The global crisis of rivers

The rivers which distribute 80% of the water consumed worldwide are seriously threatened. In other words, the water we drink 5,000 million people could leave soon be unfit for human consumption. The figures emerge from the first large-scale study of the quality of all rivers on the planet and the crisis of river.. Until now, scientists and politicians who must make decisions affecting the river channels had only a patchwork of local studies that complicated the work in multinational rivers. More than 250 rivers around the globe crossing national borders and the crisis of river..
The research, conducted by researchers at The City College of City University of New York and the University of Michigan (USA) and published in the journal Nature, analyzed the main factors that compromise environmental quality of water sweet globally. Among them include agricultural waste, chemical pollution and invasive species, but the study has considered the effect of 23 different agents, and the crisis of river. such as dams or loss of wetlands and the crisis of river.

Global crisis of rivers

According to the researchers, these agents do not only threaten the quality of rivers and human health, but threaten to 65% of river habitats in the world. "We can not independently studying the safety of human consumption and ecosystem health independently," said Charles J. Vörösmarty, director of City College and author of the study and the crisis of river.. "We need to unite both. The tool we have created allows them to play on the same field."
The authors acknowledge that the results are "conservative" because they do not have enough information on other factors such as pharmaceuticals and mining waste and the crisis of river..

Amazonas river crisis

But despite this, have been set continental maps detailing the levels of stress supported by each channel, regardless of boundaries it crosses and the crisis of river..
However, not all rivers behave similarly. Explains the professor of the University of Maryland Margaret A. Palmer in an analysis accompanying the research, the Nile, for example, has more upstream pressure, but its effects on the population increase as the flow decreases and the crisis of river.. The Nile provides water to more than 180 million people.