Water is the fountain of life. All living things need it to stay alive. Water is the difference between life and death; humans can only go 4 days without water before dying of thirst. Most people think that the Earth has plenty of water to spare, however they are wrong. T. Boone Pickens has studied water scarcity and says, "Water is the new oil". As it becomes harder to obtain, the prices of water will rise. This can be related to peak oil and how oil is only going to become scarcer and harder to find, therefore we are experiencing peak water. Water supplies are rapidly drying up and becoming polluted. Humans take water for advantage and waste it beyond belief. The world’s water consumption doubles every twenty years; this is more than twice as fast as the population growth. If this continues there will be little-to-no usable water within the next 15 years. Water scarcity can be seen as either the lack of enough water or lack of access to safe water. It is hard for most Americans to imagine that clean, safe water is not something that …show more content…
As small of a percentage as 3% already is, only a smaller percentage is available for human use. Of that 3% of fresh water 2% of it is stuck in glaciers, leaving 7.125 billion people to divide up 1% of Earth’s water. This 1% is Earth’s only usable water. About 70% of Earth’s usable water is used for agricultural irrigation; which leaking hoses and incorrect watering methods waste 60% of that water. To add to it, the pesticides and fertilizer used in agriculture often runs-off in to the local fresh water supply polluting it. As a result, about 1.1 billion people do not have access to water, and for at least one month out of the year, another 2.7 billion find water hard to come across. Not only is water hard to find for many, the water found is often polluted. For another 2.4 billion people, bad sanitation is an issue that exposes them to
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.
Water is a very important resource we use and need. Clean and safe drinking water is scarce though. There are many places in the world that don’t even have clean water and then there are some countries like America that have plenty and yet take it for granted.
There are 80 countries that have been suffering from a lack of clean water, and two billion people lack access to freshwater, especially South Africa (Alois). This area of countries is the driest in the world - Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt and so on. Like in the book A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, Nya, who lives in Sudan, has been lacking clean water. She has to find water every day for her family. Luckily, Nya got help from Salva who used to live in Sudan and came back from America to build the water system for her village. However, there are still many people around the world that have been suffering to find clean water for basic use. There are many factors that cause a lack of clean water around the world: geography of countries, deforestation,
Have you ever wondered how much of the Earth’s water is drinkable? Well, the surface of the Earth is made up of 70% water. 97% of that water is saline, meaning salt water, which is found in oceans and seas. The last 3% is freshwater which humans need to survive and that number is going down (Mohan). In the U.S., droughts, floods, and climate changes are rapidly going up. It is suggested that by the next 10 years one of many regions in the U.S. is going to face a water shortage (Kincaid).
Throughout the path of human and mammal history, there have been a small number of characteristics in life that are needed to maintain and facilitate survival. These necessities consists of water, nutrition, shelter and oxygen, which many historians, anthropologists and humans in general have began to realize. Through this realization, one apprehends the fact that out of the four requirements of life, water by far provides as the most important. Each year, the world population increases exponentially; today being over seven billion. Due to this increase human beings have begun to experience a serious crisis dealing with the loss of water. The world has become limited with its supply of water, due to its high demand. Humans believe water is a resource that is completely renewable and everlasting, but through many years water supply is becoming extremely scarce. Statistically proven there is only " 2.5 [percent] which is freshwater. Almost all of it is locked up in ice and in the ground. Only a bit more than 1.2 [percent] of all freshwater (which was only 2.5 [percent] of all water) is surface water, which serves most of life's needs (The World's Water). Water, on a daily basis, is wasted through many daily activities such as people utilizing water in their houses, at work and tremendously through gardening. People cannot live without water, but many do not understand how much water supply around the world is potable. Many countries around the world do not facilitate clean water, usually consisting of dirt and bacteria, which makes many people ill. The polluted water is usually in the rural and poor countries, that do not have enough money and technology to provide hygienic water. Contaminated water broadens the s...
Water has become a very controversial issue in the United States and around the world. As populations increase and resources decrease, the way we use our resources and keep populations safe become more and more important. Throughout the world there are nearly 1.1 billion people who do not have access the clean drinking water. 5 Most of these 1.1 billion people are located in poor areas and do not have the financial means to build the infrastructures needed to provide water to the citizens of their country. 5 Drinking water is an essential part of our everyday life. People must have water to survive, but it must be clean and safe to consume.
As we all know, we need water in order to live a happy, healthy life. Water is cycled throughout our planet and each of us are affected by what happens to it while it passes through the ecosystems in various countries. Even though this is a well-known fact, it seems that the human race has mistreated this precious resource to the point where drastic measures are needed. Individual countries have tried pointing fingers at each other and passing petty policy within their borders in hopes to mollify their own needs, but sooner rather than later that will not be enough.
Description/ History: Water scarcity is both a natural and a human-made phenomenon. There is enough freshwater on the planet for seven billion people but it is distributed unevenly and too much of it is wasted, polluted and unsustainably managed. (United Nations). To reiterate water scarcity or water shortages have always been a problem but in the resent years more of them have been appearing in certain locations and the water shortages have gotten worse. Populations that live in deserts such as the in habitants of the Sahara and the Mojave are facing the worst droughts ever recorded. It isn’t just the people who are living in the desert that are feeling water stress but just about anywhere that has a large population. The Great Plains in the United States is about to face a crisis because the Ogallala aquifer it being used up at an alarming rate. Within twenty five years, if it is continued to be used at the current rate, it will gone which will devastate the six state...
Water is a source that humanity need for both domestic and industrial use and is utilized in a huge amount. Thus, there is a pressure on water. The increase of population and the industrial development of the majority of countries aggravate the problem. The excessive consumption of water coupled with the scarcity of this resource makes the issue even more critical. According to Lefort, water covers around 70 percent of the Earth, freshwater makes up only 3 percent of it, moreover, almost all of that is unattainable to use. (Lefort, R.,1996) Generally, only about 0.01 percent of the world’s total water supply is considered available for human use. What is more frustrating is that only a few sources of fresh water can be relied
Water is an essential for human beings and their healthy living. The total volume of water on Earth is about 1.4 billion cubic meters. km, of which only 2.5 % , or about 35 million cubic meters. km , is a fresh water . Most of the fresh water reserves are concentrated in the multi-year ice and snow of Antarctica and Greenland. This is why the problem of water is becoming increasingly important every year. These problems arising from droughts and floods, water quality degradation, poor management of water resources; inability to mitigate or adapt to climate change; the increasing number of extreme weather situations as well as the food crises, which are often associated with a lack of water resources. The Water Project stated that 80% of illnesses in arid regions are linked to poor water conditions. 1 out of every 5
There are many types of pollution. The main types of pollution are water, air, soil, thermal, radioactive, noise, and light. The topic for this experiment is Water Pollution. Water Pollution became a problem in the 1900’s when water started being treated like sewage. Earth Day was founded by United States Senator Gaylord Nelson on April 22, 1970 because of 1900’s pollution. Water Pollution also affects humans and animals. There was a Cholera outbreak in 1854, before water pollution became a problem, and a Typhoid outbreak in New York from 1900 to 1915. There are multiple possible causes to Water Pollution. Humans let out chemicals into the environment, and when some of those chemicals
Freshwater in the world makes up only a small portion of water on the planet. While the percentage of water in the world is nearly 70%, only 2.5% is consumable. Even further, only <1% is easily accessible to basic human needs. According to National Geographic, “by 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change.” With this current trend, water will become more immersed in environmental, economic, political, and social changes. Many of these in later years shall need to be addressed as tension rises:
The problem of water scarcity has increasingly spread throughout the world as of yet, The UN reports that within the next half- century up to 7 billion people in 60 countries which is more than the whole present population will face water scarcity (Sawin “Water Scarcity could Overwhelm the Next Generation”). As well the demand for freshwater has tripled over the past 50 years, and is continuing to rise as a result of population growth and economic development. 70% of this demand derives from agriculture which shows the influence of water on food supply globally as well not just drinking water (Sawin “Water Scarcity could overwhelm the Next Generation”). But increasing water use is not just a matter of the greater number of people needing it to drink and eat; it also comes from pollution and misuse of water supplies, by either dumping or runoff of bacteria or chemicals into water. This also “causes other pollutions as well such as soil and air pollution, accelerating wetland damage and human caused global warming” (Smith and Thomassey 25). According to UN report, recent estimates suggest that climate change will account for about 20 percent of the increase in global water scarcity in coming decades.
Freshwater is quite scarce, but it is even scarcer than one might think: about seventy percent of all freshwater is frozen in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland and is unavailable to humans. Most of the remainder is present as soil moisture or lies in deep underground aquifers as groundwater. It is not economically feasible to extract this waster for use as drinking water. This leaves less than one percent of the world’s fresh water that is available to humans. It includes the water found in lakes, reservoirs, 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. The first step is worldwide awareness of the water crisis: governments and the citizens they govern worldwide need to know about this problem and be actively involved in solving this problem.
According to CQ Researcher’s Cooper “More than a billion people around the world lack access to safe drinking water and their numbers are growing”(Water Shortage). Is it fair that so many people must go without water while thousands of gallons are wasted here in the United States? Cooper in addition commented that “unlike the vast majority of natural resources water often is seen as a free commodity like the air we breathe” (Water Shortage). Without seeing water as something worth conserving, we literally pour away our most valuable resource. We can not afford this; water shortages already ravage the majority of the world: “If per-capita water consumption continues to rise at current rates, humans will take more than 90 percent of all available fresh water by 2025, leaving only 10 percent of the earth’s fresh water for all animals and plants on the planet” (Cooper, Water Shortage). Even the water that is available to humans is often not clean enough to safely drink: “Outbreaks of cholera and other waterborne diseases kill 10 million people each year” (Cooper, Water Quality). Cooper acknowledged that“1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water...