blockchain-water-management
Blockchain Water Management

Blockchain Water Management: There is a Need For Latest Innovation Now

It is difficult to imagine a single day without water. Well, nearly 4 million people in Cape Town, South Africa woke up to this nightmare a few years back. Officials estimated that the city has close to 6 months of reserve left. Immediate actions are required to solve this crisis and what better than blockchain can solve this issue. Blockchain water management is ready to bring in solutions for the water crisis globally. On this World water day, we will be addressing water sustainability with blockchain technology and green finance. 

The Global Crisis Of Water

Below are several startling statistics that would help you understand the intensity of the water crisis that is impacting the globe.

  • Two-thirds of the earth is filled in water, but only 1% of it can be used by humans.
  • There are 326 million trillion gallons of water that is present on earth. 97 percent is saltwater and undrinkable. 2.5 percent is freshwater, but most of this is trapped in the poles or even deep underground. This leaves us with approximately 0.4% to share amongst 7 billion people.
  • Roughly 4.5 billion people across the globe have no access to safe water supplies because of water scarcity.
  • 1 in every three people across the globe lacks access to safe drinking water as per the World Health Organization.

Under the pretext of the industrial revolution and civilization, humans are solely reliable for the rapidly increasing global warming which in turn has resulted in a severe water crisis across the world. Cape Town in South Africa as stated below attained its day zero and encountered the worst nightmare of water shortage a few years back. Water scarcity can also create a grave impact in the Energy, Agriculture, and several interlinked industries, affecting not only the socio-economic scenarios but also impacting the basic survival of mankind and the likes. 

Increased deforestation for the purpose of urbanization, rapid growth in population, increasing industrialism, and also commercialization are the important culprits that have contributed to the raised and dangerous levels of climate change and also the water shortage epidemic. While this is a problem that should have been addressed a long time back, nevertheless, it demands instant attention where a solution for a better Water management system is required. Who better than blockchain water management can serve the purpose of ending water woes globally? Blockchain in Energy, Blockchain in Agriculture – Blockchain holds the magical power to eradicate complicated challenges in almost every area. Let us see how a blockchain water management system can offer necessary solutions to effectively handle water resources and enhance water quality.

Blockchain Water Management: Conflicts And The Need For Blockchain

Amongst the various challenges that happen in the field of Water preservation and management, the natural shortage of water ofcourse tops this list, for which least can be done about. But we can surely think about effectively handling whatever available water resources we have.

The Agriculture sector basically is extremely dependent on water. While evident irrigation methods form the crux of cultivation and farming, heavy irrigation processes not only affect and misuse the agricultural land, they also tend to make it more prone to drought. Overuse of water resources without efficient management is among the many causes of water scarcity in several sectors. Droughts result in lesser agricultural produce with the fundamental human necessity of food being compromised and hence creating a severely diminishing standard of living. Such regions stay severely malnourished since they are not able to sustain their people with water and food, the basic necessities. Hence, there is a justified requirement for an efficient blockchain water management system to handle water resources.

Even though water is a basic item and an everyday requirement, it is still treated as a tradable commodity to earn profits and advantages by certain sections of people in the society. Water allocation and generation are still governed by centralized organizations such as the municipal corporations and the governments. These corporations are dependent on the water supply to their respective jurisdiction, they plan the costs consumers have to incur for availing the resources, the quantity of water that is distributed, and many more. Consumers are forced to have water supplied by these agencies and pay unreasonable charges for the same since they themselves are not able to cater to the demands.

Along with that, water quality has been a pressing issue over the years that stays unsolved. While the majority of water that is available on Earth is salt water and not ideal for consumption, there are very few desalination mechanisms that are created to address this problem. Also, several water micropollutants like natural organic matter, lead, waste, and residue from industries are dependent on the contamination of water resources. These resources lack proper water treatment management and hence polluted and contaminated water is supplied and distributed throughout. The lead contaminated water crisis in Flint, Michigan, US is a horrifying instance of how water quality creates a hazardous impact on health.

Blockchain water management has the potential to take most of these challenges and offer an efficient water management channel to discard centralized water markets, eliminate unfair practices of extracting excessive water fees from consumers, and more.

How Can Blockchain Water Management Cure Water Crisis?

Blockchain water management technology can be used to create a transparent and decentralized system to ensure equal distribution of water over broad geographic areas. In fact, any intermediary distributor agency or centralized organization that is only responsible for supplying water can be fully discarded from the process. Rather, a Blockchain based platform that comprises consumers, governments, corporations, all as participants, for peer-to-peer communication and easy interaction among parties to talk regarding water preservation, conservation, and distribution can be devised. A fairer, transparent system on the blockchain to decide about water fees without the association of illegal and third parties can be developed. This blockchain platform can be availed to log transactions of the quantity of water distributed, consumed, fees paid, surplus water shared, and many more. Since the blockchain is immutable, no one will be able to tamper with the data or misuse it.

Blockchain for Water-trading

Blockchain can be utilized to formulate a water trading system among consumer to consumers wherein a consumer holding a license to collect water from natural water resources shares the excess water with other consumers at a controlled value. A system that is based on blockchain to track all the events in this process can be constructed to assure faster direct trading, without the requirement for third parties.

Blockchain-IoT for improved Water quality

To handle the problem of water pollution and for enhancing water quality, a Blockchain-IoT system can be created. The implementation of automatic smart sensors to identify water pollutants in water resources that notify water managers of the current contamination is a good idea. These sensors calculate the level of pollution while at the same time informing concerned authorities to take corrective measures for the same. These sensors also find out water leaks from pipe bursts that can decrease prominent water wastage.

Conclusion

Technologies like IoT (Internet of Things) and blockchain have made us understand that our present water infrastructure is fully outdated to serve the demands of our modern space. The severity of the water crisis across the globe has demanded innovation. Thanks to increased awareness and technological progress, we have reason to be hopeful. Blockchain water management technology can be used to create a transparent and decentralized system to ensure equal distribution of water over broad geographic areas. However, there are still big challenges to overcome.

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