IELTS Writing Task 2: Environment - Problem & Solution Sample Answer

Water scarcity now affects over 2 billion people and is projected to intensify as populations grow and climate change disrupts precipitation patterns. Understanding the causes precisely is essential before solutions can be matched to specific contexts.

Agriculture is the dominant cause, consuming approximately 70% of global freshwater withdrawals. Irrigation of water-intensive crops such as cotton, rice, and sugarcane in arid regions depletes aquifers at rates that far exceed natural recharge. The Ogallala Aquifer beneath the US Great Plains, which supplies a significant fraction of American agricultural production, is being drawn down at a rate that will make it economically inaccessible in several major farming regions within decades. Groundwater overextraction is a global phenomenon, visible from satellite monitoring that tracks falling water tables from India to the Middle East to North Africa. Climate change compounds this by intensifying droughts, reducing snowpack that feeds rivers, and shifting rainfall patterns away from agricultural and population centres. Urbanisation and industrial demand add further pressure, while ageing infrastructure allows up to 40% of treated water to be lost to pipe leakage in some distribution networks.

Solutions exist at multiple scales. Precision irrigation technology - drip systems and soil moisture sensors - can reduce agricultural water use by 30 to 50% without reducing yields, and financial incentives or subsidies for adoption could accelerate uptake. Water pricing reforms that end below-cost subsidies for industrial and agricultural users signal scarcity accurately and encourage efficiency investment. Desalination has become economically viable in coastal regions with access to renewable energy, as demonstrated in Israel and Singapore. At the household level, greywater recycling, rainwater harvesting, and water-efficient appliance standards can meaningfully reduce per-capita urban demand.

Water scarcity is manageable through pricing, technology, and governance reform, but requires political commitment to reform agricultural subsidies that currently incentivise overconsumption.