Abstract
Fresh water is essential for human survival and for the maintenance of ecosystems on land. It is a key factor in development, particularly in arid and semi-arid countries where water security, like food security, is an important issue. However, concern is also growing in more humid countries where competition between the different sectoral users of water is intense. In developed countries, pollution from industry, urban waste water and agriculture reduces the fitness of rivers as sources of supply, and damages their fisheries and ecosystems. Finally, there is the hazard of too much water at certain times in many regions of the world. Floods are one of the worst killers and they cause enormous damage to property and to agricultural land (Chapter 9).
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Tolba, M.K., El-Kholy, O.A. (1992). Availability of fresh water. In: Tolba, M.K., El-Kholy, O.A. (eds) The World Environment 1972–1992. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-2280-1_4
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