There are many things we take for granted each day and to our advantage in the developed world. Water is one of them and the most valuable resource of our world.
Have we ever thought even for one minute what the consequences would be if we did not have water only for few days? Probably not, as this possibility is unthinkable for us. As we use the water in our cooking, for drinking, in our dishwashers, toilets, washing machines, showers, gardens and the list can and does go on.
Sadly, here is the bad news: by the year 2050, some 4 billion people will be facing severe water shortage. And not far but within the United States, people living in Southwestern States could be facing severe freshwater shortages even sooner. Almost one-fifth of the world’s population (about 1.2 billion people) lives in areas where water is scarce.
On average, women in Africa and Asia have to walk 3.7 miles to collect water; half the world’s schools do not have access to clean water, nor adequate sanitation and at any one time; more than half the world’s poor are ill due to inadequate sanitation, water or hygiene. 80% of all illness in most of the people facing water shortages already is in developing countries and about 1.8 million child deaths a year are due to diarrhea.
We all know by now that after scarcity affects one in three people on every continent and is getting worse as water needs rise with population growth, urbanisation and increased usage by households and industry. But still we forget the fact that the average toilet uses 8 liters of clean water in a single flush, the average dishwasher uses over 100 liters per cycle, a typical individual in the United States uses 500 liters of water each day, it takes about 300 liters of water to make the paper for just one Sunday newspaper and a five minute shower in an American household will use more water than a person living in a developing world slum will use in a whole day.
Can we do anything to minimise the use of water? Well, I think we do not have much choice as it is almost guaranteed that, once water supplies become even scarcer, conflict will break out across the globe.
Maude Barlow, chair of the Council of Canadians said: “Water is blue gold; it’s terribly precious. Not too far in the future, we’re going to see a move to surround and commodity the world’s fresh water. Just as they’ve divvied up the world’s oil, in the coming century, there’s going to be a grab.”
But we should still make plans to reduce water usage with what the limited Earth resources are offering us, and know the supply of the limited fresh water supply that is left is reducing day by day.
As the World Water Council points out:
“Whatever the use of freshwater (agriculture, industry, domestic use), huge saving of water and improving of water management is possible. Almost everywhere, water is wasted, and as long as people are not facing water scarcity, they believe access to water is an obvious and natural thing. However, changes in food habits, for example, may reduce the problem, knowing that growing 1kg of potatoes requires only 100 liters of water, whereas 1 kg of beef requires 13,000 liters.”
You do the maths and ponder what this will do to the production of food and to the prices in our shops. Talking of shops: How did we ever survive without bottled water? This particular sector of the economy has overtaken established drinks within a space of ten years. But this is whole new chapter for another time.
One thing is clear that the world cannot afford to ignore the challenges of climate change. Where there is water there is life. The cycle of life needs water at its core to maintain the balcane of our exsistence on this planet.
Should we now consider rebranding Earth, which is only 30% and the rest as covered by Planet – WATER?
Copyright Semra Eren Nijhar – All rights reserved
Semra Eren-Nijhar 