Children in Diveni village in drought stricken Venda in South Africa collect emergency water supplies from a tanker
During droughts bowser trucks deliver water to remote communities Providing safe emergency drinking water is essential to enable people to remain in their villages rather than forcing them to migrate to equally hard pressed areas and putting additional pressure on others scarce resources Drought emergencies are not usually immediate and unpredictable disasters but are progressive situations that can be managed to a degree There is a widespread view that global warming is happening but this has yet to be conclusively scientifically proven and the effect of this phenomenon on water resources is unknown The consensus is that the effect will be to accentuate the extremes with more pronounced droughts and more severe flooding Providing adequate drinking water is recognised as a worldwide problem and is particularly severe in rural and rapidly growing urban areas In the developing world one out of six people live without regular access to safe drinking water and diseases related to water kill a child every eight seconds and are responsible for 80 percent of all illnesses and deaths South Africa is a hot and arid country and fast growth in its population combined with rapid urbanization and industrialization has resulted in a progressive decline in the volume of available water Simultaneously water quality has declined as a result of increased pollution levels and has further reduced the quantity of water available for use Freshwater is an important commodity and population growth in water scarce regions will increase its value Within the next 50 years it is estimated that 40 percent of the world s population will live in countries facing water stress or scarcity
Size: 5629px × 5735px
Location: Diveni Village, Transvaal, South Africa
Photo credit: © qaphotos.com / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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