Exam Answer Two
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Question:
Water shortage is one of the major problems that environmental scientists are faced with. Describe one of the solutions to this problem.
Answer 2
Many of the environmental problems in the world today are the effect of an increasing human population on finite natural resources.
One of the biggest problems which environmental science faces is that of diminishing water resources. This is a world-wide problem, but while a shortage of fresh water in most Western countries causes merely inconvenience (such as hosepipe bans), vast areas of the world which depend on subsistence agriculture suffer catastrophic famines when the rains fail. This has caused scientists and government agencies to seek ways of increasing the availability of this precious resource, such as desalination plants, canals for moving water to where it is needed and cutting down our use of water.
One of the most radical solutions that has been proposed is the towing of icebergs from Antarctica to arid countries. This would involve the wrapping in cloth or plastic of large icebergs from Antarctica, tying the bergs to powerful tugboats by strong ropes and towing them to areas which are largely desert.
While this plan may have some potential, there are certain practical problems which must first be solved. The most immediate is the expense. According to current estimates, it would cost between £40 and £90 million to tow a single100-million-ton iceberg from Antarctica to the coast of, for example, Saudi Arabia.
There is also the danger that the iceberg could melt en route. Scientists are still unable to predict whether an iceberg can be adequately insulated to survive such a long journey.
A further problem could result from the breaking up of the iceberg. It is not possible to predict accurately what effects a huge block of ice floating off an arid coast would have on the local climate and eco-systems. It could drastically change the weather along the coast and also threaten the survival of the fish population.
Although all these factors are important, by far the most dangerous consequence of this solution to the problem of water shortage could be the speeding up of the melting of the polar ice-caps. This itself has the potential to cause huge environmental disasters.
Thus there are still many financial, technical, and environmental problems which must be addressed by both environmental science and governments before the solution considered here can become a reality.
