by Krista Tannahill

Created on: April 30, 2009

The daily action or inaction of each individual across the globe has a continual and exponential effect on the earth's ability to remain sustainable. The excess consumption of valuable natural resources occurring in developed countries has a direct impact on the growth and sustainability of underdeveloped countries.

"Sustainable development encourages us to conserve and enhance our resource base, by gradually changing the ways in which we develop and use technologies. Countries must be allowed to meet their basic needs of food, energy, water and sanitation." (sustainable-environment.org)

Currently, across the globe, approximately one out of six people do not have access to clean drinking water. Tens of thousands of people suffer daily due to illness, disease and death caused by the ingestion of dirty water. We are in the midst of a global water crisis and most of us don't even know it.

In many countries water is easily and readily available. Due to this easy access, water is perceived as a free and unlimited resource. The fact is water is a necessary life sustaining compound required by every living thing on the planet. Yet, clean safe water for drinking, cooking and washing is taken for granted on a daily basis by millions of people.

What we fail to consider when we buy a bottle of water, cook our food, brush our teeth or hop in the shower is that at that same moment somewhere on the other side of the world another person is ill or dying because of the lack of clean drinking water in their community. People in underdeveloped countries are dying every day with the majority of them being children under the age of five. Women and young girls are forced to walk for miles to reach scarce and mainly polluted water sources. They fill large containers with the dirty water and then carry them back home for the purpose of washing, cleaning and drinking. So much time and effort is spent on the day-to-day survival that there is a lack of time, education, finances and resources to tackle the problem of access to clean drinking water.

In developed nations the necessary effort that each of us puts forth to conserve water and prevent unnecessary waste can have immense financial and environmental impacts across the globe. Here are just a few ways in which developed countries are affecting the global water crisis and how we can reduce our water consumption on a daily basis:

Water Bottles: Did you know that it takes over 3 liters of water to make 1 liter of bottled water? The amount

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