The earth is running out of drinking water

Water covers up to 71 % of our planet's surface.  97 % of it is salt water.  Only 1 % of the water supply worldwide is directly available as drinking water and it is extremely unevenly distributed around the globe.  While some people flee from floods, others try to get the last drops of this valuable resource.  In many regions of the earth clean water is a rare commodity; women and children must often walk kilometers to even get a pail full of water

Water Problems are increasing

The water problems regarding its quality and quantity have already reached a critical point especially in the Near East, North Africa, Central Asia as well as in parts of Australia.  Europe's first desert has formed in Spain; many lakes, even the Aral Sea, and rivers have dried up. Experts predict a huge increase in water problems in the future, also in areas such as south Africa, Pakistan as well as in China and India too.

According to statistics of the FAO by the year 2025 1,800 million people will have to survive with a lack of water in these countries and regions.

Here's an example, that will quickly open our eyes, to compare the use of water:  in India a person uses - agricultural and industry use not calculated here - 25 litres of water per day; whereas in Germany a person uses 129 and in Dubai 500 (!) liters of water on a daily basis.

More than 1 billion people do not have access to clean water

We teach our children that we should turn off the running water while we are brushing our teeth twice daily for 3 minutes, but do we really do this?

While we are used to water flowing freely in good drinking quality from our taps in industrialized countries, more than 1 billion people do not have access to clean water according to the information from WHO and UNICEF.

More than double that amount of people (2.6 billion) do not have the possibility of using sanitary facilities such as toilets.  Humanity is suffering from an increasing shortage of water, while at the same time the use of water is rising.

Why is there a growing shortage of water

Use of water resources: 

Water fills the oceans, lakes, rivers but also swimming pools, sprinkling systems for golf courses; water is also used for irrigation systems for strawberries in south Spain. The over-use of our water resources is by far the biggest danger for the worldwide water supply and the driving force behind the global water crisis.  There is more water taken from nature as it can provide, and this causes our natural water supply to work beyond its limits in renewing our resources.

 Population Growth:

The world's population is growing yearly by about 80 million people according to estimates from the United Nations.  Calculations by the FAO indicate that our total water demand has doubled so dramatically, just like the growth in our population.  With the increase in population  the demand for food as well as the need for water rises too.  According to statistics from the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) the agriculture is by far the world's leader in water usage requiring up to 75 % of the water supply. The production of meat requires 16,000 litres per kilo and is considered the most water-intensive product of all.

Global Warming:

Global warming doesn't just significantly affect the rainy season in some regions, but also the dry periods in some regions having them last much longer.  Experts calculate up to 30 % less rainfall in areas that are very dry to begin with, for example South Africa and parts of Brazil.  Increasingly poor crop harvests are the result.  24 to 700 million people will become refugees due to a strong shortage of water (on the flip side - 47 % of the world's population will have to deal with flooding problems in some regions).

Water Pollution:

The global water crisis is mainly a sewage crisis.  Rising pollution of our water as a result of urbanization, industrial sewage and garbage lead to environmental damage, that cannot be repaired or undone, and this damage further reduces the drinking water supply, which is already in very short supply.  Through decades of uncontrolled industrial growth in North China both rivers and lakes have been so badly polluted that today more than 200 million Chinese do not have access to clean drinking water.  The Mediterranean, one of the most strongly affected oceans, is polluted with 2 million tons of oil, 800,000 tons of nitrate and 60,000 tons of detergents yearly.

How does this affect us?

1.  A lack of water creates illness

Polluted water and a lack of sanitary facilities cause and spread illness as well as create an extremely high health risk.  Millions of people, 5 million of these are children, die each year due to avoidable illnesses, that are the result of unclean water.  According to the world health organization WHO 88 % of all illnesses are due to polluted water.

2.  A lack of water creates hunger

A water catastrophe quickly becomes a hunger catastrophe, because the agriculture and meat production are directly dependent on water.

3.  A lack of water creates conflict

The "fight" over water leads to political disputes and conflicts within and between countries.  Water becomes a (limited) economic good with an increasing demand.  Experts fear that water will be the source of conflict in the future due to unresolved usage rights.

What can/should we do?

It lies within the responsibilities of each individual whether water is wasted, saved or polluted.  Everyone should have a sustainable attitude towards water.  Each and every step, whether big or small, is a sign of sustainable water protection.  Perhaps we should all take an example from Johann Grander and show more respect to water as a living element.  Then we would automatically regard this valuable resource with more awareness and caution.

Use the chance to preserve our water resources before the earth (and humans as well) are out of water completely; do this not only on World Water Day but 365 days of the year,