Water scarcity has far-reaching implications

Global warming, increased biofuel production and other factors combine to escalate the world water crisis.

The feed industry has been focusing on a number of trends impacting the animal feed business, from disease outbreak to competition for feed ingredients. But one issue that has perhaps not gotten its share of the spotlight may have some of the farthest-reaching implications for feed and livestock production: the growing world problem of water availability.

Earlier this year, FAO Director-General Dr Jacques Diouf addressed the issue of a growing global water scarcity. What he had to say was sobering: Global water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population growth in the last century. "Water scarcity already affects every continent and more than 40 percent of the people on our planet," he noted. "By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity and two-thirds of the world's population could be living under water-stressed conditions."

Obviously, the worry over water scarcity is not limited to those of us in the feed and animal industries, but has far-reaching complications. As Dr Diouf stated, lack of access to adequate, safe water limits our ability to produce enough food and the capability for people to earn enough income. It cuts off our business and industrial potential and shrinks our ability to provide energy. It yields unhealthy hygiene and unsafe drinking water, leading to increased spread of life-threatening diseases like HIV/AIDS.

And while that poster child of all world ills, global warming, may not be the only trigger behind the escalating water scarcity, experts say it is having a magnifying effect. "The water scarcity situation is being exacerbated by climate change, especially in the driest areas of the world," Dr Diouf says. "The human impact on the earth's environment and climate must be addressed in order to protect the world's water resources."

But a warming world is not the only factor adding to the water crisis. He admits there are other triggers involved, including increases in the amount of water needed for feed production. While water scarcity may be of universal concern across industries, it is agriculture that is the greatest user of freshwater worldwide, despite trends toward urbanization and increases in domestic and industrial water use by people who live in more developed areas.

See the full version of this article: Feed Processing