Global Water Resources: Vulnerability from Climate Change and Population Growth

Authors

Charles J. Vorosmarty, University of New Hampshire, DurhamFollow
Pamela Green, University of New Hampshire, Durham
Joseph E. Salisbury, University of New Hampshire, DurhamFollow
Richard B. Lammers, University of New Hampshire, DurhamFollow

Abstract

The future adequacy of freshwater resources is difficult to assess, owing to a complex and rapidly changing geography of water supply and use. Numerical experiments combining climate model outputs, water budgets, and socioeconomic information along digitized river networks demonstrate that (i) a large proportion of the world's population is currently experiencing water stress and (ii) rising water demands greatly outweigh greenhouse warming in defining the state of global water systems to 2025. Consideration of direct human impacts on global water supply remains a poorly articulated but potentially important facet of the larger global change question.

Department

Earth Systems Research Center

Publication Date

7-14-2000

Journal Title

Science

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.289.5477.284

Document Type

Report

Recommended Citation

Vorosmarty, C.J. P. Green, J. Salisbury, R.B. Lammers (2000a) Global Water Resources: Vulnerability from Climate Change and Population Growth, Science, 289:284-288, July 14, 2000.