Crisis of clean water in Asia
The Hindu Kush Himalaya Region consists of most river basins of Asia, and ten major Asian rivers originated from this region.
Those ten major Asian rivers are the Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong, Yangtze, Yellow, Amu Darya, and Tarim. Hence this region is known as the “water tower” of Asia.
It is the main source of clean water for about two billion people on the Tibet plateau. By 2050, experts say the region’s clean water reserves could nearly collapse.
By the middle of this Century, the Tibet plateau, known as the ‘water tower’ of Asia, may lose a significant portion of its water reserves.
A recent study has raised such fears. This is the most comprehensive study on the subject to date.
According to the study, supplies of clean water to Central Asia and Afghanistan will decrease by 119 percent.
The Sindhu Basin’s capacity to supply northern India and Pakistan will drop by 79 percent. The two sources combined will affect about one-quarter of the world’s population.
A group of scientists from the Pen State University, Tsinghua University, and the University of Texas found in their study that climate change has caused severe degradation of water reserves in the past few decades.
This includes ground and surface water too. The calculated amount of this degradation in the Tibet plateau is about 15.8 gigaton
Based on this trend, scientists assume that due to carbon emissions( SSP 2-4.5) in the Tibet plateau, the degradation of reserve water will reach 230 gigaton within this Century.
A professor at the pen state university said, “it’s not a good sign. If we do not reduce fossil fuel burning meaningfully in the next few decades, we estimate that nearly 100 percent of the Tibetan Plateau could lose water.”
