Question

1. How can policy issues cause water scarcity? (for eg: in Bolivia) (50-100 words).

Answer 1

Solution:

In the case of scarce resources like water, environmental policies play avital role in preventing the misuse and wastage of the resource.

When the policy regarding the maximum usage of water by the indutries or the policy regarding the proper treatment of the waste products before being dumped into the water bodies are not implemented properly and widely across the nation, then it migh lead to a situation of water scarcity. This is because when the industries use water without a second thought, then they use up all the available water in the vicinity and leave almost nothing for the people living in the nearby areas. This is also the case with underground water crisis. Companies have adequae funds at their disposal and spend huge amounts of money on digging deep borewells to extract water from the underground sources and thereby decreasing the level of underground water. Without proper government policies regarding the maximum depth of the borewells, soon the underground water will be depleted.

Similarly, when the factories discharge their waste products in the water bodies, untreated, it makes the water there unfit for drinking and creates water scarcity. Therefore, proper policies are required so as to make the factories treat there waste products before discharging them into water bodies. Thus, policy issues create water scarcity if not corrected on time.