Crisis, what crisis? The freshwater that people rely upon, take for granted and exploit, is either running out or too polluted to use for personal purposes. We, as a race, not a country or government, must take matters into our own hands, if we ever want to significantly ease the world water crisis. We must not rely upon government agencies, corporations (with bottom lines to follow and shareholders to earn money for), or non-profit agencies to fix the problem, because they always say, problem, what problem? Just turn on your taps and water comes out. In order to fix the problem, the problem has to first be recognised as a major ecological disaster before any serious, major work is done to reverse, or at the very least, halt the over consumption and pollution of our freshwater systems.
From the comfortable confines of the International Space Station, looking down on our lovely blue planet, third from the Sun, it must seem awfully ironic that planet Earth is going through a major water crisis. The planet, ironically enough, is covered by almost 72 percent water, more than two-thirds of the Earth's surface. However, and unfortunately, more than 97 percent of the water that is on our lovely blue planet is saltwater, and 2 percent of our water is Glacial, Ice Caps and other forms of frozen water. This leaves us, the human and animal population of Earth, with 1 percent of the water on the planet being suitable to sustain life.
Now, that view from space not only seems ironic, it seems down right nasty. The inhabitants of this planet are given one percent of the water which covers 2/3rds of the surface of our rather large planet for drinking purposes, and we are made up of over 60 percent water ourselves (muscle is 75 percent water, fat is 50 percent water). Yet, even as we know that water is our elixir of life, we dump our raw sewage, dead and decaying bodies, chemicals and other man-made refuse, oil and radioactive materials into our one chance for salvation. We may be at, or at least near the top of the food chain, but nobody ever accused humans of being intelligent as a race, when it comes to abusing their only home, that little blue planet, third from the Sun. That planet that we explode nuclear bombs in the deepest trenches of the Oceans, even though we are not aware of the function of that deep, covered part of the Oceans on the planet's ecosystem. Bad people! Bad!
Now, the time has come to pay the piper, to man-up and try to fix what we have broken. Is it too late? In a word, yes. With no common goals set, let alone a world-wide plan of action set in place to clean the existing, fresh, potable water, our freshwater is at a perilous junction in time. We need to protect, from human idiocy forevermore, the water that is now being used at unheralded rates, used for sewage dumping and factory leftovers, oil spills and nuclear bombs testing. So, what do we do, as a species, to significantly ease the world water crisis?
Individuals have relied upon governments and corporations, the United Nations, the EU and other countries and partnerships to foul up what little water is consumable, to wage wars and explode nuclear weapons, with all accompanied fallout swirling in the Oceans, whose currents circle the globe, feeding all of those nuclear-waste particles to the fish that we eat, the waters that we drink, the air that we breathe. Can everybody say "thanks!"?
Can we rely upon non-profit organizations to do anything to help ease the world water crisis? Not if they do not have the money to do anything with, and with the entire population of the world at the moment quite worried about their financial futures (thanks again!), they should not be expecting record donations for the foreseeable future. Non-profit organizations are overwhelmed just trying to get clean, drinkable water to the millions of refugees from strife, armed conflict, terrorism, tribal warfare and civil wars. Add in the people who are transplanted because the land that their peoples had harvested for centuries is now a barren waste-land, and roughly 12 million people are classified as refugees, needing water and food provisions from charitable donors.
Each person is supposed to drink a minimum of four litres of water per day to stay healthy and hydrated. Just for the refugees, that means that almost 50 million litres a day are needed, solely for drinking. People also need water to bathe and cook with, especially since rice is one of the main food staples of refugees and poverty-stricken people, and needs water to be cleaned and cooked properly. And now for the scary part.
The Glaciers and Polar Caps are melting at record rates, and there is nothing to replace the fresh waters that they provide. Major river systems, like the Ganges and the Nile, and all of the lakes and rivers that they feed will dry up for good once their providing Glaciers dry up. If we think we, as a species, are in trouble now, just wait until the Glaciers and Ice Caps are gone. Is there something that an ordinary citizen can do to help alleviate these overwhelming conditions facing Mother Earth? Are we stuck as observers to the after-effects of wanton misuse of natural resources? Are we actually witnessing it now?
Al Gore seems to think so, as do millions of other people, many scientific and professorial in stature. And what is it that we are supposed to do? Conservation, as in not using so much water for mundane tasks, like using fresh water to wash your car the day before a forecasted rain storm, using toilets that use less water, smaller water heaters, just less wasted water. If everybody, meaning about 5 Billion people, reduced their water consumption by just 20%, it would mean monumental savings overall to the planets freshwater systems. We must stop using gas motors on clean lakes, rivers and streams; if you can't paddle or use the wind, walk or swim! And we simply must find new ways to treat and dispose of human waste, industrial waste and any other means of groundwater contamination.
Nobody said it would be easy.