Global warming could cause severe municipal water shortages, says Nobel Prize winner

Sunday, March 04, 2007 by: M. T. Whitney
Tags: global warming, water crisis, water shortage

(NewsTarget) The rise of global warming could cause cities run out of water, says Steven Chu, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics a decade ago. Decreases in snow and glacier melt - major sources for water - have some wondering about global warming's impact and has spurred an increase in pushing for ocean desalinization technology.

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What you need to know - Conventional View

• The effects of global warming already are being seen, as some rivers now become dry in the summertime, and the snow and glacier melt in the Himalayas has declined.

• The Sierra Nevada mountain range of California will see its snowpack decline by between 30 to 70 percent by the year 2100.

• Warming prevents snow and rain from being stored in the mountains, meaning that while some areas will see an increase in snow, it will be wasted as run-off water.

• The impact of the Sierra Nevadas losing water could mean that Californian agriculture will be disrupted, and that later people may migrate away from The Golden State.

• The increased attention on global warming has caused some companies to invest further in desalinizing seawater for human consumption.

• "(Water) is probably the first thing that will hit home," Chu said. "The water storage problem is becoming a mess."

Bottom line

With global warming, the loss of usable water will be one of the greatest impacts on the human race.