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The Global water crisis – did you know?
photo by ONE DROP Foundation (source: Flickr Creative Commons)
According to the World Water Council, the use of renewable water resources increased six times during the 20th century, while the global population only tripled. As the amount of people on Earth increases into the 21st century – some 40 to 50% over the next 50 years – industrialization and urbanization will likewise grow, putting more strain on the environment and on global fresh water resources. But much of the world already lacks an adequate water supply and sanitation conditions.
From the Pacific Institute:
That 1.2 billion people lack access to clean water is surely one of the greatest development failures of the modern era. That as many as 5 million people – mainly children – die every year from preventable, water-related disease is surely one of the great tragedies of our time.
National Geographic has a special series of reports, videos, essays, photography and much more providing a wealth of information relating to the global water crisis; and fresh water information in general on their freshwater website. For example, did you know that pharmaceuticals like antihistamines and antidepressants are now being found in disturbingly high levels in America’s freshwater fish? How about the fact that some 472 million people – mostly poor – have had their lives negatively impacted by the construction of dams? Or that producing just one pound (0.5kg) of beef requires 6,810 liters (1,799 gallons) of water?
The Economist also features an informative special report on the global water crisis entitled ‘For want of a drink’, though I disagree with the author’s suggestion to ‘unleash the market on water-users and let the price mechanism bring supply and demand into balance’ made in a companion piece called ‘The world’s most valuable stuff’.
Water, something so fundamentally necessary for survival on a daily basis, should not be seen simply as a commodity, but rather as a basic right. If it’s used for luxuries, like filling swimming pools, then yes, it should be paid for. But the flow should be available to as many people as possible and not dictated by the nature of the capricious and greedy for-profit market. It isn’t radical to suggest that water should be controlled and supplied as democratically as possible, is it?
By Graham Land
Additional resources:
Tags: crisis, fresh, freshwater, global, global water crisis, resources, water, World
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Just try to drink gold, Priscilla. Just try, I dare you!
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Water will be more rationed in increasingly water-scarce places. Southeast England, of all places, has a low water per person ratio so it’s not just the desert that has to tighten its belt. Private swimming pools will soon be the exclusive domain of skateboarders and mosquito larvae. The future is dark and full of larvae.
Thanks for this article, most people forget that water is not in endless supply. Water will be the amongst some of the most precious resources we have in the coming centuries I’m sure, worth more than gold ever was. We should be cautious with it and use it wisely, and provide it to as much people as possible equally. Nobody can claim to own water. That’s just a ridiculous result of our economy based society where everything has a price, even fresh air.