O hydrical stress – also called physical water scarcity – is a term used to designate a situation in which the demand for water is greater than its availability and capacity for renewal in a given location. It is an expression designed to represent a serious situation that can be caused by both natural and socioeconomic factors.
We know that water resources are poorly distributed between countries and also within their territory. Populations are also equally unevenly distributed in the world, thus there are regions that harbor a large number of people and, at the same time, do not have the availability of water to supply their needs.
In many cases, the risk of water stress hinders or even impedes economic and human development, as it does not allow practices such as industrialization and agriculture are developed, bearing in mind that these are the areas of the economy that most use Water. As a result, in addition to the water itself, it becomes necessary to import a large amount of products, which causes them to rise relations of economic dependence, not to mention the low generation of employment and low expectations of local growth.
There are some situations in which water stress is caused not by the scarcity of regional hydrographic resources, but by the Water pollution, springs and reserves. Thus, even with a certain amount of water available, it becomes unusable, which makes the water stress becomes more intense or happens in regions where its manifestation, in theory, would be unlikely.
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In other cases, water stress is related to public management problems, such as a incorrect planning of water management or the inappropriateness of reservoir systems for the population. In São Paulo, currently, there is a problem in this regard, because even if there is, in total volume, an adequate amount of water for the population in the region, there is physical scarcity of this resource, which has caused great concern on the part of the local population and also the authorities.
According to the United Nations (UN), water stress could affect up to 18 million people by 2020, but there are other predictions that speak in larger numbers. In the Andean countries, the situation seems to get complicated, as a good part of the rivers that supply the region come from the melting of ice in the mountains that make up the Andes. With rising temperatures due to global warming, the amount of this ice will decrease and the flow of these rivers may be lower.
In this way, for the world to avoid the occurrence of a "generalized water stress”, which affects the majority of the world's population, it is necessary to conserve water courses and springs, as well as forest reserves that help to preserve the springs in their most various types. The world needs to be able to develop from a sustainable perspective, that is, the conservation of natural elements for future generations.
By Me. Rodolfo Alves Pena
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PENA, Rodolfo F. Alves. "Hydrical stress"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/geografia/estresse-hidrico.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
