Water, the environment, and food production are closely interrelated at the local, regional and global levels. Rapidly increasing water demands and competition among household, industrial, environmental and agricultural uses have escalated in many regions. Long-term hydrological records show a marked reduction in the annual discharge on some of the world's major rivers resulting largely from the growth of agricultural water consumption.
Balancing water uses between agriculture, the environment and other sectors can be tricky to say the least. Growing irrigation water use and prescribed water reservation for environmental uses could jeopardise the long-term availability of water for food production, raising the question of whether water scarcity will constrain food production growth, particularly in the developing world. In this chapter the impact of water supply on future food production growth is assessed and the trade-offs among increasing water allocation for the environment, eliminating groundwater overdraft and producing food are examined.
