EL Education Curriculum

Accessed August 14, 2013. http://www.unesco.org/bpi/science/content/press/anglo/10.htm. Between 1900 and 1995, world demand for water multiplied by six, twice the rate of population growth over the same period. According to a recent analysis1, the scarcity of water in localised areas will become the second most pressing concern in the 21st century (the first is population growth). At first sight, access to freshwater may seem to be a purely socio-economic issue - some people will have the water resources and/or the money to exploit them, others will not. But some applications of science - such as synthetic fertilisers, some industrial processes, intensive irrigation - are partly responsible for creating this imminent shortage. Other applications of science also offer some of the solutions.