by Beast

Created on: November 01, 2009   Last Updated: November 02, 2009

"Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink." These words, from "the Ancient Mariner" by the English poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, was written some 200 yrs ago, but is more relevant now than ever before, which really is a surprise to some.

Water is everywhere, in the air we breathe, and in particular the vast oceans which cover approximately 70% of the world's surface. How then, can we have too little water?

The truth, however, is somewhat bleak. While there is plenty of water around us, much of the water is rendered unusable by many factors, both environmental and man-made. Open seas and oceans harbor water that are too mineral-concentrated for human consumption, and require costly, state-of-the-art desalination plants to purify water for consumption.

To exacerbate matters, many of our world's fresh water supplies, such as natural rivers and lakes, are so polluted by industrially-generated waste, that much of it is too toxic for consumption. Indeed, millions suffer from poisoning and die each year from drinking water from polluted sources.

In countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya, the destitute and the desperately hungry populaces have to fight tooth and nail for survival. Wars, disease, famine, extreme poverty and ultimately droughts, have ravaged the barren land of both nations, to a point when politics no longer functions coherently.

Add to this is the fact that water shortages are no longer confined to the African continent. Countries in arid regions, such as the Middle East and parts of central Asia are also facing chronic shortages of water. All these mean that politics, and even wars, will be fought over water (This has already surfaced as one of the major salient factors for unrest, particularly the Israeli-Arab conflict).

As open water sources become scarcer by the year, much of our water supplies will have to be obtained from expensive desalination plants, which treats water from oceans for human consumption. Such technology is, however, a distant dream for much of the world's impoverished nations, and represents a herculean, impossible task to fulfill.

While it seems almost too trivial to offer a glass of clean, drinking water to your guest, there may come a time whereby we might have to fight tooth and nail, simply because we don't have enough clean water for all of us.

And by the time this dreaded scenario finally dawns upon the human race, the adage "Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink" will finally hit its home run. And by the time that happens, it will be too little, too late.

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