As water becomes scarce, its quality often deteriorates

Drought and heatwaves result in severe economic losses. To reduce water scarcity, hydrologist  Michelle van Vliet  argues for a better understanding of the interplay between water use and water quality. Water scarcity is more than simply a physical lack of water. Water scarcity intensifies due to three main causes: reduced availability of water, increased water use, and deterioration of water quality which makes it unsuitable for certain applications or functions. Droughts and heatwaves are especially critical, because they adversely affect all three of these causes. Any of the three individual components can contribute to water scarcity, but the interplay of all three together exacerbate it due to important interactions. Reduced water availability during a drought directly increases water scarcity, and on top of that, it has an indirect effect because there is less water available to dilute potential contaminants, which result in deterioration of water quality.