Freshwater Shortage OR Crisis?

Whenever we talk and hear about freshwater and the future, our most frequently used phrase is 'freshwater crisis.' Less frequently used phrases include 'freshwater shortage' and 'freshwater thirst.'

The American Heritage Dictionary

Source - 123rf.com

This dictionary defines a 'crisis' as:

• a 'turning point' or 
• a 'crucial or decisive point or situation.'

It also calls a crisis 

• "an unstable condition in political, international and economic affairs in which an abrupt or decisive change is impending' and 
• 'a sudden change in the course of an acute disease either towards improvement or deterioration' and 
• 'the point in a story or drama at which hostile forces are in the most tense state of opposition.'

Crisis is about RISK and not about a BAD outcome

From the above descriptions, a crisis exists when a situation exhibits the following characteristics:

• An unstable state of affairs
• A decisive change is pending



Source - forbes.com

• Distinct possibility of a highly undesirable or a highly desirable outcome

Under these criteria, a crisis is not necessarily bad. 

The outcome of a crisis can also be a positive and good one.

The difference between calling the future situation with freshwater a 'crisis' and not a 'shortage' only implies that:

• Freshwater in the future is a situation characterized by a certain level of risk and uncertainty
• A necessarily 'bad' result is NOT being foretold

Depending on the risk and uncertainty, some will predict a 'freshwater crisis' while others will accept it as a 'freshwater shortage'