engleski

Trends in water use

Over the twentieth century world’s population rapidly grew followed by land urbanization: at the turn of the century proportion of urban population was only 13 %, in 2009 it surpassed rural population and projection shows that it's likely to rise up to 69 % by middle of 21st century. Water resources are integral part of everyday municipal, as well as economical and ecosystem needs - which are in essence mutually exclusive. As populations and economic activities grow, many countries are rapidly reaching conditions of water scarcity and misuse of fresh water that pose a serious and growing threat to sustainable development and protection of the environment. Aforementioned problems are many addressed by forcing development of ever more distant water sources. Globally, the water resources in various regions and countries are expected to face unprecedented pressures in the coming decades as a result of continuing population growth and uneven distributions of population and water. More stringent wastewater treatment and effluent discharge regulatory requirements demand adaption of new approaches in urban water supply management. New approaches now incorporate the principles of sustainability, environmental ethics and public participation in project development and revise current planning, construction and management practices. This paper presents trend in water demand and its variation in distribution across economic sectors. New approaches in water resources management are presented with critical overview of their characteristics.

Water resources management ; sustainable development

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