Water Crisis Threatens Food Supply

the water table has dropped by more than 100 feet in parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas – three leading grain-producing states

November 5, 2008
Bill Boyne
Post-Bulletin - Rochester, MN

Lester R. Brown, head of the Earth Policy Institute, has called for action to overcome a world-wide shortage of water.

In his book, "Plan B 3.0 -- Mobilizing to Save Civilization," Brown cites countries all over the world where underground water supplies are declining.

Countries affected include China, India and the United States.

He writes, "In the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that, in parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas -- three leading grain-producing states -- the underground water table has dropped by more than 100 feet. As a result, wells have gone dry on thousands of farms in the southern Great Plains, forcing farmers to turn to lower-yielding dryland farming (without irrigation)."

Conditions are even worse in India and China, where irrigated land accounts for a far larger part of those countries' food production.

Brown quotes a World Bank study which indicates that in the Hai river basin in north China, underground aquifers that cannot be replenished are being depleted. He adds, "Since it takes 1,000 tons of water to produce one ton of grain, the shortfall in the Hai basin of nearly 40 million tons of water per year means that, when the aquifer is depleted, the grain harvest will drop by 40 million tons -- enough to feed 120 million Chinese."

The water shortage is even worse in India. Brown quotes Fred Pearce, writing in the New Scientist, as saying that "half of India's hand-dug wells and millions of shallower tube wells have already dried up, bringing a spate of suicides among those who rely on them."

Even oil-rich Saudi Arabia, a country of 25 million people, is affected. Brown reports, "Relying heavily on subsidies, the country has developed an extensive irrigated agriculture based largely on its deep fossil aquifer. After several years of supporting wheat prices at five times the world market level, the government was forced to face fiscal reality and cut the subsidies. Its wheat harvest dropped from a high of 4.1 million tons in 1992 to 2.7 million tons in 2007, a drop of 34 percent. In early 2008, the Saudi government announced plans to phase out wheat production entirely by 2010."

A United Nations report, quoted in USA Today, also calls for early action to improve the world's water supply. According to the report, "More than half of humanity will be living with water shortages, depleted fisheries and polluted coastlines within 50 years because of a worldwide water crisis ...

"Waste and inadequate management of water are the main culprits behind growing problems, particularly in poverty-ridden regions," says the study, the most comprehensive of its kind. The United Nations Environment Program, working with more than 200 water resource experts worldwide, produced the report.

"Based on data from the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, the World Health Organization and other sources, the report finds:

"Severe water shortages affecting at least 400 million people today will affect 4 billion people by 2050.

"Adequate sanitation facilities are lacking for 2.4 billion people, about 40 percent of humankind.

"Half of coastal regions, where 1 billion people live, have degraded because of overdevelopment or pollution.

"About 90 percent of the severe problems are in developing countries, where solutions to wasting water lie in better irrigation and water supply practices."

Poverty-stricken countries have problems that are especially severe.

Clearly there is strong evidence that water shortages are among the most serious problems facing countries around the world. Dealing with that issue and the issue of population control should be at the top of the agenda of leaders throughout the world.

And, of course, stabilizing the world's population would go a long way toward addressing the shortage of water. If the world population could be stabilized, the need for water could be reduced substantially, which would help in solving both problems.

Bill Boyne is a retired editor and publisher of the Post-Bulletin. His column appears weekly.

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