While our planet as a whole may never run out of water, it's important to remember that clean freshwater is not always available where and when humans need it. In fact, half of the world's freshwater can be found in only six countries. More than a billion people live without enough safe, clean water.
The Earth itself will not run out of water as it contains enormous quantities of H2O within its oceans, lakes, rivers, atmosphere, and even in the rocks of the inner Earth! Three-quarters of the globe is made up of our oceans.
The population of India is expected to stabilize around 1640 million by the year 2050. As a result, gross per capita water availability will decline from ~ 1820 m3/ yr in 2001 to as low as ~ 1140 m3/yr in 2050.
If the planet ran out of the water, the consequences would be disastrous. It would affect everyone on our planet, no matter where they are from. There would be far less of the color green since all vegetation would die a slow death, and wind fluctuations would rule most of our weather conditions.
Global fresh water demand will outstrip supply by 40% by 2030, say experts. The world is facing an imminent water crisis, with demand expected to outstrip the supply of fresh water by 40% by the end of this decade, experts have said on the eve of a crucial UN water summit.
All of this does not mean water wars are inevitable. In recent history there have been no wars solely about water. In fact, countries and communities have been more likely to co-operate to tackle any water crises. Even at the Nile dam, despite years of tension and disputes, it is yet to boil over.
Our Sun is middle-aged, with about five billion years left in its lifespan. However, it's expected to go through some changes as it gets older, as we all do — and these changes will affect our planet.
The world population could be too big to feed itself by 2050. By then, there will be almost 10 billion people on the planet and food demand will have increased by 70 percent compared to 2017. Scientists put the limit on how many people Earth can feed at 10 billion - max!
2.5% of the earth's fresh water is unavailable: locked up in glaciers, polar ice caps, atmosphere, and soil; highly polluted; or lies too far under the earth's surface to be extracted at an affordable cost. 0.5% of the earth's water is available fresh water.
We have taken water for granted for a long time. Yet a global water crisis threatens our future. The World Health Organization (WHO) even states that by 2025 half (!) of the world's population will live in areas with permanent water scarcity. What are the causes and consequences of water scarcity?
The ocean holds about 97 percent of the Earth's water; the remaining three percent is found in glaciers and ice, below the ground, in rivers and lakes. Of the world's total water supply of about 332 million cubic miles of water, about 97 percent is found in the ocean.
By 2050, some 3.5 billion to 4.4 billion people around the world will live with limited access to water, more than 1 billion of them in cities. Among 482 cities, more than a quarter will face demands that outpace supply, according to a study that analyzed water sources and demands.
Humans cannot drink saline water but saline water can be made into freshwater, for which there are many uses. The process is called "desalination", and it is being used more and more around the world to provide people with needed freshwater.
Earth's water is 4.5 billion years old, just like the article's title says. At least some of it is. According to the authors, planetesimals probably delivered it to Earth, but exactly how that happens isn't clear. There's a lot more complexity that scientists need to sort through before they can figure that out.
Global consumption of oil is currently estimated at roughly 96.5 million barrels per day. According to OPEC, global demand is expected to reach 109 million barrels per day. Estimations vary slightly, but it is predicted that - if demand forecasts hold - we will run out of oil from known reserves in about 47 years.
In the 1971 edition of The Guinness Book of Records, Barbieri's 382-day fast was recognized as the longest recorded. In 1973, Dennis Galer Goodwin went on a hunger strike for 385 days, but he was force-fed during this period.
But how long can humans last? Eventually humans will go extinct. At the most wildly optimistic estimate, our species will last perhaps another billion years but end when the expanding envelope of the sun swells outward and heats the planet to a Venus-like state. But a billion years is a long time.
If our atmosphere was 100% oxygen, plants and cyanobacteria on land and sea would likely not exist as we know them, because they require carbon dioxide to live, with oxygen being a byproduct of their metabolic respiration. Therefore, the insects and animals that depend on them would also likely not exist.
While the end of oxygen is still a billion years away, when the depletion begins to take hold, it will occur rather rapidly, in about 10,000 years. Reinhard explained the severity of the change: The drop in oxygen is very, very extreme; we're talking around a million times less oxygen than there is today.
Urban water demand is predicted to increase by 80% by 2050. Water shortages are also becoming a more frequent occurrence in rural areas, the report found. Currently, between 2 billion and 3 billion people experience water shortages for at least a month a year.
Unless water use is drastically reduced, severe water shortage will affect the entire planet by 2040.
With about 72% aquifers drying up, people are left high and dry. India's Waterman believes that water could be the main cause of World War III. Warring over water isn't new to our world with flare-ups going back to Mesopotamia in 2500BC, Assyria in 720BC, China in 101BC, and 48BC in Egypt.