Water is life!

Global Water Problems

The nature of water as a universal solvent is the lifeline for the survival of life on our beautiful plane earth. Water in itself supports many lives and is indispensable for every species living on our planet, because of its necessity and its huge usage in our daily lives, Water is the foundation of life, and it is the essential ingredient for life on this planet. And still today, all around the world, far too many people spend their entire day searching for it, and it is becoming an increasingly scarce resource, the people of our planet should take serious measures to take care of this beautiful gift from the gods. Making an adequate supply of water available to everyone alive today is a monumental task, and ensuring that there is enough water for all future generations will require an unprecedented level of international cooperation and compassion.

Due to the urbanization of many cities in the world, the world is facing huge Global water problems, Water use has been growing at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century, it’s not just at a single stage but every field of life is affected from it.

The water crisis is the number one global risk based on impact to society (as a measure of devastation), and the number eight global risk based on (likelihood of occurring within 10 years). Approximately 750 million people around the world lack the access to safe water, and approximately one in nine people as announced by the World Economic Forum, January 2015.

Every day an increasing amount of pollution seeps into rivers and lakes making them toxic to humans, and underground aquifers. Our most significant sources of water are being depleted at an alarming rate. Another thing is that the amount of available freshwater is decreasing because of the climate change. Climate change has caused receding glaciers, reduced stream and river flow, and shrinking lakes and ponds. Many aquifers have been over-pumped and are not recharging quickly. Although the total fresh water supply is not used up, much has become polluted, salted, unsuitable or otherwise unavailable for drinking, industry and agriculture. To avoid such a situation of global water crisis, farmers will have to strive to increase productivity to meet growing demands for food, while the industries and cities will have to find ways to use water more efficiently.

This scarcity of water has many causes and when there is not enough water for a given population, the threat of water crisis is then realized. One of the causes of such scarcity is that there is inadequate access to water for sanitation and waste disposal for many people all around the world, and Ground water over drafting (excessive use) leads to the diminished agricultural yields, over use of water and pollution of water resources harms biodiversity. These causes sometimes cause regional and local conflicts over the scarce water resources and sometimes resulting in warfare.

Another major issue in this regard is that: due the scarcity of clean drinking water major diseases and illnesses are arising which are also becoming incurable for the people who are working in the field of health sector, around 80 percent sicknesses are inter-related to the use of unhygienic use of water and many people all around the world are suffering from these illnesses due to the use of unclean water.

The total number of people on earth has doubled over the past century and the population is growing at a very rapid pace. This is a result of a larger family sizes and access to better health care and lifestyles. This means that use of wholesome water for drinking, cleaning, cooking and sewage has tripled. We humans are a lot more carless in recent time, and we waste more water than ever before. This has placed a lot of pressure on the same amount of water that we have and we are looking forward for another source of water to compensate with this problem, and the cities are growing and expanding more than ever before. Cities also tend to hold more people than towns and villages which make it very much clear on the usage of water in the cities.

Air, Water and land pollution together contribute to the reduction of water quality, Sewage, oil discharges from industries, waste dumping into water bodies, radioactive waste from mining activities as well as dirty water from sanitation work in hospitals, hotels, oil companies, mining, schools and restaurants all end up polluting our waters. The trees help to prevent excessive evaporation or water bodies. They also enrich and stabilize the climate, this means that the destruction of forests by fire, logging and farming has exposed soil moisture and water bodies to the sun’s intense heat, leaving them dried out which has a major effect on the scarcity of water all around the globe.

There are many effects of water scarcity which may include Health, Education, Poverty and Hunger etc. In many developing countries, people are forced to drink low quality of water from flowing streams, many of which are contaminated. So less water means that sewage does not flow, and mosquitoes and other insects breed on still (stagnant) dirty water. The result is deadly malaria and other hilarious infections. The lack of water causes huge sanitation issues. The clinics, local restaurants, public places of convenience and many other places are forced to use very little water for cleaning.

As we know that it takes a lot of water to grow food and care for animals. The experts say that we use 70% of our water sources for agriculture and irrigation, and only 10% on domestic use. Next water means farming and other crops that need water to grow have lower yield. It means farm animals will die and other will not do well without water. The result is constant hunger and thirst and a low quality of life.

It is quite a bit hard to believe that water and education are related. For many people in other parts of the world children (and especially teen girls) have to be up to collect water for the family. They have to walk for several miles to get water. The children get tired and some have to miss school as a result. Doing this for many years take away the required school ties and the cycle continues. In other parts of the world girls and women are not allowed to go to school at all, so that they can serve the family by getting water and taking care of other family needs.

Poverty alleviation is a major issue all over the world so the access to quality water is the key to economic prosperity and better living standards. Businesses and schools thrive when people come to work on time and not have to spend all morning looking for water.

The global day for water is 22^nd March every year and I think that countries all over the globe should take this matter very seriously, the UNICEF and the UNSG Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation always takes this issue and gives awareness to the people all around the world regarding the global water problems all around the world. So that necessary precautions should be undertaken in this regard to cope with the Global water problems occurring in the whole world.