1 Introduction An examination of the average residence times in the natural water cycle shows that, on the average, water that is used once then discharged and flows to the ocean will not return again as rain for about 2600 years. Groundwater residence times are often even longer (VEN-TE, 2001). This fact, as well as different studies about the world water problems, for example a release of the United Nations which predict a severe water shortage for about 2.7 billions people in the year 2025, urge us to develop and implement new water management strategies. One of the “Bonn keys” of the International Conference on Freshwater at the end of 2001 was decentralization, which means the development of small water cycles on a local level. One recommended target of the Johannesburg Summits (2002) is the increase of water productivity in agriculture to enable food security for all people without increasing water diverted for agriculture over that used in the year 2000 (HRH, 2002). Seventy percent of world water use, including all the water diverted from rivers and pumped from underground, is used for irrigation, 20 percent is used by industry, and 10 percent goes to residences. The freshwater withdraw in agriculture and the industry worldwide is shown in the next figure.
Technology
1 Introduction An examination of the average residence times in the natural water cycle shows that, on the average, water that is used once then discharged and flows to the ocean will not return again as rain for about 2600 years. Groundwater residence times are often even longer (VEN-TE, 2001). This fact, as well as different studies about the world water problems, for example a release of the United Nations which predict a severe water shortage for about 2.7 billions people in the year 2025, urge us to develop and implement new water management strategies. One of the “Bonn keys” of the International Conference on Freshwater at the end of 2001 was decentralization, which means the development of small water cycles on a local level. One recommended target of the Johannesburg Summits (2002) is the increase of water productivity in agriculture to enable food security for all people without increasing water diverted for agriculture over that used in the year 2000 (HRH, 2002). Seventy percent of world water use, including all the water diverted from rivers and pumped from underground, is used for irrigation, 20 percent is used by industry, and 10 percent goes to residences. The freshwater withdraw in agriculture and the industry worldwide is shown in the next figure. Technology
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