The current global water situation makes it abundantly clear that water shortages in many areas of the world are multiplying; current patterns of use and abuse of water resources are rising; the water source-to-sea connections are being severely interrupted; severe and long droughts are becoming more frequent; wetlands are being damaged; the balance between freshwater and saltwater is changing; and freshwater fish populations are precipitously declining. These occurrences point to a global water crisis which is impacting food supply, energy generation, environment, ecosystem health, and social and economic well-being. Thus, we ask the question: What is water security and what systems can we engineer to ensure water security under the specter of global warming and looming climate change? How is this security impacted by a burgeoning population, rising standard of living, growing energy demands, and massive migration of people? To address these questions entails answering a few other questions: (1) What is climate change? (2) Why is global warming occurring? (3) How does the growing populations and the rising standard of living affect water security? (3) What is the relation of water security to food security, energy security, health security, and ecological security? (4) Is water security entirely a technical problem? (7) What is the role of engineers in enhancing and maintaining water security? (8) What systems need to be engineered to help ensure water security? These and related questions will be dealt with in this presentation. Finally, a personal perspective on water security and engineering solutions will be presented.
Dr. Vijay P. Singh is a Distinguished Professor and the inaugural Caroline and William N. Lehrer Distinguished Chair in Water Engineering, and Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M University. He has published extensively in the areas of hydrology, irrigation engineering, hydraulics, groundwater, water quality, water resources, entropy theory, copula theory and climate change impacts. He has more than 1,530 refereed journal articles, 40 books, 130 book chapters, 330 conference papers, and 92 edited reference books as well as the Handbook of Applied Hydrology and Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers.
Singh is a Professional Engineer (P.E.), a registered Professional Hydrologist (PH) and an Honorary Diplomate of the American Academy of Water Resource Engineers (ASCE-AAWRE). He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), an Academician of the Georgia Fazisi Academy, a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, a distinguished Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), an Honorary Distinguished Member of International Water Resources Association (IWRA), a Distinguished Fellow of AGGS, and an Honorary Member of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA), a Fellow of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute — American Society of Civil Engineers (EWRI-ASCE), a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), a member of the International Society of Applied Ethology (ISAE), Indian Water Resources Society (IWRS), and a member of the Indian Association of Soil and Water Conservationists (IASWC).
Singh is recognized for his four decades of leadership in research, teaching and service to the hydrologic and water resources engineering profession. He has four honorary doctorates from Italy and Canada, and more than 110 national and international awards. The American Society of Civil Engineers has awarded Singh the Norman Medal twice, the Chow Award, the Torrens Award, the Arid Lands Hydraulic Engineering Award, the Outstanding Projects and Leader (OPAL) Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award, two Best Paper awards, and the Roy C. Tipton Award.
From the American Society of Agricultural & Biological Engineers, Singh has received the Hancor Award and Lalit and Aruna Verma Award for global excellence. He also received the Merriam Improved Irrigation Award from the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage; the Linsley Award, Wetzel Award and Founders Award from the American Institute of Hydrology; the Crystal Drop Award and Chow Memorial Award from the International Water Resources Association; the Outstanding Scientist Award from Sigma Xi; the Distinguished Scientist Award, from the Chinese Academy of Science; the Distinguished Professor Award, from the Mexican Academy of Science; and the Professor Gajendra Singh Gold Medal for Education from the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers.
