However, it is a limited resource; freshwater makes up only about three percent of all water on Earth. Though, in science, water is considered a renewable resource due to the water cycle, water also has properties of a nonrenewable resource. Although freshwater is considered a renewable resource, the use of freshwater in some regions exceeds the ability of natural processes to replenish supplies. When the demand for freshwater cannot be met, it can lead to political tension and public-health problems.
Is water a renewable resource? Water is a renewable resource. In this article, we will explain how water is a renewable resource , and give a few reasons or facts about water as a renewable resource. First, we need to answer the mystery of why does water being a renewable resource get exhausted. The groundwater depletion may be due to various things including sustained groundwater pumping. It can result in the reduction of water in streams, wells, and lakes.
Groundwater retention is vital to ensure that water is not pumped at a faster rate than it is recharged. It brings us to the next important question, how is water is formed and where does water come from? The universe is largely endowed with this natural resource called water.
Water is a resource that has been there since way back to the origins of the universe. It falls from the sky in the form of rain and then rushes down on our riverbeds and also forms the beautiful water bodies like oceans and lakes.
Water is an abundant resource that cannot always be replenished. Renewable resources are resources that are considered not in danger of being used up and thus water is one of them.
One significant reason why water is considered renewable resources is that when it rains, the water bodies get replenished. Rain is usually in liquid form or droplets which are formed as a result of condensation in the atmospheric water vapors. Then, the droplets grow heavy and fall under gravity as rain. It helps deposit most of the fresh water on the earth. Rain production is as a result of moisture movements in the three-dimensional zones of temperatures or moisture contrasts which are usually called weather fronts.
The potential for conflict can be transformed into a potential for cooperation. This cooperation should be viewed as 'cooperation as opportunity', emphasizing the ways in which shared watercourses would ensure optimal benefits to all stakeholders.
Water in a transboundary river is a common international resource and sovereignty over such shared resources is best expressed as cooperation. In spite of the absence of any legally binding framework regulating the sharing of international water courses, cooperation and agreement in such river basins are not totally absent.
In , 10 countries sharing the Nile Basin have launched a joint effort to promote basin-wide cooperation, known as the Nile Basin Initiative. In northeastern South Asia, there exist enormous potentials of cooperation among the countries sharing the basins of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna GBM. Being the lowest riparian in all the above mentioned three river systems, Bangladesh is particularly concerned about water availability in its rivers during the lean season, especially because of numerous barrages, storage dams and diversion structures already constructed as well as being under-construction at upstream points in India.
The immediate imperative, therefore, is to translate past promises of cooperation into reality, reaching equitable agreements of water sharing for all the common rivers between Bangladesh and India. Among the 54 transboundary rivers between the two countries, a sharing arrangement exists in respect to only one river -- the Ganges -- through the Ganges Treaty signed in Since floods in Bangladesh are a common hazard, its management is not entirely possible without cooperation of the upstream countries.
Such cooperation in the form of flood related data transmission from India to Bangladesh is in existence at an elementary level; however, data from more upstream stations on the GBM river basins would enable Bangladesh to forecast with a greater lead time, and thus enhance our flood preparedness capacity.
Besides agreements on water sharing and flood management, cooperation could also be effected through trilateral involvement Bangladesh, India and Nepal in constructing storage reservoirs in the Nepalese parts of the Ganges Basin. The northern and middle belts of Nepal having a low population density offer excellent sites for such reservoirs.
These storages would not only help in flow augmentation in the Ganges during the dry season and flood moderation in the rainy season, but would also generate environment-friendly hydropower in Nepal for export to Bangladesh and northern India. Nepal has a potential of 83, MW of electricity, of which 40, MW is economically feasible for development.
Bangladesh could be involved in the implementation of these multipurpose projects through agreed formula for sharing costs and benefits. The challenge of governance In the backdrop of rising demands for water in the domestic, agriculture and urban sectors, and among the coriparians in the transboundary basins the key to good governance in water utilization is to follow a holistic vision of Integrated Water Resources Management IWRM.
IWRM is based on the perception of water as an integral part of the ecosystem and is defined 'as a process which promotes coordinated development and management of water and land in an equitable manner'. Water governance aims at decision making in an optimal framework, dealing with decisions on water quantity, water allocation, pollution level, and conservation for the next generation.
It also determines the share of water between upstream and downstream water users -- especially ensuring the latter's right to sustainable livelihood. Just because a resource is renewable, that doesn't mean all use of that resource is sustainable.
Of all the water on Earth, roughly three percent of it is available for human use at any given time. The rest is either locked in ice or full of salt. That three percent can renew fairly quickly, but unsustainable water consumption can outstrip renewal. This is because the rate of this resource's renewal is more or less fixed. It relies on natural processes that operate independently of how the resource is used - this is why water conservation is important.
In many places, especially in arid locations, the renewal time for water resources can be much slower than in other places. Think about a city's water supply as a bathtub filled to the top. If two gallons of water flow into the bathtub every hour, but the city drains one gallon per hour, it is using water very sustainably. But if that city drains four gallons of water per hour while only two per hour flow in, it will run out of water eventually, regardless of the fact that it is being constantly renewed.
Cameron is a writer and educator based out of Fort Collins, Colorado. Renewable, Nonrenewable and Inexhaustible Resources.
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