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Posted on October 31, 2009 by ThelmaMTA | Posted under News and Society
Is Our World Running Out of Safe Water?
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The earth is not short of water as such. It contains 326 million trillion gallons of water, meaning we could each have our own 56 billion gallons. For sanitation, bathing, and cooking needs, the average person in the world has a daily requirement of about 13.2 gallons of water. Thus we have enough water down here to last each of us over 11 million years (not counting population growth)! And that doesn’t take into consideration its wonderful ability to be recycled. Of course, the problem is that not all (or even most) of this water is useable in its present form. Ninety-eight percent of the water on the planet is in the oceans, and is, therefore, unusable for drinking because of the salt. Of the 2% of the planet's fresh water, 1.6% is locked up in the polar ice caps and glaciers. Most of the rest (0.36%) is out of reach in aquifers and wells. Only about .036% of the planet's total water supply is found in lakes and rivers. That's still thousands of trillions of gallons, (in fact, 392 million gallons each) but it's a very small amount compared to all the water available. The sobering fact is that only about 0.007% of all water on earth (and less than 1% of the world’s fresh water) is accessible for direct human use. To exacerbate the problem, this fresh water is not evenly available to the population. For example, the average American uses more water in one shower than most third world people use in a whole day. Nearly one billion people of the world do not have access to safe water. More precisely 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies, approximately one in eight people. Further, two and a half billion do not have improved sanitation, that is, a means to separate drinking water from waste water. Insufficient sanitary drinking water throughout the world brings with it major health issues. Perhaps half of the people in hospital beds at any one time in the world are sick because of a water related disease. On average a child dies from a water-related disease every 15-20 seconds in the world, and the usual cause is diarrhea. That totals a staggering 1.4 million children each year. The children in these environments often carry 1,000 parasitic worms in their bodies because of stagnant water supplies. Think of it: 88% of the cases of diarrhea worldwide are caused by unsafe water, inadequate sanitation, or insufficient hygiene. Yes, deaths, crime, disease, an increase in birth defects, and decreased ability to do well in school are all direct results of inadequate water. In short, general economic decline is the result. An investment in pure water for a people, or in desalination of the sea, is an investment with big returns. On average, every US dollar invested in water and sanitation for a third world people provides an economic return for them of eight US dollars. Some want the western civilization to feel guilty for taking a shower or watering their lawns. This is fallacious thinking. Lowering our living standard only borrows their problems. America has sufficient good, clean water because we have learned how to preserve it and where to get it. We shouldn’t feel guilty; we should be more aware of our need to be good stewards of it, and we should be more willing to share our technology with others. When our sources of water are conserved and maintained, we set a high standard for others to follow. About The Author: But what if you are on well water or city water that has bad taste or odors. You would be benefited by an activated charcoal water filter. The Berkey Filter are the best line of activated charcoal filter we are aware of. Check out the Crown Berkey or another model. One amazing feature is that each set of filters they ship with can be re-cleaned to purify up to 6,000 gallons of drinking water. |
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