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Drinking water is the key phrase here. Sure, three-fourths of the surface of our Earth is covered with water. On the other hand, tens of millions of people live in places on our Earth where fresh, clean and safe drinking water is not available or the quantity is so limited as to cause great hardships and health risks to the local population.

The truth is, people who drink contaminated water usually get sick and/or die. Literally hundreds of things can be found in unsafe water that can and dose have adverse short and/or long term effects to all who drink that contaminated water.

Worse yet, the short term and complete lack of water can result in a local crop failure that will most certainly cause the local population to either starve to death or be forced to move to a place where drinking water for all Human and plant use is available in quantities that will allow those people to live a normal life within their environment. Like it or not, the competition for living within those water rich areas is as deadly as it gets for Human Beings and animals.

Many of us who can simply turn on the tap and safely drink as much water as we care to must realize that many places on our Earth and within Africa in particular don't have such a luxury. The lack of usable water has caused and continues to cause conflicts among those people. Then again, the person who controls the local drinking water supply is usually the most powerful person within that particular region of the Country.

As a matter of fact, people have been fighting for the control of dinking water long before they could read or write. You see, not only do we and the plants require clean and safe water; live stock that feeds the population must also drink water in order to stay healthy and alive. That is, until we Humans kill and eat them.

As an example, the cattle ranchers of the United States of America fought with each other for the control of the region's water if they couldn't reach a sharing agreement with the owner or controller of the water source. That kind of behavior continues in the lesser developed Countries of our World. Desperate people do desperate things. When they and the rest of their loved ones are dying from thirst some people are more than willing to kill those who have that water.

There might come a time when safe drinking water will be more valuable than gold. If so, all life on our Earth will be in big trouble. Tens of millions of all living things will simply die of thirst.

Learn more about this author, Joseph Malek.
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