Final answer:
Water rationing is necessary during a drought to manage limited supplies, much like wartime efforts required adapting to available resources. Human actions, such as deforestation, exacerbate water shortages which may impact over half the world's population by 2025, making the management of water scarcity critical.
Step-by-step explanation:
Water rationing is the restricting of water supply to ensure the resource lasts throughout a period of scarcity, usually due to a drought. During such times, it's necessary to prioritize water usage to preserve what is available for essential services and needs. Wartime rationing, as seen historically, also required people to adapt by growing their own produce and sustaining with less to support the nation's efforts. Similarly, water rationing involves managing consumption for survival and essential activities.
Water shortages are exacerbated by human activities such as deforestation, which reduces the water vapor added to the air and leads to drier conditions. Scarcity in water can lead to dire consequences, impacting agriculture, industry, and exacerbating geopolitical conflicts. By 2025, it is expected that more than half the world's population will face water shortages, significantly affecting the global community.
Accordingly, websites like openstax provide information on how various regions, including the United States, are combatting resource scarcity and implementing strategies to manage water scarcity and its implications. As our global demand for water has increased sixfold over the last century, and continues to grow, proactive measures and resource management become increasingly crucial.