This section of Climate Change and Cities is all about our most essential resource: water. Humans would not be able to survive without water. We need to drink water, water nourishes our earth and all our food sources, we clean ourselves with it, use it in product production, clean energy…the uses of water are endless. But like everything else, water is effected by climate change. The section also talked about wastewater. Waste water is water we have already used that has come through all the drains and pipes in our homes and industrial buildings and ends up in our water treatment plants. The effect climate change has on water is huge. Higher temperatures and lack of precipitation can lead to droughts, the wells that collect the rainwater dry up and cause a water shortage. Droughts lead to the need for more irrigation and more harm is done by the process of transporting water to those in need. On the other hand, too much rain causes our water systems to malfunction. So rather than our wastewater making it to the water treatment plants, it just ends up in our surrounding water bodies. The section also talked about groundwater, which I really didn’t know much about. Groundwater is the source of our drinking water. We need to have this access to clean drinking water to function in our daily lives. It is something we are lucky to have in America and the rest of the first world and we are so dependent on it. Unfortunately, not everyone in the world has such easy access to clean drinking water. Climate change can also effect our supply of groundwater. Climate change is a serious issue we are faced with, and it effects our most important recourse. Continuing into the future, we need to work to fight climate change, we need to keep our water systems clean, and work to get clean water to everyone around the world.
