IS IT POSSIBLE USING WATER AS A RENEWABLE RESOURCE WHEN THERE IS SCARCITY OF IT?
Few days back, I participated in a contest on water scarcity and this contest brought my mind back to where I used to live as a child and that topic was my inspiration for making this article.
From Britannica "Water, a substance composed of the chemical elements hydrogen and oxygen and existing in gaseous, liquid, and solid states."
Water is a necessity we cannot live without. We make use of water in our daily activities, for our well-being and survival, we need water, we need water for maintaining adequate hydration in our body system, it aids digestion, regulates our temperature and moisturizes the skin and helps flush out toxins and skin problems among many others. Water intake plays a vital role in biological processes and reasons listed above are why everyone would agree that indeed water is a necessity.
It hurts so much when we find out that some regions are in deep need of water and they can't find it while other regions have water in excess leading to mismanagement and lack of value. Imagine using water for renewable energy when there is scarcity of it. The outcome would be negative. Below are the negative effects of using water as a renewable energy:
According to panda.org "It is comforting to think of water as a renewable resource, but we must also know what limitless exploitation of a resource can lead to. According to the UNDP, "an area is experiencing water stress when annual water supplies drop below 1700 m³ per person."
The environmental impact would not be habitat for example, when dams are constructed for electrical energy. This construction also makes aquatic creatures to migrate which leads to ecosystem disruption.
In addition to above, when large scale water based energy projects are introduced to communities, the risk of these communities relocating to another community is high which will lead to loss of cultural heritage and social conflict.
Also, when there is scarcity of water in a region, different sectors such as industries, agriculture will compete with each other for water, not to speak of domestic use of water. With all these crises,allocating water for renewable energy projects instances like this can create conflict and drought.
Addressing this issue in regions where water scarcity is experienced is necessary. Challenges as such require effective water resource management, promoting efficient water use practices, recycling and reusing of water, minimizing environmental impacts for sustainable water based renewable energy projects in these regions.
POSITIVE EFFECTS OF USING WATER FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY
Water energy sources like hydropower, tidal energy among others do not contribute to greenhouse gas emissions during electricity generation. It helps reduce carbon emission and also reduces individuals' dependency on fossil fuels.
From online source, The development of new renewable energy technologies and other expanding sources of energy such as shale gas will be limited by the availability of water in some regions of the world, according to research by a US thinktank.
Water being a natural substance which replenishes provides a sufficient and consistent source of energy mostly for regions with stable water resources.
Making use of water for renewable energy reduces the society's reliance on imported fossil fuels increasing energy Independence for countries.
REFERENCE
Renewable means "naturally replenished." This means that renewable resources are limited to nature's ability to replenish. The moment nature is no longer able to replenish a resource; then that resource is scarce.
Dams retain water. They also raise the water level in areas. For example, reservoirs often feed canals which irrigate land that would otherwise be unarable.
Most of the dams in the Western United States were justified because they increase the water available for farming. Hydro-electricity was considered secondary benefit to the dam.
The biggest argument against dams is that they disrupt the natural fishery.
!WINEX
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