The years in which, us, humans have badly managed our resources have affected millions of people worldwide. This bad management has affected us economically, environmentally, and physically to the point where all kinds of species disappear and humans die every day as a consequence of bad management. From the food crisis to the oil crisis, both at price levels and at the environment, humans ultimately pay the price in one way or the other for the mismanagement of a few. One crisis that few people talk about is the water crisis. Approximately one billion people in the world do not have access to potable water. Besides the one billion people without potable water, there is 2.35 billion people in the world without access to proper sanitation and according the World Health Organization, 3900 children die every day from waterborne diseases. World population grows by 80 million every year, at this rate the United Nations projects that approximately one-third of all humans will face a severe water shortage.
Let’s look at some more water facts:
More people in the world have access to a cell phone than a toilet. Lack of sanitation is the biggest cause for infection in the world. The average amount of water used in a five minute shower in the United States is more than a person uses the whole day in a poor area in a developing country.
Although our planet is 70 percent water, not all the 70% is accessible. Of the 70 percent of the planet’s water, 97 percent is ocean water and the majority of the three percent left is trapped in glaciers, making them inaccessible. From these numbers we can deduct that less than one percent of the world’s water is fresh bodies of water such as lakes and rivers. When we add human factors such as industrialization, irrigated agriculture, and ever rising living standards, the demand for this resource is pushed even higher.
If the amount of water we have available is properly managed, we can guarantee fresh water for everybody. The accessibility of potable water needs to be a right of every human in the world. With an increase in the awareness of this water crisis, leaders at all levels will get implicated and modify their respective policies and procedures; however, this requires a great commitment from leaders and citizens around the world. If we can establish attainable goals of modifying our personal water consumption, then we will be doing our part in this crisis that affects so many humans. While this crisis continues to grow, we need to do our part by writing our Congressman, volunteering with an organization involved in water projects, modifying our own consumption, and increasing awareness in our community.
