Let me give you a very quick run down of my day. When I wake up, I go to the bathroom and spend a minimum of 30 minutes and up to 1 hour. I leave my water rushing all long when in the bathroom. I use the water to brush my teeth, and clean my body. Once done in the bathroom, I leave and go to the gym where I ensure that I am hydrated enough during my exercise routine, Then I go back home for another bath. I prepare breakfast, and in the process, I make sure I wash everything I will use and cook properly. Let's leave my daily routine for now and let's face the concern that led to this post. Every day, we open the tap, and we see fresh water coming out, and it looks like there is more than abundant water in the world.
It should be expected, since everywhere we go, we see water, and according to WHO, 74% of the world's population have access to a safely managed drinking-water service, which allows them to have access to water when they want it. It is also true that 71 percent of the earth surface is covered with water, but it looks like we are going to be out of water soon. According to the World Health Organization Over 2 Billion people live in countries that are water stressed, which means they are suffering from lack of water. You start to ask yourself, why will earth which has its surface covered with over 70% water lack water?
In fact, earth doesn't lack water. According to Earth How, the earth has 326 million trillion gallons of water, meaning there is sufficient water on earth. The water is in different forms; Solid (as in Ice), Liquid, and gas. Water evaporating into the sky, doesn't leave the planet, it just comes back to the earth surface. While the water on earth looks like a large amount, the truth remains that 97.2% of the water is salty (from ocean, seas, and bay), 2.1% is solid fresh water (including Glaciers, & Permanent Snows), 0.7% is fresh available water (which includes lakes, Swamp, rivers, soil moisture, streams and vapor water). 7.753 billion people are left to share the 0.7% water alongside plants, and animals. While all of us have to share this water, some countries have access to the water than others. While studying, I realize that countries such as Kuwait, do not have enough water while countries such as Brazil have enough fresh water to worry themselves currently about water problem.
It is understandable when we talk about management of water due to scarcity, but we should also remember that it isn't only drinking, taking our baths, and cooking that allows us to consume water, rather other uses such as industrialization, and food production make us consume more water. Water has been a very big part in our civilization, and we still use them in large amount even when we are losing fresh water and groundwater is difficult to reach, moreover, socking out groundwater from Aquifers could compress the soil, moreover Aquifers take long time to refill.
Realistically speaking, earth human population has been on the rise for years now, as people keep giving birth, but this shouldn't be a basis for water shortage, instead our activities with water is one big problem. All our personal consumption including drinking, flushing, bathing and so on do not amount to much of the consumption, sectors such as agriculture, fashion, energy, meat, beverage, Construction, and Manufacturing Sectors, are the major in water consumption. Agriculture amounts to 70% of fresh water consumption. The total amount of water in a product is determined by the total amount of water that makes each ingredient. Reading a blog titled "The water footprint of your coffee" on Coffeelands showed that the total ingredient required to produce a cup of coffee amount to 140 liters of water. Fashion uses 79 billion cubic meters of water yearly, with 2700 liters of water used in the manufacturing of a T-Shirt. Just like fashion takes lots of water, Meat production takes lots of water. 1kg of Beef cost 15,415 Liter.
What do you think can be done
Water consumption is on the rise, and water utility payments are payment to build and maintain infrastructures, not for the quantity of water being consumed. In some countries, people do not even pay for water being consumed, and according to World wild Life, and UNICEF, by 2025, over half of the world's population will live in regions where water scarcity is a problem. With this said, solutions would include desalination of water since over 70% of the water is salt water, then removing the salt from oceans, and sea would be welcomed. It is quite expensive at the moment, but one thing we can do currently is keep fresh water clean. Placing value on water even when we are not paying for it, and utilizing it properly is a good start. Water is life and its scarcity can mean a lot.
Check! Is it Possible that your country could face Water stress, or scarcity soon?
Reference
- WHO on Drinking Water
- USGS.GOV - How Much Water Is On Earth
- Earth Now
- Science Direct - Kuwait Water Scarcity
- NCBI - An overview of Kuwait’s water resources
- Top 10 Countries with Freshwater Resources
- Water and civilization: learning from the past
- National Geography - aquifers
- Study.com - Ground Water
- The Wold Counts
- Coffeelands
- 2030 Builders - World Water Day
- The Guardian
- Sustainable Review
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