Virtual water is the less obvious water that is used to produce a certain product. For example 1 kilogram of beef takes around 15,000 litres of water to produce. This includes not only the water used to produce the meat, but also all of the water to keep the cow healthy, its food and other essential parts for healthy stock. I had no idea it used so much water to produce our foods. I can see how Australia is in such a bad drought.
I think there definitely will be battles fought over water. Many wars have already been fought over oil, which is only used to support our lifestyles. Water, however, we cannot live without, so it will provoke many more battles.
Desalination plants just seem to be delaying the problem, not actually solving it. Desalination plants are the easy option. They also encourage people to keep on wasting water if they can just say “It’s alright, we’ve got a big ocean to drink”, which is not a sustainable attitude. If we actually want a long term solution to our lack of water we should think ahead. If we start to rely on desalination plants, at some point the resources used will run out. A better solution would be to reduce our water use, and try to solve the cause of the problem: global warming.
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