and large stocks of groundwater. And because the Earth has pretty much the same amount of water today that it has had since the time of the very formation of the solar system more than 4 billion years ago, modern concerns about the so-called “scarcity” of water reflect not a change in the total amount of water, but the challenge of meeting the need for water and water services by growing populations and expanding economic demands. … The distribution and availability of water resources around the world are naturally highly variable, but climate change is making these variations worse. Addressing these water problems is one of the greatest challenges of our time. “Water scarcity” means different things to different communities, but in its simplest form, it can be defined as a shortage of water required to meet a specific water demand—such as clean freshwater for drinking, cooking, cleaning, or growing crops, to name just a few.