Impacts of climate change on quality and quantity of water

For more than a decade, the scientific community as well as nongovernmental organizations have sought to raise an alarm concerning the unsustainable use of the planet’s available water resources. Rising global temperatures will lead to an intensification of the hydrological cycle, resulting in dryer dry seasons and wetter rainy seasons, heightened risks of more extreme and frequent floods and drought with significant impacts on the availability of water, as well as the quality and quantity of water that is available and accessible. The greatest reduction of population water supply took place in Africa (by ۲.۸ times), Asia (by two times), and South America (by ۱.۷ times), and only with ۱۶% per Europe. Melting glaciers will increase flood risk during the rainy season, and strongly reduce dry-season water supplies to one-sixth of the World’s population. Iran is experiencing unprecedented climate- related problems such as drying of lakes and rivers, dust storms, record-breaking temperatures, droughts, and floods. Iran is a country that placed in arid and semi-arid area, so must be more cautious about the future hazards. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the environmental risks caused by climate anomalies on water resources, to examine the negative impacts of a greenhouse warming on the supply and demand for water and the resulting socio-economic implications.

Keywords:

Climate change , Environmental risk , Water resources , Human health