Home

 

 



  

Water Deficits in Key Countries and Regions, Mid-1990s

 
 
Estimated Annual
Water Deficit
(billion cubic meters per year)
Country/Region    
India   104.0  
China   30.0  
United States   13.6  
North Africa   10.0  
Saudi Arabia   6.0  
Other   unknown  
     
Minimum
Global Total 		 163.6  


Compiled by Worldwatch Institute
from various references cited in the book Pillar of Sand.

 

 

The 20 Largest Countries
Ranked According to Population Size, 1998,
with Projections to 2050

 
    1998   2050
Rank Country Population
(millions)		 Country Population
(millions)
1 China 1,243 India 1,529
2 India 989 China 1,478
3  United
States 		270 United
States 		349
4 Indonesia 207 Pakistan 345
5 Brazil 162 Indonesia 312
6 Russia 147 Brazil 244
7 Pakistan 142 Nigeria 244
8 Japan 126 Bangladesh 212
9 Bangladesh 123 Ethiopia 169
10 Nigeria 122 The Congo 160
11 Mexico 98 Mexico 147
12 Germany 82 Philippines 131
13 Viet Nam 79 Viet Nam 127
14 Philippines 75 Russia 121
15 Egypt 66 Egypt 115
16 Turkey 65 Iran 115
17 Iran 64 Japan 105
18 Thailand 61 Turkey 101
19 France 59 Tanzania 81
20 Ethiopia 58 Thailand 74
         

Compiled by Worldwatch Institute from: Population Reference Bureau, “1998 World Population Data Sheet,” wall chart (Washington, DC: June 1998); United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 1998 Revision (New York: December 1998).See Worldwatch publication Beyond Malthus: Nineteen Dimensions of the Population Challenge for more information.

 

 

Grain Import Dependence of Selected Countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East with Less than 1,700 Cubic Meters of Annual Runoff per Person*
 Country  Internal Runoff
per Capita, 1995
 (cubic meters per year)		 Net Grain Imports
as Share of
Consumption**
(percent)
Jordan 249 91
Israel 309 87
Libya 115 85
South Korea 1,473 77
Algeria 489 70
Yemen 189 66
Tunisia 393 55
Saudi Arabia 119 50
Uzbekistan 418 42
Egypt 29 40
Azerbaijan 1,066 34
Turkmenistan 251 27
Morocco 1,027 26
Somalia 645 26
Rwanda 808 20
Iraq 1,650 19
Kenya 714 15
Sudan 1,246 4
Burkina Faso 1,683 2
Burundi 563 2
Zimbabwe 1,248 2
Niger 380 1
South Africa 1,030 -3
Syria 517 -4
     
Notes:
*Ten other countries have fewer than 4 million people each and are omitted from this table.  Runoff figures do not include river inflow from other countries, in part to avoid double-counting.
  **Ratio of annual net grain imports to grain consumption averaged over the period 1994-96.Compiled by Worldwatch Institute from: Africa runoff from U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, Irrigation in Africa in Figures, Water Report No. 7 (Rome: 1995); Mideast and Asian runoff from World Resources Institute World Resources 1994-95 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); net grain imports and consumption from USDA, Production, Supply, and Distribution, electronic database, Washington, DC, updated February 1999.

 

 

Menu of Options
for Improving Irrigation Water Productivity
Category
   Option or Measure
 
    
Technical
   Land leveling to apply water more uniformly
 
   Surge irrigation to improve water distribution
 
   Efficient sprinklers to apply water more uniformly
 
   Low energy precision application sprinklers to cut evaporation and wind drift losses
 
   Furrow diking to promote soil infiltration and reduce runoff
 
   Drip irrigation to cut evaporation and other water losses and to increase crop yields
 
    
Managerial
   Better irrigation scheduling
 
   Improving canal operations for timely deliveries
 
   Applying water when most crucial to a crop's yield
 
   Water-conserving tillage and field preparation methods
 
   Better maintenance of canals and equipment
 
   Recycling drainage and tail water
 
    
Institutional
   Establishing water user organizations for better involvement of farmers and collection of fees
 
   Reducing irrigation subsidies and/or introducing conservation-oriented pricing
 
   Establishing legal framework for efficient and equitable water markets
 
   Fostering rural infrastructure for private-sector dissemination of efficient technologies
 
   Better training and extension efforts
 
    
Agronomic
   Selecting crop varieties with high yields per liter of transpired water
 
   Intercropping to maximize use of soil moisture
 
   Better matching crops to climate conditions and the quality of water available
  
   Sequencing crops to maximize output under conditions ofsoil and water salinity
 
   Selecting drought-tolerant crops where water is scarce or unreliable
 
   Breeding water-efficient crop varieties
 
    

SOURCES: Amy Vickers, Handbook of Water Use and Conservation, WaterPlow Press, 2001; J.S. Wallace and C.H. Batchelor, “Managing Water Resources for Crop Production,” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences, vol. 352, pp. 937–47 (1997).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close window