Talk:Water scarcity

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 16 August 2021 and 8 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): CDDRDR.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 04:48, 18 January 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Climate change water adaptation approaches - Senior Seminar
— Assignment last updated by Wildgooseontheloose (talk) 23:22, 5 June 2022 (UTC)
 * Hi User:SJLupine feel free to write here on the talk page to let us know what improvements or new content you are planning to add? This might help sharpen your thoughts and avoid disappointment later. EMsmile (talk) 13:31, 16 May 2022 (UTC)

Science
What problem can arise due to water scarcity in a particular place 49.205.104.205 (talk) 11:48, 20 October 2022 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program course assignment
This article is the subject of an educational assignment at Rice University supported by the Wikipedia Ambassador Program&#32;during the 2013 Fall term. Further details are available on the course page.

The above message was substituted from by PrimeBOT (talk) on 16:58, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

Moved content that is still pie in the sky research
Hi User:Prototyperspective, I've now moved your recently added content on Air-capture over oceans and on Atmospheric water generators on land to water resources. This kind of "fundamental research", out of the box thinking, novel ideas probably fits better there as it's unlikely to be a solution for water scarcity issues for a long time to come. Keep also in mind that we should focus on secondary sources. EMsmile (talk) 11:29, 3 February 2023 (UTC)


 * Ok, fine. I do think it should be mentioned there that additional options are being researched (best with wikilinks) because the section would otherwise suggest that the two options named there are the only ones despite there already being functional viable atmospheric water generators. There may also be further options which should also not get entirely excluded, especially rainwater collection related ones. Prototyperspective (talk) 11:41, 3 February 2023 (UTC)
 * I guess you could mention short sentences on those other water options but the key point of water scarcity is not so much a lack of water as such. We have water or we could produce it (if we used enough energy in the case of desalination...). The point is more one of management, increasing demand due to increasing population, policy, poverty, economic aspects etc. That's why I don't think we should blow up the technical aspects on how to produce water more than necessary (in this article). Those are available in water resources, water supply, drinking water, water treatment, ... lots of overlapping articles in fact which need to be carefully crafted into a useful web of information. So yes, wikilinks are also useful/important. EMsmile (talk) 13:13, 3 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks for elaborating! These are good points, maybe things could get briefly clarified in the section lead for example. Maybe this review could be useful for that. For now, I added a 3-words mention wikilinked to the AWGs article because it certainly shouldn't be left out for a number of reasons and consider this issue done now. Prototyperspective (talk) 18:04, 4 February 2023 (UTC)

Removed essay like content about indigenous knowledge
I've removed this student-added content that was more essay-like, full of opinions and vague statements. In my opinion it's not WP:DUE. I wouldn't be opposed to adding a sentence or two about using indigenous knowledge to address water scarcity but it needs to be factual and well referenced. It's possible that Chapter 4 of the IPCC AR 6 report has relevant content but I couldn't find it yet. From what I can see that report focuses more on water security which is why I have cited from it in the water security article. Indigenous knowledge might be able to help with addressing physical water scarcity but I haven't seen clear factual content on that yet. If someone has it, it could be added in but would need to be brief to be in-line with WP:DUE. EMsmile (talk) 13:50, 10 February 2023 (UTC)

Implementation of Indigenous Knowledge
Further improvements can be made through legislative action and more active involvement of communities, especially those who are affected by water scarcity. Indigenous communities have navigated the avenues of water availability long before modern capitalist methods of water use and extraction. It would be valuable to learn from Indigenous and local knowledge when creating regulations, adaptations, as well as greater access to water. It is important to recognize that the commodification of resources such as water, is rooted in settler-colonial perspectives, and much of western science works to uphold these problematic perspectives. A space where both modern western science can coexist with traditional practices of water and land management could open doors to more sustainable water practices. Using Two-Eyed Seeing, an inclusive implementation of both indigenous knowledge and practices alongside western science, can help change the way we approach and assess water scarcity. IPCC, Chapter 4, suggests working alongside Indigenous and local communities to address regional issues surrounding water scarcity and hydrological changes can show effective mitigation. Focusing on large-scale implementation rather than community-based, regional-scale implementation can lead to complications as well as unneeded intervention and conflict. EMsmile (talk) 13:50, 10 February 2023 (UTC)

Ecological water scarcity as a third type?
Regarding this sentence added by User:ASRASR recently: "A third dimension was introduced involving ecological water scarcity and applied to assessments in China.": I am not sure this is really a new third dimension: It's just a subset of what other authors have called "physical water scarcity", isn't it? See the section on physical water scarcity where we say: "Physical water scarcity occurs when natural water resources are insufficient to meet all demands, including that needed for ecosystems to function effectively." If you think the term ecological scarcity is important to be introduced then I suggest this is included in the section on physical water scarcity. Most authors seem to only distinguish physical and economic water scarcity, and the ecological scarcity is part of physical scarcity (as far as I can see). But we could explain this in more detail at that location if needed (rather than in the section called "More sophisticated indicators"). EMsmile (talk) 13:02, 18 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I've now added a paragraph about a possible third dimension, called ecological water scarcity, but I am not sure if this is WP:DUE like this. E.g. the AR 6 WG 2 report does not mention "ecological water scarcity". It would be good if we could find more refs to discuss this aspect and whether a 3rd dimensions is useful/required or not really. EMsmile (talk) 08:47, 8 May 2023 (UTC)