Water shortage in Somalia
Introduction:
Water shortage has been a serious issue that humanity faced from the long times. Humans needs water in order to live and survive and although 71% of the world is made of water, only 2.5% percent of that water is fresh and drinkable. The problem lies in the location of the fresh water; 98% percent of the fresh water is located either on the form of ice or under the ground, 0.3% is located in the rivers and the left can be found in the air as vapor. Another problem is the distribution of the fresh water around the globe; rivers, which is the best source for water does not exist in some countries like the gulf countries and some rivers exists in a hard to get locations like some countries in south America. Other effecting factors can be finance and politics, some countries is in unstable political state that causes the finance of the country to drop which in the end will cause water shortage.
Somalia’s Case:
In Somalia, water shortage has been an issue for many years. The only sources of water that exists are the two rivers Jubbah and Shebelle, the few underground water wells and the periodic rain from season to season. Even these sources of water cannot be accessed all the time due to the unstable political state that the country faces between the government and the militia. This caused financial problem to the government that made it even harder to create water desalination plants. Another reason is the instability of river’s flood control and the water withdrawal from the desalination plants that makes it hard to use them as a permanent source of water supply. Recently, drought has started to loom in the country and people are facing even more water shortage. Rainy water can’t cover the necessity of the land and people anymore.
Solutions:
Right now, people started fled to the cities looking for stable water supply. People started to rely on aids from many countries has been coming to provide water, food and medical help. Water communities from various countries have volunteered to go to Somalia and conduct researches to find more water sources whether it was underground or controlling the weather or the most common solution that even the people of the country are doing, digging for water. These solutions cannot last long and extreme measure must be done. Aids should be given to build a better solar desalination plants for better water operations, mediating countries should try to create peace meeting to create a better and stable political state and thus help providing stable water supply facilities, cooperation between water communities and the government to enhance the current water sources like a better flood control system and help researching for a better water resources. Finally, increase the awareness of the Somalis about water saving methods.
Conclusion:
Water shortage is a serious problem that still continues to endanger many lives and humans around the world should be more aware of the danger of water shortage. It caused many countries to lose many of its population due to underestimating the problem and late solutions. Somalia is a good example with 40,000 lives at stake and a possible of one third of its population to face the same problem in the next few years cause of many facts that affected water sources and the ability to reach them. The solutions were uncertain and lack stability due to lack of knowledge and financial support. If not handled seriously, it may affect the rest of the world.
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References:
· BBC News - Somalia drought: Aid agencies in new warning. (n.d.). BBC - Homepage. Retrieved January 12, 2012, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13393137
· Somalia - annual freshwater withdrawals. (n.d.). Index Mundi - Country Facts. Retrieved January 12, 2012, from http://www.indexmundi.com/facts/somalia/annual-freshwater-withdrawals
· Water - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 12, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water
· IRIN Africa | SOMALIA: Water shortage to blame for AWD outbreak | Somalia | Early Warning | Environment | Health & Nutrition. (n.d.). IRIN • humanitarian news and analysis from Africa, Asia and the Middle East - updated daily. Retrieved January 12, 2012, from http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?Reportid=83377
