An essential part of life on this planet is water. Water is in practically every living organism and it is absolutely necessary that water is readily available when it is needed. Over seventy percent of the planet is covered in water, of which only about three percent is fresh water that humans can consume which a lot of is trapped in glaciers and icecaps (FAO). In many parts of the world, there are places where fresh drinking water is not available for people because it is contaminated or hard to reach or some other kind of obstructive factor. In the current media, places of this nature include Flint, Michigan where the water source is contaminated, the state of California where there is a drought, and several places in Africa where there …show more content…
These new innovations do face some amount of opposition, however. There is not an enormous amount of funding being put forth for finding new ways of generating fresh drinking water. There are also not many scientifically proven techniques to do so. Currently, the only techniques that are really implemented include: distillation, carbon filtration, membrane filtration, ultraviolet irradiation, reverse osmosis, and ion exchange (Roush). However, these current techniques are very costly and they require a large amount of energy to be used when done. Alternative techniques that are cheaper and more energy efficient need to be given more attention and funding. Implementing new biotechnology for water purification will leave a positive impact on society by creating a greater amount of fresh, drinkable water, creating more readily available water sources in parts of the world that are currently lacking, and by keeping a necessary resource for human life available in a constantly consuming society. One place that has constantly gotten recognition in the current media for having a lack of fresh drinking water is Africa. From lack of sources to undrinkable substances in the water, ideas have been circulating about how to improve the situation there so that people may get clean water.
According to the Millennium Development Goals Report 2012, “783 million people, or 11 per cent of the global population, remain without access to an improved source of drinking water. Such sources include household connections, public standpipes, boreholes, protected dug wells, protected springs and rainwater collections.” (United Nations, 2012) The United Nations Water Conference in 1977 along with a few other conferences, addressed helping approximately “1.3 billion people in developing countries gain access to safe drinking water.” (United Nations, 2012) While there is progress being made, we see that various regions without clean drinking water. Reports show, “In four of nine developing regions, 90 per cent or more of the population now uses an improved drinking water source. In contrast, coverage remains very low in Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa, neither of which is on track to meet the MDG drinking water target by 2015. Over 40 per cent of all people without improved drinking water live in sub-Saharan Africa.” (United Nations, 2012) It is shown that rural areas still lack drinkable water as opposed to urban areas. Consistent improvement has been made to supply populated areas with a reliable source of drinking water. However, research shows, “Coverage with improved drinking water sources for rural populations is still lagging. In 2010, 96 per cent of the urban population used an
Water is a necessity for the existence of human beings and approximately 71 % of the earth is water and it exists in many different forms. Water is constantly moving from one place to the other and from one state to the other and this process is known as the water cycle. As water evaporates, vapors rise and condense into clouds. The clouds move over the land, and precipitation falls in the form of rain, ice or snow. The water fills streams and rivers, and eventually flows back into the oceans where evaporation starts the process anew. Although water continuously changes states, from solid to liquid to gas, the amount of water on Earth remains constant. There is as much water now as there were hundreds of millions of years ago (Project, 1995).
Water is the single most important commodity that every organism needs to survive. When astronomers look for other inhabitable planets, one of the primary features they look for is the presence of water. It would then logically be inferred that water is essential to modern human society, but as seen with the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, it seems that isn’t the case. Thousands of people have encountered serious health problems and millions of dollars in damages have occurred, and all of this has been a result an ignorant and irresponsible government switching water sources in an effort to save money. In doing so, the government of Michigan ultimately caused adverse and destructive effects on the city of Flint and its inhabitants.
Water may be a renewable resource, but the world’s supply of drinkable fresh water is being consumed more rapidly than ever before, and most importantly, more rapidly than it can be replenished. Only 2.5% of water on Earth is fresh
Around the world people are suffering from the problem of having a safe and clean water, there are more than 633 million people lack access to safe water. Remote countries in Africa are mostly the victim of having unsanitary water sources.
There is a water crisis which faces many parts of the world and it is a threat to survival of human beings since humans are primarily dependent on water. Shortage in drinking water is beginning to show its effects in first world countries, but is a current major problem facing lesser developed countries which have not taken drastic steps to harvest water and purify it to make it safe for human consumption. In developed countries the population growth has strained available water resources and stretched the ability of governments and private firms to provide safe drinking water to the vast majority of the population. Seventy one percent of
Nearly half the states in the U.S. are abnormally dry. This is a situation that will be happening until the world ends. By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with two-thirds of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change (“Clean Water Crisis, Water Crisis Facts, Water Crisis Resources”). This is something very serious to think about. We will be looking this problem directly in the face in less than 10 years unless we all make a conscious effort to significantly cut down on the amount of water we use. For a lot of third world countries, this water shortage problem is something that affects daily life. 319 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa are without access to improved reliable drinking water sources (The Water Project). That's more people living without adequate water conditions, than the total population of the United States in 2014. As an American myself, the
As a mere second-grader I remember learning the definition of ‘essential’, along with a list of items essential to the human body, one of those items being water. Living on a planet that consists of approximately 71 percent water, it only makes sense that each of Earth’s inhabitants have access to water. Unfortunately not everything that makes sense is realistic. Many third world countries have little to no access to water and in America we have experienced several issues of water contamination. The most recent and tragic incident involving water contamination occurred in Flint, Michigan. Due to economic issues government officials switched to a cheaper water resource that was known to be very dirty. Officials failed to adhere to federal policy in treating the new water source, sending lead and iron filled water into the homes of thousands causing several cases of lead poisoning. Although I've never experienced a full blown water crisis the incident in Flint troubles me.
Incredible water shortage in the Middle East region has compelled countries to reuse this water for many purposes. Treated wastewater can be used in agriculture, industry, recharging aquifers (Middle East Water Shortage). This method leads to conservation of traditional sources of water which further can be used “for meeting the demand for higher-quality water such as that for drinking, or for high value-added industrial and agricultural uses.” Also the climate fickleness’ influence will lessen by means of reuse. But there are few problems connected with leading treatment into usage. One of them are health and environmental risks (Baroudy 2005, 25-35). Purified in such way water contains bacteria, viruses and parasites (Middle East Water Shortage). Use of treated water can cause different infectious and gastrointestinal diseases. According to Baroudy even contact with this water sometimes can cause allergies and other dermatological illnesses (2005, 25-35). Another problem is that this water has some biological and chemical matter dissolved in it, which can obstruct soil pores. Clogged soil has less ability for leaking which leads to bad irrigation efficiencies (Middle East Water Shortage). But, of course, some standards with the purpose to limit these effects were elaborated. Toughening standards require financial investments (Baroudy 2005, 25-35). Process of waste treatment requires special equipment and construction of special water treatment
“Water is essential to life; however, people do not have access to clean and safe drinking water and several die of waterborne bacterial infections” (Cabral). Africa is home to many of these people. This region is in desperate need of a transition, not only in access to fresh water, but also for better sanitation. Toilets are often found over pits, next septic trucks are hired to pump out the sewage, and finally carried away. The dumping sites for the sewage are commonly found in rivers, streams, or oceans. Thus contaminating Africa’s fresh drinking water causing many people to become sick. An even bigger problem is when the toilets, which are called pit latrines, fill up people have no choice but to go to the bathroom outside in the open and have by the time this ends up running down into the open drinking water. No matter where people in Africa defecate it almost always ends up in their drinking water. This problem is constantly getting worse
Intro, statistics- Water scarcity is defined as the lack of sufficient water resources to meet the demands of usage in different regions. Worldwide, 782 million people lack access to safe and sanitary water, 37% of those people live in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to World Health Organization (2006), in 2004, only 16% of those in Africa had access to drinking water through a household connection. According to an estimation done by the United Nations, Africa alone loses 40 billions hours per year collecting water. (World Health Organization, 2015) Currently in Africa over 300 million people have no access to clean water. That is 40% of the total population, and 60% of the population
We all deserve safe water, access to safe water will improve the lives of men, women and children all over the world. Safe water is it will not harm you if you come in contact with it and that it can be used for swimming, drinking etc. Safe water given to animals crops grown with safe water will be healthy and will not cause disease. Safe water will put an end to fighting for resources that are necessary. Safe water is better for people, animals and the environment. People will be able to continue their jobs and countries will no longer struggle to control rivers, lakes, streams, etc. People everywhere rely on water as a necessity for survival and as a part of their work. People fight over water and the animals in it. People do not deserve to get sick and even die fighting for resources or for using the only ones they have.
Did you know that only two and half percent of the earths fresh water is okay to drink and less than one percent of that is available to humans and fresh water ecosystems and the rest is frozen away in the ice in artic and ant artic areas. One of the biggest problems today in 2017 is people having purified water. Having such a big population and our way of life is killing our earth. This way of our life is destroying our fresh water ecosystems and is making it very difficult for us to have clean drinking water. Although there are some simple solutions to this problem. Purified water has a huge impact on our society socially and economically.
As Americans living in a first world environment, it becomes easy to take the necessities for granted. Simple things like drinking water have been easily accessible for our entire lives and we have grown to think nothing of it. However, there are a vast number of people around the world who struggle to survive because they lack the resources that we have in abundance. For these people, clean water is nonexistent; the people living in these impoverished, third world countries may go an entire lifetime without tasting it. One could only imagine the incredible things that would happen if something as simple as pure water was available to all. Though the chances of underprivileged countries worldwide gaining access to clean drinking water are low, experts believe that if achieved, it would improve the health, economy, and lives of billions.
For centuries, people have battled the resources surrounding them while on the hunt for drinkable water with little success. However, with advances in technology, many high- and middle-income nations are now able to have access to clean, drinkable, toxin-free water at all times. For the lower-income nations, the same cannot be said. One of the most water hungry continents in need of water today is Africa. Though it is made of several nations, each containing several different tribes and cultures, they all share the same problem: lack of drinkable water. Several of the nations are too poor to afford clean aquatic resources,or simply lack the education needed to obtain the water. The critical need for water in Africa is a problem that many