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Water-unlike coal, oil and natural gas-is a renewable resource. The Earth contains the same 326 quintillion gallons of water that it has always had. However, only 3% of that water is fresh, or fit for human consumption.

The remaining water is either salt water, or water that had once been fresh but has since been irreversibly polluted. Worse, experts say that the percentage of drinkable water is declining rapidly. Many of those experts assert that a global water crisis is emerging; some maintain that the Earth is already in crisis mode. "When you have a billion people who don't have access to fresh water, when you have by some estimates 6,000 children dying a day because of a lack of access to clean water, these are crisis numbers," says Eric Fernald of KLD Research and Analytics, an investment firm that practices socially responsible investing. If people do not start curbing their water usage, experts say, the long-term consequences could be ruinous.

Signs of a water crisis are already apparent in most parts of the world. The water shortage is so severe in Barcelona, Spain, that the city has stopped pumping water through its many public fountains; Barcelona residents also risk incurring a fine of approximately $13,000 if they are caught watering their flowers. China is attempting to divert water from the Himalaya mountain range to augment its dwindling water supply.

In Central America and the Caribbean, approximately 76 million people (out of 510 million) lack access to clean drinking water, according to the World Bank, an international organization that provides financial aid to developing countries. The U.S. government, meanwhile, announced in March 2008 that at least 36 states will face water shortages within the next five years. In August 2008, California is exploring the possibility of mandating a statewide water rationing program as a way to combat its shortage.

There are a number of reasons why the world's fresh water supply is diminishing. One major reason, experts say, is global warming. As the Earth's temperature increases, many parts of the world will endure longer periods of drought. Additionally, many observers say that global warming has led to the rapid melting of the Earth's ice caps, causing sea levels to rise all over the planet. Consequently, ocean water has infiltrated the fresh-water reservoirs and aquifers located on the coastlines of many developed countries, rendering that water unfit for consumption. (Desalinization, the process of removing

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