Despite being vital for nature and for our development and survival, water is a natural resource that has been subject to strong contamination processes in aquifers and other bodies of water and also of overexploitation since the last decades. Spain is one of the countries with the highest levels of overexploitation of water reaches at European level, where agriculture is one of the activities that have a greater demand for water (more than 75%). Although direct consumption of water by humans represents a small fraction, the water we use in the domestic environment and that we need to live requires certain levels of quality, which are currently in serious danger.
If you want to learn about the problem of overexploitation of water, its causes, consequences and solutions Possible, continue with the reading of this Ecology Verde article, because here we will focus on explaining what causes the Overexploitation of aquifershow it affects us and how to avoid it. To do this, theoretical knowledge is accompanied by clarifying examples of overexploitation of fresh water and important actions to reduce this phenomenon of anthropic origin.
What is the overexploitation of water and examples
The indiscriminate extraction of water resourcesabove the recharge levels of aquifers is what we know as Fresh water overexploitation. Why do we say fresh water? Because the water reserves that we exploit are underground and these, as explained in our article about what are the groundwater, are fresh waters.
According to a report by Friends of the Earth Europe (2011), in Europe 45% of the extracted water is intended for the energy sector, 22% by agriculture (although in some countries, as in Spain, this figure rises to almost 80%), 21% corresponds to the public supply of water and 12% for the industrial sector.
A Water overexploitation example It is the spring of thermal waters of Fuencaliente, in Huéscar (Granada). This mass of groundwater was discarded as a result of its overexploitation. Within the causes, the proliferation of illegal wells in the area and the lack of control over irrigation systems stand out. Among the solutions, the number of hectares allowed for irrigation cultivation was limited, the controls on the wells were increased and limits for the water to be extracted in the allowed areas were established.
We recommend you read this other article about the overexploitation of natural resources: causes and consequences.
Causes of overexploitation of water
What causes the overexploitation of water? Here we summarize some of the Causes of overexploitation of fresh water:
- One of the main causes that lead to overexploitation is the growing demand for this resource by a world population every day. Agriculture consumes more than 75% of water reserves and their production levels are increasing, which explains the threat of intensive and unsustainable practices for the conservation of the resource and its quality.
- Another great pressure is the illegal collection of water through the illegal wells.
- The way in How groundwater are extracted It has also meant a turning point in the availability and exhaustion of the resource. With technological development in the twentieth century, the appearance of machines and extraction pumps resulted in a greater proliferation of wells and current uptake rates.
Consequences of overexploitation of water
After knowing what is the abuse of the extraction of water resources and some of its main causes, more doubts arise such as: what consequences generates the overexploitation of groundwater? Or How does the overexploitation of water affect us?
The environmental impact derived from the practices of Intensive exploitation of water resources It takes decades to demonstrate, which hinders the management of Water reserves in terms of sustainability. Some of the consequences of overexploitation of aquifers are:
- Lower availability of water resources (exhaustion of the most accessible fresh water sources).
- Quality conditions for the contamination of aquifers and other bodies of water.
- Loss of aquifer storage capacity due to the redistribution of materials and pores that characterize aquifers.
- Disappearance of biodiversity, mainly that associated with aquatic ecosystems.
- Impacts on human health.
- Descent of the water table.
- The overexploitation of coastal aquifers causes the salinization of aquifers, that is, a saline intrusion process takes place in water masses or ecosystems located in coastal areas. For example, in the Valencian Community aquifers have seawater intrusion problems.
- It can favor desertification processes.
- Sometimes, with the overexploitation of aquifers, the release of gases such as CO2 can take place.
Water overexploitation solutions
Finally, we want to indicate some aspects about How to avoid overexploitation of water. The best of solutions is to establish practices of responsible and sustainable consumption of water resources. Among the Actions to reduce the overexploitation of water And end this problem stand out:
- Desalination of seawater.
- Reuse of purified water.
- Local management of water resources.
These are some ideas to end the overexploitation of water, but more possible solutions or small gestures can be given by the different administrations, governments and even by each person at the individual level to improve this environmental problem. Having learned all this about the overexploitation of water, we advise you to continue reading these other articles on the causes and consequences of water pollution, solutions to water pollution and how to avoid water pollution.
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