Introduction
Indisputably, the cryptocurrency industry is becoming more established, with the proof being the increase of the value and price of cryptos, as witnessed around the first quarter of 2021, when the price of Bitcoin, BTC, hit its all-time high of over $60000. This can be partially attributed to the fact that the most preferred billionaire, Elon Musk, talked positively about the future of the crypto industry on his social media handles. However, because of the high volatility of cryptocurrency prices, the price of BTC plummeted drastically in the following few months. The most common perception about crypto is that it is an entirely profit-oriented industry, and the stakeholders are after nothing except to enrich themselves. However, this is not the truth because most crypto projects are community-based and aim to bring solutions to some of the most common and long-running problems facing society. For this reason, the crypto industry has attracted a wide following and love throughout the world because the projects are mainly people-centred. Also, it is much safer than the conventional banking and finance system. On top of that, crypto transactions are much faster and cheaper. In light of this, WaterSwap is a blockchain project whose objective is to streamline buying, selling, and leasing water rights.
Background
Currently, the world is dealing with a lot of problems, such as disease outbreaks and poverty. Another issue that the world is grappling with that cannot be overlooked is water scarcity. According to a United Nations report (2021), more than 2 billion people live in countries experiencing water shortages, while about 700 million others live in countries facing acute shortages. The most worrying fact is that more than 4 billion people, which is a large portion of the world population, experience severe water shortages at least once annually. The threat of water shortage is becoming a global concern, with nations being warned about serious water shortage conditions in the near future if nothing is done.
Water scarcity is brought about by a number of factors, most of which are human activities. First, for instance, the overuse of water is a major problem leading to water shortage. It entails the inconsiderate utilization of water without being mindful of its possible exhaustion. The water might be used for activities that are less important to human life, sucoph as recreation. When this happens, the water that could be used for basic human activities is diverted to other uses, placing lives at risk.
Second is pollution. There have been global calls to contain pollution of any nature because it harms the environment. In this particular case, water pollution, or the pollution of water sources, is a threat to the availability of clean water for drinking and other basic uses. Pollution of water sources hinders the supply of clean water to households because the waters get contaminated and rated unsafe for human consumption or use. Also, polluting water sources might lead to their extinction. When water sources are spoiled, they might stop producing water anymore. Water pollution happens in many forms, the most common one being the dumping of wastes into water sources such as rivers and oceans. The Indian Ocean, for example, is estimated to have tons of wastes, mostly plastics. Another form of pollution is oil spillages and effluent wastes released by industries, factories, and households. These wastes contain harmful chemicals that spread to the whole water masses they are directed to, rendering the water unsafe for human use. This is a growing trend, implying that more water sources might be severely contaminated in the future, further deepening the water shortage crisis experienced today.
Lastly, conflicts contribute a lot to the water shortage conditions experienced in various parts of the world. Conflicts arise when water is available, but access to it is denied due to disputes arising from the management of the water sources or the land harbouring the water. This is not a rare phenomenon, and even though it sounds simple, it is actually a major problem as far as water shortage is concerned. In many cases, the owners of the land covered by water bodies or sources are in control of the water itself too. However, the water is required to serve other people, and this can be impossible if the people owning water rights do not allow others to draw and utilize the water for activities that support life. Anyone with rights to a water body or a section of it has to give exclusive permission to anyone looking to use the water from that particular area in any way. When such an agreement is not made, the water is not freely accessible, and people who depend on it are adversely affected. The case is the same for investors and companies that might want to use the water for various reasons.
The solution to Water Shortage Issues
The crypto industry is doing enough good to humanity already in many ways. Crypto projects proffer futuristic solutions that improve the quality of life. Blockchain technology, which makes it possible for the creation of crypto projects, is versatile and flexible enough; hence it can be applied in any industry and yield the required results. To combat water shortage, a number of solutions need to be explored and implemented.
Water is becoming a scarce commodity, and the situation is predicted to deteriorate even further. As mentioned above, conflicts and inaccessibility of water due to legal issues can be well tackled by effective water rights buying, selling, and leasing. Water owners can make it easy for other parties to tap and use water easily.
Advantages of selling and leasing water rights
First of all, buying, selling, and leasing water rights is profitable to the parties involved. That is, the one selling or leasing the rights earns income from successful deals. On the other hand, the party buying or leasing the water rights gets to use the water in a way that benefits them. This way, every party gains from the trade.
Second, selling and leasing water rights makes sure that water is put to the right use. This is true because if a company or investor sees a way in which they can put water to better use, they can go ahead to acquire its rights.
Also, selling and leasing water rights helps conservationists to acquire water for environmental purposes easily. Conventionally, farms used to exchange water rights among themselves, making it hard for other parties to access the rights no matter how much they needed the water. With water rights buying and leasing now a possibility, other parties such as environmentalists and conservationists do not get trouble accessing the commodity.
Finally, buying and leasing water rights will lead to the conservation and restoration of water bodies. This is because the ones selling the rights must ensure that the water is of good quality in order to fetch a good price. Also, those buying the rights are compelled to care for this resource so that they do not get their privileges revoked or trigger a legal action or dispute. Additionally, purchasing and leasing water rights will attract conservation groups to buy or lease the rights so that they can carry out their conservation activities comfortably and with full authority.
WaterSwap
Effective water rights buying, selling, and leasing require a robust water stock market. Although there exist water trading platforms, they are marred with irregularities and issues that make the process not achieve the intended or expected results. This is exactly why WaterSwap, a water stocks market, has been developed to streamline water trading by tapping into the benefits of blockchain technology.
The WaterSwap water trading platform, based on blockchain technology, promises its users of the following advantages over the traditional water markets:
Enhanced transparency: The ledgers involved with the buying, selling, and leasing transactions are always available for anyone to view, as this is the core feature of blockchain technology. Because every interested/involved party views the transactions, irregularities and instances of fraud are utterly eliminated.
Greater efficiency: Blockchain transactions do not involve any middlemen or overseeing authorities and bodies like banks because it is decentralized. This way, transactions are faster and favour P2P cross-border transfers with no additional lengthy procedures or extra costs.
Heightened security and improved traceability: The blockchain water market is more secure as compared to the other transaction systems that rely on keeping records. For blockchain, a new transaction is always linked to the last successful transaction. Tampering with the transaction information is impossible, guaranteeing the security of each transaction. Also, a record is taken for each transaction, which can be used for future reference or tracing of the rights being traded in, and their details.
Following this, a token has been developed for WaterSwap, to facilitate the creation of a blockchain-based water stock market for trading water rights. The water stock market is open for any investor, company, and individual who can relate to buying, selling, or leasing water rights.
