by Earl Salisbury Jr.

Created on: January 03, 2011   Last Updated: January 04, 2011

Earth. At first glance a planet with such a great abundance of water that it would seem that no matter how many people there are, they would never thirst. That might be true if everyone was willing to put in whatever effort is necessary to make water drinkable. But that effort costs money and people are only willing to pay so much.

Most of the water in the world contains a lot of salt. To be drinkable that salt must be removed. Desalination is more costly than treating freshwater from wells, lakes or rivers. It must also be piped inland over great distances. Since industry and agriculture depend on water, a rise in water prices will cause a rise in cost of just about everything. So keeping water treatment cheap is extremely important, nearly eliminating saltwater as a viable source.

A very small part of the Earth’s water is fresh, located underground in aquifers or on the surface in lakes and rivers. These sources are being used up and polluted while population increases. It is getting more difficult to clean water well enough to drink because pollution continues to be a problem. Major population centers and agricultural areas are using water at alarming rates. As a result the cost of treating water is increasing. We are getting closer to a time when we will have to pay much more for clean water and our government is not taking enough precautions to stop it.

One of the states already facing water shortages is Texas. Rather than implementing enough water conservation measures to address the problem, the Lone Star state set it’s sights on Oklahoma’s water. But their request was denied. Oklahoma’s government knows that their state will be facing their own water shortages soon. Not yet ready to pay more to process water there may be more altercations between states in the future.

Until people are ready to pay more for water, the very limited sources of fresh water will continue getting drained. As they run out, water shortages and negative environmental effects will occur. People must learn to stop being so wasteful with water and will practice much better conservation if they do not want to face rising prices of water and everything that depends upon it.

Our rising populations are forcing us to seek out sources of water that are more difficult to treat and in some cases farther away from the users. If people are not willing or able to pay for more expensive water, then far greater conservation measures and home rain water collection will need to occur. Despite the abundance of water on Earth, clean water suitable for drinking, agriculture and numerous industrial uses, is much harder to come by.

Learn more about this author, Earl Salisbury Jr..
Click here to send this author comments or questions.