by Stanley W. Shura

Created on: May 14, 2009   Last Updated: June 01, 2009

Before addressing this issue of the shortage of drinking water on Earth, and the nature of solutions to this problem, it would be useful to get some figures and proportions so that we can first get some perspective on what the drought statistics actually mean and why.

As of today, in the middle of 2009, the current estimated global human population is at about 6 and 3/4 billion (

http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html) and counting. Some predictions give a rather sobering, if not downright frightening estimate that this will grow to some 9 billion by about 2050 (http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/curr ent/lectures/human_pop/human_pop.html). Now, some nutritional and medical experts indicate that normal adult should consume eight 8oz glasses of water per day. I'm not sure that that's an average, but for dramatic effect, and the "insurance" of overestimation, let's take that as true.

Assuming also the truth that, according to http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/79828 2.cms, there are 1.35 x 10^18 kiloliters of water on the planet, which, when expanded back to gallons at a ratio of 264.18 gal. per kl (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/kiloliter) gives us 356.643 times 10^18 gallons of water, we have the raw figures with which to work. But, as these are rather clunky to manipulate, at least longhand, and frankly do not present very readably or at all interesting to most of us, why don't we round the population up to 8 billion, and the volume of water up to about 400 times 10^18 gallons. That's a rough estimate of 50,000 gallons of water per person. The real math gives that figure at 52,836 gallons, by the way.

Now, back to our consumption needs. At the need of eight 8oz glasses a day, we are drinking (or supposed to be drinking) a half a gallon of water a day each. That is a daily need, wordwide, of 4 billion gallons. So, our need is at about 4 billion out of the Earth's estimated 400 billion-billion gallons. In other words, we need 1 *billionth* of one percent of the total volume of water available for human consumption on a daily basis. And we have a shortage?

Remember, too, that natural processes (the water cycle and human and animal digestive processes) mean that the water use is temporary - it is always and forever "recyclable". That would be the case, that is, if nature - and HUMAN nature! - were as neat and clean as the arithmetic we've seen so far. Still, even with conservative arithmetic, surely we should be able to

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