The Global Water Crisis

2639 Words6 Pages

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:  Saving and consumption of water  Improving drinking water supply  Increasing access to clean water supply  Decreasing tension between war-ing nation over resources With the population expecting to rise 40-50% within the next 50 years, the demand for water in Agricultural needs and Environmental needs will rise as well, creating a more desperate water crisis. Developed countries struggle with managing water consumption. Our high demand in agriculture, industry, and domestic use further complicates this issue. With increasing urbanization and extravagant changes in lifestyle, our use and wasting of water will only increase. As of this year, nearly 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water and 2.6 billion live without adequate water sanitation. The McDonald's down the street, however, will sell you a 1/3 pounder burger for only 150 gallons. Changes in lifestyle can easily reduce this number and help not only save water, but money as well. Currently, with our diminishing water supply, one of the main goals of humanitarian organizations is ensuring that everyone has t... ... middle of paper ... ...gineeringChallenges.org. National Academy of Science, 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9136.aspx Smith, Jeffery J. "Simple Solutions That Can Change the World." The Progress Report. N.p., 30 Mar. 2010. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://www.progress.org/2010/03/30/simple-solutions-that-can-change-the-world/ Sweet, Bill. "China's Suntech in Bankruptcy Proceedings." - IEEE Spectrum. Energywise, 12 Mar. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/green-tech/solar/chinas-suntech-in-bankruptcy-proceedings "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 "Water Crisis." World Water Council. 7th World Water Council, 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/library/archives/water-crisis/

Show More
Related

  • Use of Propaganda to Spread Anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany During the 1930’s and 1940’s

    2264 Words  | 5 Pages

    N.p., n.d. Web. The Web. The Web. 07 Apr.

    Read More

  • Developing Countries and Clean Water

    2664 Words  | 6 Pages

    Introduction on Water It covers 70% of our planet, makes up 75% of our body, it is necessary for survival and it is declining at a rapid rate (http://www.sscwd.org). It is water. Unfortunately, clean water is rare, almost 1 billion people in developing countries do not have access to water everyday. “Yet, we take it for granted, we waste it, and we even pay too much to drink it from little plastic bottles” (The Water Project). Use of earth’s natural resources should be seen as prosperity, although it is taken for granted, every aspect of daily life revolves around the environment, forcing water conservation to be necessary for future on this planet.

    Read More

  • Water Privatization: Private vs. Public

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    5. Segerfeldt, Fredrik, “Private Water Saves Lives,” CATO INSTITUTE, 2005, web. 6 Dec. 2009 http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4462

    Read More

  • Solving the Water Problems in America

    1648 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Water is the driving force of all nature.” Leonardo da Vince once said. Water is a huge part of life, and everything that lives requires water to make it through its days on earth. A lot of people think that the world has massive amounts of water available for use; therefore, most roll their eyes when conserving water is mentioned. After all, 71% of the earth’s surface is made up of water. However, the truth is that only 2.5% of that is clean, drinkable water, and two-thirds of that percentage is unavailable because it is stuck in ice caps and glaciers (water). The water ordeal in America is bigger than many realize, and the United States needs to begin looking at how we can solve this issue. The U.S. needs to acknowledge the impending dangers and help the states that are already suffering by putting water conservation methods in place and investing money into research for alternatives.

    Read More

  • Will Water Become The Chief Commodity Of The 21st Century Summary

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before reading this article, I never would have thought scarcity of water was becoming an issue. I have found that there are numerous ways the world can help

    Read More

  • Water Shortages in the US

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to the United States EPA, only one percent of all water on Earth is deemed suitable for human consumption. In a world with a continually-growing population in need of an ample water supply, the world's sources of fresh water are showing increased signs of overuse as they are emptied faster than they can be naturally refilled. In fact, over the past half-decade the demand for water has more than tripled as the watersheds across the globe have been devastated (EPA).

    Read More

  • Flint Water Crisis

    1885 Words  | 4 Pages

    Today, water usage is very high. One of the main reasons has been due to an increase in population. Human population is today on the rise. According to the CIA (2015), the birth rate of the human population stands at 1.86%. In the last 100 years, there has been tremendous growth in human population due to advances in medical technology as well as improvement in agriculture. This has led to an increase in water use over the years. In addition, the increase in industries over this period has also led to an increase in water use. Today, there are numerous industries that have come up, each requiring huge amounts of water to run smoothly. The increase in water usage today is partially responsible for the global water crisis. The huge demand for water means that there is less water available for each person and each industry.

    Read More

  • Charleston's Water Pollution

    936 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tortajada, Celcilia, and Asit K. Biswas. “Water Quality: An Ignored Global Crisis.” Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 21 Mar. 2013. Web 26 Mar. 2014.

    Read More

  • Water Pollution Essay: Water Is The Fountain Of Life

    1821 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Essay On Osmosis

    1627 Words  | 4 Pages

    With the growing population water and energy have become two of the most important resources on the earth. Both water shortages and energy crises are big concern around the world. It is reported that more than 1.2 billion people in the world lack access to clean and safe drinking water which is about the population of India. Although most of the planet is surrounded by oceans i.e. about 71%, only approximately 2.5% is freshwater, much of which is not available to us.

    Read More

  • The Water Crisis and Solutions

    1481 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Protecting Our Natural Resource- Water

    2372 Words  | 5 Pages

    Water is the most priceless resource on our planet. Billions of gallons flow through our rivers and lakes. Millions of gallons are consumed by humans each day. Our world’s surface is seventy percent water. With so much water around us, how can 1.1 billion people still lack access to clean water (Cooper, Water Shortages)? People are already using fifty four percent of all the freshwater available on this planet (Cooper, Water Shortages). We cannot afford to neglect something so essential to our very survival. We must defend our most important natural resource—water.

    Read More

  • Water, environment and sanitation

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    The combination of safe drinking water and hygienic sanitation facilities is a precondition for health and for success in the fight against poverty, hunger, child deaths and gender inequality. UNICEF works in more than 90 countries around the world to improve water supplies and sanitation facilities in schools and communities, and to promote safe hygiene practices. All UNICEF water and sanitation programmes are designed to contribute to the Millennium Development Goal for water and sanitation: to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe water and basic sanitation. Key strategies for meeting the water, sanitation and hygiene challenges are to:

    Read More

  • Water Scarcity and Possible Solutions

    1100 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Water is the lifeblood of this planet. Every time a good is bought or sold there is a virtual exchange of water. Every time we interact with water, we change it, redirect it, or otherwise alter its state. We have never learned how to efficiently manage water.”(Cluckie, 2009) Ian Cluckie, Professor of Hydrology and Water Management, emphasizes the fact that humans can’t survive without water. Although water is a renewable resource that can replenish under hydrological cycles, our intervention has interrupted its natural cycle causing its supply to decrease.(Cluckie, 2009)

    Read More

  • Water Shortage in India: Problems and Solutions

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rogers, Peter. 2008. "Facing the Freshwater CRISIS. (Cover story)." Scientific American 299, no. 2: 46-53. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 4, 2010).

    Read More

More about The Global Water Crisis

Open Document