GLOBAL FRESHWATER CRISIS BEGS IMMEDIATE ATTENTION
The earth as we know is covered in 71% water. It is requisite for every living being on the planet. It is also the most abundant resource on earth. However, it is not all useable. Out of the 71%, only 3% of water is termed freshwater. Out of it 2.5% is solidified or trapped in polar ice caps, glaciers, or soil and only 0.5% is accessible which can be utilized in our daily life. These 0.5% comprises water from surface water, such as rivers, lakes, ice caps, rain, reservoirs, and groundwater. The remaining 68% makes up ocean bodies that cannot be employed in daily use. Nonetheless, 0.5% of fresh water is enough for the world population to enjoy yet 785 million (1 in every 10 ) people lack access to clean water.
The global water crisis is booming at a high rate provoking a major issue to emerge soon. It is not considered a significant issue currently (which it should be) because the only countries facing water scarcity are third-world countries whose majority remain under the poverty line. By 2050 two-third of the world population is said to come eye-to-eye with clean water deficiency. This water shortage originates thousands of cycles on our planet which in turn exhibit adverse effects.
As I mentioned, the world has enough freshwater to meet the needs of the population, yet it does not. The reason is the mismanagement and misuse of the available freshwater. An average person wastes about 30 gallons of water per day. On a global level, most of the African and Asian countries lack enough freshwater resources. Women and girls spend an estimated 200 million hours worldwide hauling for water and travel about 6 kilometers every day. Droughts and famine around these African/Asian countries constraint their population to unsanitized and unhealthy water sources as the last gasp.
Water crisis this way turns into a health crisis too. 1 million people fall victim to unhygienic and contaminated water diseases. Every 2 minutes, a child succumbs to a water-related disease. Every day, 800 children under 5 years of age die from diarrhea through unsafe sanitation practices. This all can be prevented by providing them access to clean water. The meagerness of utilizable water intensifies the migration of the population from the drought unlivable regions to other sustainable lands. This further aggravates the supervision of their necessities.
This water plight is not some issue that pops out of the cake but it has matured over the decades of our revolution. Climate change, sea level rising, natural calamities, overuse, and increased demand for freshwater resources are resulting in a global predicament situation. The dwindling of freshwater resources is driving the population into chaos. We need to depict a solution based on realism. But before we do that let's analyze the sources of fresh water.
Groundwater constitutes the largest active freshwater resource on the planet. It is nature’s hidden treasure beneath the land stored between pores and rocks called aquifers. They are obtainable almost everywhere but are hard to pump without supplies and capital. Surface water on the other hand is convenient but does not fulfill the requirements of the population. This is where the call for governments to step up for their public emanate. This also concludes the negative consequences of increasing capitalism on the underprivileged.
Regardless of how much the circumstances exasperate the only solution begins with an individual. The collaborative contradiction with our daily frivolous water leakage might construct a definitive path towards a water ample future. Our habits have contributed to water wastage and limited our resources. Change is what brings admirable accomplishments influencing others to imply these beneficial changes. Saving water has become an obligatory slogan of a propitious destiny.
Conclusively, I urge an individual shift of our water practices to ensure water reaches those individuals who are deprived of this essential. Every time we use water prodigally have some empathy for the ones disinherited of it. It’s about time that we preserve this precious water left and administer it or there will be none existing without it.
