<Author>Michael</Author>
<Topic>Global Shortage of Fresh Water</Topic>
<Source>CET4 Composition Topic of June 1996</Source>
<Nationality>USA</Nationality>
Many people believe that water is abundant from rivers, lakes, and rain. In fact, however, fresh water is in very short abundance globally, because of the increasing population boom, industrial use, pollution, use of precious water in arid and near desert lands, and vast overuse of water by many persons.
Without fresh and unpolluted water, the entire world population will suffer from an inadequate supply of drinking water, and unless they boil the water coming from rivers and lakes, they are subject to water borne diseases such as parasites and worms. This causes children in many countries to die of malnutrition and other polluted water diseases.
Along with the global problems when fresh water is not available, China has very serious water problems for much of the country. More than half of China does not produce enough fresh water to supply the needs of a population growing by 25 million a year, especially in the northwest and west of the country. The Three Gorges project is one of China's efforts to reduce this problem, by dramatically raising the Yangtse River in an area where more than one million people live. These people must migrate to other areas. Additionally, in other areas, similar decisions might need to be made, to transfer people where there is not enough water to sustain the current or future population. In other cases, people need to pay for using water resources, and wealthier people who use more water need to pay more for their water usage.
