ental Geology, ''In Africa, Central Asia, the Near East and South America, some countries are already bickering over access to rivers and inland seas. ''Even within a country, competition for use can be fierce,'' the report adds, giving as an example China's Yellow river whose waters are in so much demand that it dries up before reaching the ocean. As people use more water, the report cautions, less is left for vital ecosystem on which humans and other species depend and warns that today 20 percent of all fresh water fish species are endangered, vulnerable or recently have become extinct. ''In Egypt, diverting water from the Nile has virtually wiped out some 30 of 47 commercial species of fish. Lake Chad has shrunk from 25,000 square kilometers to just 2,000 square kilometers, while in Europe, the river Rhine is so polluted that 8 out of its 44 fish species have disappeared while another 25 are rare or endangered,'' the report says. Global Warming IssuesAnother concern in maintaining fresh water supplies is global warming. Global warming will further aggravate the water shortage throughout the globe. Problems in North China as evaporation of river water will far exceed rainfall, reported a recent issue of the China Water Resources News. The newspaper quoted scientist Ye Duzheng as saying that compared with the current level, the temperature will be increasing by 1.0-1.5 in winter by the year 2030, with rainfall remaining unchanged, while the summer temperature will witness a rise of 0.5-0.8 degrees Celsius, with rainfall edging up by 1-2 percent. However, the rainfall that results from global warming will not be enough to make up the loss in river water, said the newspaper. Global trends of increased population as well changes in modern agriculture, industry and urban lifestyles are causing water tables and river levels to fall. These trends are evident by our growing interdependence on deeper wells to capture underground aquifers. The ...
