As we all know, water is essential for mankind's survival. However, people seem to believe that our water supply is endless since there is more water than land on this Earth. Water regenerates and is redistributed through evaporation, making it seem endlessly renewable. So why worry?
Actually, only one percent of the world's water has the capability of being used by us. About ninety-seven percent is salty seawater, and two percent is frozen in glaciers and polar ice caps. That only leaves one percent of the precious water that is to be used by not only people, but used by animals, plants, and food. Dehydration, which is the lack of water, will kill us faster than starvation, which is the lack of food. Since the plants and animals we eat also depend on water, lack of it could cause both dehydration and starvation. Water that looks drinkable can contain harmful elements, which could cause illness and death if ingested (Eliasson, 2011).
To further deplete our water scarce supply, natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, and tornadoes, pose a great peril. However, one natural disaster stands above the rest. This natural disaster is called a drought. Drought, in my opinion, is the worst natural disaster of all. It not only affects us with a dry weather and uncomfortable heat waves, it also affects agriculture, and even drastically change the way we live about (Eliasson, 2011).
That is why I, as a fellow inhabitant of Earth, urge people today to conserve water to combat the evils of drought. We, as people, must think of not only how this will affect us. But how it will affect our children- and even grandchildren. I would not like to merely “ask” people to conserve water, I would like to enforce them to d...
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Eliasson, Jan, and Susan Blumenthal. “Dying for A Drink of Clean Water.” Washington Post. The Washington Post, 20 Sept. 2011. Web. 3 Nov. 2014. .
Gleick, Peter. "The U.S. Is Years Behind the Rest of the World on Water Issues" Alternet. N.p., 20 Aug. 2009. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
"How Does Drought Affect Our Lives?" National Drought Mitigation Center. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
Postel, Sandra. “History of Drought and Water Conservation.” University of Nebraska , n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
Smith, Gar. “Water Wars,. Water Cures.” 1 May 2013: 24-25. Earth Island Journal. Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
"Tennessee Valley Authority." Tennessee Valley Authority. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
The California water drought has been declared a crisis by the governor of California. 2013 was the driest year on record, and California could be running out of water. Californians should be water wise, and their use, or no use, of water will have an enormous impact on this drought. They can use the techniques published in a recent Time article called, 5 Ways to Bust California’s Drought, to reduce their water use. Landscape techniques, alternate water sources, and the personal conservation of water can reduce the use of water, and can have a positive change on this water crisis.
The Great Basin of North America and Wyoming specifically, is known for its arid and semi-arid environment, as well as prolonged and sometimes severe droughts. Drought is the prolonged and abnormal deficiency of moisture with the concomitant decline in runoff to a level significantly lower than usual (Guldin 1989). The history of droughts in Wyoming has been uncertain in the past, but recent studies of tree rings in the Big Horn Basin of Wyoming have given insight to droughts as far back as 1260A.D. (Gray et al. 2004). Looking at tree ring records in Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) and limber pine (Pinus flexilis) trees, Stephen Gray and his colleagues discovered that droughts which have been experienced in Wyoming since the 1750's, are weak in severity and length when compared to those since. The most severe drought period in Wyoming’s history occurred from 1262 to 1281. The droughts of the 1930’s and 1950’s, which have been used as benchmarks for all other droughts in the United States in recent times (Woodhouse et al. 2002), are ranked 149th and 28th respectively in comparison (Gray et al. 2004). The five top ranking droughts for 10, 15, and 20 year periods are all prior to the 1800’s, with the four driest single years being 1263, 1274, 1278, and 1280 (Gray et al. 2004). This indicates a change in precipitation patterns in the Big Horn Basin area of Wyoming since the 18th century, as all recent droughts have been mild when compared to those of Wyoming’s past.
• Campbell E., Durisin M. (2014). California Farms Going Thirsty as Drought Burns $5 Billion Hole. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-29/california-farms-going-thirsty-as-drought-burns-5-billion-hole.html
Americans today tend to believe that the Colorado River drought has been a recent occurrence, although drought relief strategies have been implemented since early 1997. To summarize, in the book The Colorado River Basin Drought Planning and Organizations, Colorado is named as the original state to acquire a drought relief plan. For instance, various assume water levels are diminutive in the Colorado and blame is due to the previous ten years of drought throughout the United States. Although it is true that water levels are at a record low, initial plans in the early 1920’s to introduce manufactured structures into the water basin is the original reason Colorado’s water system began to be compromised. It follows, then the supplementary natural
5. Segerfeldt, Fredrik, “Private Water Saves Lives,” CATO INSTITUTE, 2005, web. 6 Dec. 2009 http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4462
We often hear the saying that water is the source of life so how can mankind waste this precious source that God has given us. A fine example was mentioned in the film about India’s new green agricultural system where 30 times more water is been use than the actual amount required. It is really hard to see how these farmers are spitefully wasting water when it is really needed in the neighboring communities. This goes to show that people only do things to benefit themselves not considering the needs of other people. Not only is water being wasted in developing countries but there is also water wastage in developed countries we often take our water sources for granted here in the US such as not turning off the pipes when brushing our teeth or washing our hands and the list goes on. Water conservation is the key to saving our planet because soon it will become extinct to us human beings.
Drinking water is essential and indispensable to life itself possible on the face of the earth, it is much more than a well, a resource, a commodity, drinking water is specifically a human right of first order and an element essential national sovereignty itself and, most likely, whoever controls the water control the economy and life in the not so distant future.
Americans go to the sink knowing with a simple flip of the nosil, clean water will magically appear. It is often presumed that clean water is a given and it is never acknowledged that saving water in one country could evidently help another country's water...
Review: So today, I brought to light just how serious this water drought is, what we as individuals can do to reduce the problem, and what many organizations are doing to promote awareness and find more efficient ways of using water.
It includes the water found in lakes, reservoirs, and groundwater that is shallow enough to be tapped at an affordable cost. These freshwater sources are the only sources that are frequently replenished by rain and snowfall, and therefore are renewable. At the current rates of consumption, however, this supply of fresh water will not last. Pollution and contamination of freshwater sources exacerbate the problem, further reducing the amount of freshwater available for human consumption. Something must be done if humans want to even survive in the near future: the lack of clean drinking water is already the number one cause of disease in the world today.
Hennigan, Robert D. "Water Pollution." Oxford University Press 19.11 (1969): 976-78. Web. 16 Apr. 2014.
(2009). The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Drought - a fact sheet. Retrieved from: http://www.ifad.org/lrkm/factsheet/cc.pdf The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, (2007).
The consumption of contaminated water can be dangerous for health reasons and several people have passed away from these water-borne diseases. Some of these diseases include Cholera, Typhoid, Dysentery, Giardiasis, and Malaria. These unfortunate diseases are currently the cause of numerous deaths, especially in small children. The availability of clean water can prevent many problems in low-income communities. The available resources for clean water are very rare, so these water sources need to pass through a process of water sanitation in order to just be sustainable to drink, “The world’s surface is made up of approximately 80% water, which is an indestructible substance.
Miller, Debra A. Will the World Run out of Fresh Water? Detroit: Greenhaven, 2007. Print.
"Water Crisis & Solutions." Water Crisis & Solutions. Water For People, 2011. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://www.waterforpeople.org/extras/crisis/water-crisis-and-solutions.html