Water vs. Biofuel - Biofuels will Make India, China Thirstier
In an interesting article in Bloomberg, Andy Mukherjee points out how, in the craze about biofuel, the world is not thinking much about an equally important resource - water.
He says, "If water were a globally traded commodity, with unmet demand in China and India reflected in its price, the world might shed its newfound craze for buiofuels."
Per capita availability of water is expected to reach alarmingly low levels in India and China by 2030. In spite of this, China is growing to be one of the largest biofuels producer, pouring in the process millions of gallons of water into the effort. Similarly in India, in many areas a third of the aquifiers are over-exploited, meaning that the rate at which water is extracted is more than the rate of discharge...
According to the Minneapolis (US) based Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy, for the US there will be a 254% increase in the volume of water used to produce ethanol from 1998 through 2008
The article goes on to say, "Just because there is no worldwide market in water, it doesn't mean the price of wasting this scarce resource in making fuel will not have to be paid."
Interesting perspective...
Original article is from Bloomberg...
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