Hot stain

{{short description|Region of the world where safe drinking water has been depleted}}

{{Other uses|Ziehl-Neelsen stain}}

{{Neologism|date=May 2011}}

A hot stain is a region of the world where safe drinking water has been depleted.{{cite book

|url=https://archive.org/details/bluecovenantglob00barl/page/208

|title=Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis And The Coming Battle For The Right To Water

|publisher=The New Press

|author=Maude Barlow

|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bluecovenantglob00barl/page/208 208]

|date=2008-02-01

|isbn=978-1-59558-186-0

|accessdate=2009-02-01

|url-access=registration

}} The term may have been coined by Goldman Environmental Prize winning hydrologist Michal Kravcik.{{cite book

|url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1565847318/ref=sib_dp_ptu#reader-link

|title=Blue Gold: The fight to stop the corporate theft of the world's water

|publisher=The New Press, New York

|author=Maude Barlow, Tony Clarke

|page=12

|quote=Kravcik's scientists have also issued a dire warning about the growing number of what they call "hot stains" on the earth - places where previously existing water has already disappeared. In the near future, the "drying out" of the earth will cause drought; massive global warming with, its attendant extremes in weather; less protection from the atmosphere; increased solar radiation; decreased biodiversity; the melting of the polar ice caps; submersion of vast territories; massive continental desertification; and eventually, in Michael Kravcik's words, "global collapse".

|year=2002

|accessdate=2010-03-21

|ISBN=1-56584-731-8

}} Hot stains can be found on every continent, except for Antarctica. The biggest reason for a hot stain to develop is population pressure. As the population grows, water demand increases.{{cite magazine

|url=http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=where_has_all_the_water_gone

|title=Where Has All the Water Gone?

|magazine=The American Prospect

|author=Maude Barlow

|quote= Scientists call them "hot stains" -- the parts of the Earth now running out of potable water. They include northern China, large areas of Asia and Africa, the Middle East, Australia, the Midwestern United States, and sections of South America and Mexico.

|date=2008-06-12

|accessdate=2009-02-01

}} Although the earth is covered in 97% water, only 1% of that water is available for human consumption.{{Cite web|title = Human Appropriation of the World's Fresh Water Supply|url = http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/freshwater_supply/freshwater.html|website = www.globalchange.umich.edu|accessdate = 2015-11-26|archive-date = 2015-11-29|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151129143052/http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/freshwater_supply/freshwater.html|url-status = dead}} Hot stains can cause great harm to a regions agricultural ability and can lead to food scarcity, famine, and even the abandonment of the region.{{Cite web|url = http://web.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/Wisconsin%20-%20Water%20Pollution%20Depletion.htm|title = Who Pays The Cost of Water Depletion?|date = 2013-05-18|accessdate = 2015-11-25|website = |publisher = University of Missouri|last = Ikerd|first = John|archive-date = 2015-09-28|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150928231325/http://web.missouri.edu/ikerdj/papers/Wisconsin%20-%20Water%20Pollution%20Depletion.htm|url-status = dead}}

Maude Barlow an environmental activist, head of the Council of Canadians, and founder of the Blue Planet Project has used the term 'hot stain' in regard to water resources.{{cite web

|url=http://www.blueplanetproject.net

|title=Blue Planet Project website

|accessdate=2009-09-10

}} In 2005, Maude Barlow received Sweden's Right Livelihood Award.