Phrases For Different Global Water Issues, & What They Each Mean - Better Meets Reality

There are different phrases used to describe the different water issues in the world.

Different organisations or individuals may describe different things when using these phrases, and may use them in different contexts.

為了清除一些潛在的不確定性或混淆，我們在本指南中所做的內容非正式地描述了每個短語，並且還相對於彼此描述它們。

*Note – separate water issues outside of the scope of this guide are 1. Natural disasters involving water such as floods, and 2.進入清潔和安全的飲用水，以及基本的衛生和衛生（欠發達或發展區域的常見問題）

Summary – Global Water Issue Phrases

全球水問題generally revolve around these three key problems:

Quantity of water supplies（可用的淡水供應量，以及被撤回和消耗的水的比例與正在更新的水資源）

Quality of water supplies(whether water is in an adequate condition for it’s end use – for example, drinking water vs water used for irrigation … potable vs non potable water)

Access to water supplies (being able to extract, treat, transport and deliver water to it’s end use)

The different phrases used to describe different aspects of these problems are:

水可用性– relates to quantity

Water Stress – relates to quantity

水資源稀缺 - 數量涉及數量

缺水– relates to quantity

水分訪問 - 涉及數量（盡管為發展和欠發達的地區）

Water Pollution & Contamination– relates to quality, but also affects quantity

水危機– relates to access, and quantity

Water Security – general water phrase

Water Risk – general water phrase

重要的是要注意,一些水問題, only certain types of water might be affected e.g. only non potable water, and not potable water.

And additionally, a city or region that might be water stressed right now, doesn’t always stay water stressed.

They could for example permanently address the problems in their water management strategy, or, there could be seasonal or yearly (or more) fluctuations in water supplies that impact water stress, water shortages, and so on.

The onset and the end of a drought is one example of this.

So, water issues can be fluid and change from location to location.

Although – some places in the world face permanent challenges like a very dry and hot climate, and naturally small water supplies, which can mean permanent water issues.

水可用性

Water availability is the water available to withdraw or consume from a water supply resource in a particular geographic region.

This could be water from a surface water source (like a river or lake), or ground water source for example.

Water that is not available (at least not immediately without further technology or treatment methods) might include water such marine water, brackish water, frozen water, and some types of underground water.

Non available water can also include rainfall that doesn’t inflow into a usable water supply source (because it evaporates, drains into a non usable water source, or is transpired by plants).

MDBA.GOV.AU資源對澳大利亞的水供應具有良好的解釋。

Water Access

Water access usually refers to basic access to safely managed and clean fresh water resources – which people can drink, or use for other uses such as household, industry or agricultural activities.

Water access is critical for both drinking water, and socio-economic development.

Water access usually has three main barriers:

物理用水存取 - 僅可訪問可用的水。由於諸如被隔離的物理限製，位於岩層下方或被冷凍的物理限製，無法訪問一些水

經濟用水 - 擁有投資水基礎設施和係統的財政資源，以提取，治療，運輸和將水輸送到最終用戶

Political/Institutional – inadequate political or institutional management of water – can including access to water, general services and infrastructure, and overall water management strategy

Water access differs by city, region and country.

For example, a developing region may use simple water wells to extract drinking water from the ground, whilst a developed region may have full water treatment plants, pipes, taps, and so on.

Water Stress

Water stress is a term used to describe the ratio of water demand (withdrawals) to water supply at any one time, and also, how much water resources may be remaining.

High water stress is an indicator that water demand and withdrawals might be outpacing renewal rates of a water supply source (a dam, a river, a ground water aquifer, and so on), and also that water supplies are usually trending towards being lower and lower.

Low water stress is an indicator that water supply renewal rates might be outpacing withdrawal/consumption rates, and that water supplies might be higher and not as much of a concern.

Countries with dry climates (low or variable rainfall), or that have low natural fresh water resources with growing populations and increasing demand might be in the highly water stressed country category.

Other descriptions of water stress are:

Water stress is the ratio of total withdrawals to total renewable supply in a given area.

A higher percentage means more water users are competing for limited water supplies, and therefore that area/country is more stressed

– wri.org

Compared to water scarcity, water stress is a more inclusive and broader concept.

它認為幾個物理方麵相關的water resources, including water scarcity, but also water quality, environmental flows, and the accessibility of water

– Pacinst

基於淡水取出與可再生淡水資源的比率來定義水應激。

Water stress does not insinuate that a country has water shortages, but does give an indication of how close it maybe be to exceeding a water basin’s renewable resources.

如果水取款超過可用資源(我.e. greater than 100 percent) then a country is either extracting beyond the rate at which aquifers can be replenished, or has very high levels of desalinisation water generation (the conversion of seawater to freshwater using osmosis processes)

– ourworldindata.org

世界資源研究所（WRI）...定義water stress categories based on the percentage of withdrawals to renewable resources, and the categories are as follows:

<10% = low stress

10-20％=低至中等應力

20-40% = medium-to-high stress

40-80% = high stress

>80% = extremely high stress

– OurWorldInData/WRI

WRI.ORG定義了一個國家/地區，使用/撤回80％或更多的總供水作為“高度水壓”

Some of the countries projected to be most water stressed by 2040(wri.org) are: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, San Marino, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Israel.

According to the UN:

… the global average water stress is only 13 per cent [total withdrawal vs available water resources]

[But,] 32 countries experience water stress between 25 per cent (when stress begins) and 70 per cent

And, 22 countries are above 70 per cent and considered seriously stressed

- 下載/ 642-水平 - 水平 - 2018.PDF

水資源短缺

Water scarcity is generally more extreme than water stress.

It could be described as ‘the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water usage within a region’

在水資不稀釋的點處，水需求（撤回）率通常超過內部水資源的更新率，並且此時的可用水量（通常約占總容量或更低的20％）是一個憂慮。

So, where water stress is a sliding scale (from low to extreme), water scarcity is a phrase used to describe the point where a population may be experiencing high or extreme water stress exclusively.

Similar to water access, water scarcity can be described as physical (lack of water, or over consumption of water) or economic (lack of financial investment or good governance) water scarcity.

有幾種方法可以測量或評估水資源稀缺......

Some of these might include:

– Measure the amount of renewable freshwater available per capita, per year

– Measure total water demand compared to total water available

– Measure internal fresh water available, alongside fresh water consumption, and take into account each region’s existing water infrastructure, whilst also consider that region’s ability to adapt in the future by building additional infrastructure or using technology to address any water scarcity related problems [this approach can help delineate between economically, or physically water scarce countries – both are which are different. Income and wealth of a region play a role in economic scarcity]

– Measure the level of access to water, water quantity, water quality, water variability, water consumption, competence of water management and also any external or environmental aspects that may impact upon the water supply (like rain, climate, droughts, and so on).

Water scarcity might be more accurate on a city or town level, but can also be calculated on a State/Province, or national level.

For a full explanation of these measurement methods, visit Globalwaterforum.org

Pacinst has one example of a measurement of water scarcity compared to water stress:

If the amount of renewable water in a country is below 1,700 m³每年人每年，那個國家據說正在經曆水分壓力;低於1000米³it is said to be experiencing water scarcity; and below 500 m³, absolute water scarcity

[每年每年1,700至1,000立方米的水平，可以預期定期或有限的水資源短缺]

Globalwaterforum.org also outlines some ways to measure or assess water scarcity

西澳大利亞珀斯是一個經曆水資源稀缺的城市的一個例子，但由於脫鹽和地麵水補貨等技術（在其他措施中）已經解決了它

Note that is possible a city could be water stressed or have scarce supplies of non potable water, but actually have secure supplies of drinking water.

因此，鑒定稀缺的水類型很重要。

缺水

Water scarcity and a shortage of water is often grouped as the same issue or event.

But, ‘water shortage’ is sometimes a phrase used to describe a specific type of water scarcity event where clean fresh water supplies are getting to low enough levels where extreme water restrictions (say, level 7 or 8 water restrictions – sometimes called ‘Day Zero’) have to be enforced, and municipal tap water has to largely be turned off.

You can reada case study of the Cape Town water shortage in this guide.

Cape Town currently lives with stringent water restriction in terms of per capita per day allowances.

Water Pollution & Contamination

Water pollution and contamination initially impacts the quality of the water.

But, if water can’t be treated or purified, it also impacts quantity of water.

We’ve put togethera full guide about water pollution and it’s causes, sources, effects plus solutions here.

Water Security

水安全由兩個因素組成：

A population having an adequate quantity and quality of water for all their needs

That population and their water supplies being adequately protected from water related risks

Wikipedia.org將水安全定義為：

… the reliable availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks

Countries with high water stress, who are experiencing water scarcity or a water shortage, or who experience high levels of water contamination and pollution, might be considered as having poor water security.

水力脅迫低，內部可觸及的淡水資源較低，對未來可用水供應的數量或質量沒有可預見的威脅可能被視為具有高水位安全性。

Water Risk

Water Risk refers to the possibility [or probability] of an entity experiencing a water-related challenge (ceowatermandate.org)

A water related challenge can be a challenge like the ones listed above (e.g. water scarcity, water stress), but could also be other challenges like natural disasters affecting water supplies, water infrastructure leaking or being inadequate, and so on.

Pacinst has this to say on water risk:

Companies and organizations and governments cannot gain robust insight into water risk unless they have a firm understanding of the various components of water stress (i.e. water scarcity, accessibility, environmental flows, and water quality), as well as additional factors, such as water governance

許多與水資源稀缺，汙染，治理差，基礎設施不足，氣候變化等的許多水質條件，以及同時為許多不同的部門和組織創造水風險

水危機

The ‘Water Crisis’ is the term used in two main ways:

1.提及嚴重的健康危機，主要是低收入或欠發達地區的人缺乏基本的水服務，如幹淨和安全的飲用水，以及基本的衛生和衛生。

Nearly 1 million people die each year from water, sanitation and hygiene-related diseases which could be reduced with access to safe water or sanitation.

Every 2 minutes a child dies from a water-related disease.

Over one billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to clean water.

The significant challenge in many of the regions affected is low income, and/or poor institutional governance/management.