Safeguarding Freshwater Ecosystems Chapter 3

Freshwater Ecosystem Earth’s hydrological system is a huge asset that is being destroyed by human actions. Rivers, lakes, and other freshwater sources work with forests, grasslands, and other landscapes to provide goods and services of great importance to human society. More than 90% of the world’s irrigation, industrial, and household water supplies comes from rivers, lakes, and aquifers. Healthy rivers are vital for all life.

Assessing the Damage Overstressed and deteriorating ecosystems take many forms such as; disappearing species, decimated fish populations, falling water tables, altered river flows, shrinking lakes, diminishing wetlands, declining water quality, and pollution introduced “dead zones”. All of these are getting worse. The redirection of rivers causes the shrinkage of seas. The spawning habitats for fish and shrimp are shrinking causing a decline in the fish and shrimp.

Healthy Watersheds for Safe Drinking Water Forests and wetlands are natures way of providing high-quality water at a lower cost. Many cities have begun protecting their watersheds, rather than building expensive water filtration systems. Watersheds are more efficient. Urban cities waste 20-50% of their usable water in leaks. Cities who have saved their watersheds and avoided building water purification systems, have saved their people millions of dollars.

Food Security with Ecosystem Security Already as much as 10% of global food production depends on the over pumping of ground water and closer to 25% in India. The hydrological deficits create a bubble in food economy and is bound to burst. Where will the additional water come from to support the growth of future food production? Expected growth of 1.7 billion diets by 2030 The production of rice is key to help maintain balance. Rice farmers can use much less water than currently used and still obtain large yields.

Reducing Risks, Preserving Resilience Natural disasters may not be natural after all. The depletion of wetlands and the clearing of trees greatly reduces the buffer from many of these storms. Storms, floods, earthquakes, and tidal waves are natural events, but the degree to which they produce disastrous outcomes is now often strongly influenced by human actions. By investing in watersheds, wetlands, and floodplains, many countries are helping their cause against these devastating occurrences.

Bringing Water Policies into the Twenty-first Century Signs of water scarcity and ecosystem disruption are pervasive and spreading, yet policies continue to promote inefficient, unproductive, and ecologically harmful practices. These realities show the need for an overhaul of water policies. South Africa leads the way in water management. Water allocation plan to meet basic needs. Water allocation plan to support ecosystem functions. Many countries have followed South Africa’s lead. Leadership, commitment, and citizen involvement are the driving forces behind many of the most innovative and successful water and policy reforms.