The Water Crisis 水危 机.docVIP

The Water Crisis Greater efficiency in water use is needed to meet the growing demands of a changing world【A】Per capita 人均water usage has been on an upward trend for many years. As countries industrialise and their citizens become more prosperous, their individual water usage increases rapidly. Annual per capital water withdrawals取回 in the USA, for example, are about 1,700 cubic meters立方公尺, four times the level in China and fifty times the level in Ethiopia. In the 21st century, the world’s limited supply of renewable fresh water is having to meet demands of both larger total population and increased per capital consumption. The only practicable ways to resolve this problem in the longer term are economic pricing in conjunction with结合 conservation measures. 水危机 提高水利用率以满足不断增长的用水需求A 很多年来，人均用水量一直呈现上升的趋势。随着国家工业化程度和居民生活水平的提高，个人用水量也随之急剧增加。例如，美国的年人均取水量大约为1700立方米，相当于中国的4倍，相当于埃塞俄比亚的50倍。在21世纪，有限的可更新淡水供应必须满足不断增长的总人口和不断增加的人均用水量的諝求。 从长远来看，解决这一矛盾唯一可行的方法是将征收水费和有效的水储存措施结合起来。 【B】Agriculture consumes about 70% of the world’s fresh water, so improvements in irrigation can make the greatest impact. At present, average efficiency in the use of irrigated water in agriculture may be as low as 50%. Simple changes could improve the rate substantially, though it is unrealistic to expect very high levels of water-use efficiency in many developing countries, faced as they are with a chronic lack of capital and a largely untrained rural workforce. After agriculture, industry is the second biggest user of water and, in terms of value added per liter used, is sixty times more productive than agriculture. However, some industrial processes use vast amounts of water. For example, production of 1 kg of aluminium铝 might require 1,500 liters of water. Paper production too is often very water-intensive. Though new processes have greatly reduced consumption, there is still plenty of room for big savings in industrial uses of water. B 农业消耗了世界上大约70%的淡水，因此改进灌溉方式对节水的效果最为显著：目前，农业灌溉用水的平均使用率可能只是50%。虽然在很多发展