{"id":7584,"date":"2024-03-23T11:32:30","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T11:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/23\/un-warns-against-thirsty-tech-to-solve-water-crisis\/"},"modified":"2024-03-23T11:32:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T11:32:30","slug":"un-warns-against-thirsty-tech-to-solve-water-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/23\/un-warns-against-thirsty-tech-to-solve-water-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"UN warns against thirsty tech to solve water crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"UN<\/div>


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The world needs to better manage its freshwater resources<\/a> but thirsty new technologies touted as solutions could lead to “serious problems” if left unchecked, a UN report<\/a> warned Friday.<\/p>\n

Roughly half of the planet’s population is facing grave water shortages, with climate change-linked droughts affecting more than 1.4 billion people between 2002 and 2021, the report for the UN cultural agency UNESCO said.<\/p>\n

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As of 2022, more than 2 billion people were without access to safely managed drinking water<\/a>, while 3.5 billion people lacked access to decent toilets, it added.<\/p>\n

On top of that, pharmaceuticals, hormones and industrial chemicals are seeping into the world’s rivers.<\/p>\n

The report, titled “Water for prosperity and peace”, called for more water education, data collection and investment to address the crisis.<\/p>\n

It also highlighted the limits of new computer-led solutions.<\/p>\n

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“An array of technologies is available to improve both water supply, water use efficiency and the quality and extension of” sanitation services<\/a>, it said.But “several rapidly emerging technologies are highly water-intensive and, if left unchecked, could lead to serious problems in the near future.”<\/p>\n

Artificial intelligence (AI) had “the potential to enhance (river) basin management, emergency response, and the operation and maintenance of water supply and wastewater treatment plants,” said the report.<\/p>\n

But “AI and related technologies require large volumes of water for computer cooling systems, in addition to the (often water-intensive) energy required to power the equipment.”<\/p>\n

Flawed solutions<\/strong><\/p>\n

While climate change<\/a> is projected to intensify patterns of record rainfall and drought in coming years, solutions to tackle that problem were also using up too much water, it added.<\/p>\n

One such technique, called carbon capture and storage, syphons off CO2 from the exhaust of fossil fuel-fired power plants and heavy industry such as steel and cement factories in a bid to reduce planet-heating carbon pollution. <\/p>\n

But “carbon capture and storage systems… are extremely energy- and water-intensive,” the report said.<\/p>\n

Energy production accounts for between 10 and 15 percent of global water withdrawals, both to extract fossil fuels and cool thermal and nuclear power stations, it said.<\/p>\n

While wind, solar and geothermal energy systems are more water-efficient, they still require lithium batteries for power storage.<\/p>\n

Yet the extraction of lithium and other critical minerals for solar panels “is usually highly water-intensive, with significant risks to water quality” especially groundwater, ecosystems and local populations, the report said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The world needs to better manage its freshwater resources but thirsty new technologies touted as solutions could lead to “serious problems” if left unchecked, a UN report warned Friday. Roughly half of the planet’s population is facing grave water shortages, with climate change-linked droughts affecting more than 1.4 billion people between 2002 and 2021, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7585,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img.etimg.com\/photo\/88591548.cms","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[607],"tags":[5418,734,11602,11601,11603,2355,2416,11604,11600,5219,556,5355],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7584"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7584"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7584\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7586,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7584\/revisions\/7586"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}