Technically speaking, the world will not run out of water. The world is made up of water coming from the ocean which is too salty to be consumed by humans and there is only three percent of fresh water which can be used for drinking, farming and manufacturing. Certainly, there is a scarcity in clean and well sanitized drinking water for all individuals living on Earth due to the fact that the population is rapidly increasing.
Ironically, our planet consists of seventy percent water. But not all of these bodies of water can be used by humans. This means that all of the rivers, streams, groundwater, lakes and aquifers are only expected to sustain a certain amount of population.
Effects of global warming also turn running beds of water to run dry. Major rivers from different parts of the world almost scorched before reaching seas and oceans. The water cycle is still at hand to produce water by means of rain or snow while in some areas where there is little or no rain at all, cloud seeding is usually done to create clouds heavier and produce rain. Although there is a strong fear that the blue planet will run dry, it will never experience dryness because majority of Earth is water but it should be cleared that clean freshwater will not be available at all times.
As a matter of fact, a number of individuals all over the world are living in areas where there is no safe and clean water. Poor management of water resources and towering water consumption by the increasing population, the world is facing water shortages. Global scarcity of water is increasingly faster than expected and this is one of the main advocacies addressed by numerous conservation organizations all over the world.
Billions of inhabitants mainly in Asia and Africa are already facing this problem and some countries have already run out of water to crop their own food. Global water supply is becoming an issue every day and some well developed countries that have plentiful supply of water are sometimes taken for granted the value of water.
“Global water consumption is rising intensely and the availability of potable water becomes one of the most pressing and continuous issues in the coming years. About one-third of the world’s population subsists in countries that are already experiencing moderate to high levels of water shortage and that number could possibly rise to two-thirds in the next twenty to thirty years.”
We are living where environmental pressures are escalating and change needs to takes place before it is too late. United Nation is calling for the world wide awareness of water crisis. The issue is not merely about the shortage of water but instead, it is the insufficiency of clean water to support the lives of people. Millions of people from all ages die each passing year after consuming water from unsanitary source. As population grows the demands for potable water also booms, moreover, water is the most vital natural resource of life. Our activities are sustained by water and it is the essential basis of the economy.
Water, the most resource taken for granted is already at its deficiency rate. Paucity of water supply in many areas of the world has numerous drawbacks and the current projections that the future generations will still benefit from freshwater is merely decreasing. We can still do something to preserve our main source of potable water and we are all responsible for this – after all, we are consuming water every now and then.
References
- Dalal-Clayton, Barry D., Bass, Stephen (2002). Sustainable development strategies: A resource book. USA: OECD Publishing.
- De Villiers, Marq (2001). Water: The fate of our most precious resource. USA: Houghton Mifflin Books.
- Iriye, Akira (2004). Global community: The role of international organizations in the making of the contemporary world. USA: University of California Press.
- McRae, Hamish (1995). The world in 2020: Power, culture and prosperity. USA: Harvard Business School Press.