Water scarcity is an environmental problem that reaches around the globe. This lack of water is called the World Water Crisis. In the U.S, people are privileged enough to be able to use clean water for many things. However, the U.S is effected by water scarcity as well as countries who are underdeveloped and aren 't as privileged as we are. Only 2.5 percent of Earth 's water is fresh water, of which industrial uses account for 22 percent of available fresh water, domestic use requires only 8 percent, and the rest-over two-thirds of our demand-is used for agriculture. Water is said to be a right for all living things, however, many underdeveloped countries in the world, such as Ghana or Rajasthan, are victims of corporations who come …show more content…
Giant corporations take over these sustainable water supplies and nothing seems to be done make them stop so that the water can become clean again as well as be given back to the people. Christian Theology is heavily focused on and around water because it 's said to be the right of all living things. In scripture, the word water appears nearly six hundred times in the Hebrew Bible and is used to describe forms of God or his activities. Therefore, water is an embodiment of God himself and when water is taken away from people it 's almost like taking away a source of God from them. Also, this lack of water causes poverty in many countries because they can 't grow food to sell to sustain their own lives. In The Preferential Option for the Poor, the country focused of whom is suffering in poverty is Latin America. This cause of poverty is said to be linked to the influence the U.S has from our western culture. The bishops argue that the root cause of Latin American misery and oppression is the influence of Western culture, which is driven by idols of power, wealth, monetary pleasure and an overvaluation of individual subjectivity. Western culture tends to be centered around materialist tendencies and focuses on what an individual can do for themselves rather than what an individual can do for others, including the world we live in. The bishops also claim that the cultural
The US can be a leader in the fight for water equality by formally declaring water a human right. The US is in a unique position, because we have already done so much to aid people in water-stressed regions. This experience will be invaluable in escalating our efforts to secure the natural human right to clean and sustainable water for our allies in Sub-Saharan Africa. We can dedicate our vast resources and capable personnel in innovative and strategic ways to this most noble of all causes to bring prosperity abroad and secure it for posterity at home.
Water, like food, is a necessity for human life that is used for many purposes such as agricultural, industrial, and domestic systems. While water is a common element around the world not all of it is clean and able to be consumed or used by humans. With only a percentage of the world’s water being clean and the use of water increasing, the availability of water around the world has become a common issue in the developing and even the developed world. This may be a smaller problem in areas close to clean water sources compared to areas far from a clean water source but, the availability of water is not strictly based on location, it also depends on the specific political and social needs and issues of the area as well. These all become issues that must be accounted for when deciphering whether water is a basic human right or a commodity and what action must be taken to aid the developing water systems in community’s that lack them.
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
According to (" UN-Water”) 783 million people do not have access to clean drinking water. The majority of people living in America have plenty of access to clean drinking water and often take that opportunity for granted . The lack of water in undeveloped countries can have a major effect on the economy. Countries that Have clean drinking water means being able to shower, cook, drink, water that can also be used for agriculture. Undeveloped countries with unclean water do not have these benefits
In recent years not only is the complex issue of water scarcity a widespread issue but
The author, Maude Barlow, begins her article by stating that there is a problem concerning the world’s water and how it can affect the people’s way of living. She includes three possible outcomes that could result from how people are mistreating the water supply. Sources of freshwater are becoming scarcer as people keep polluting and depleting them. As the lack of clean freshwater decreases, the amount of children dying increases, more so than war and diseases altogether which occurs more frequently with those that are of low socioeconomic status. Those that belong to companies dealing with water exchange are taking advantage of the shortages by selling them to regular people at expensive rates; this could ultimately lead to the market’s dictating
These are the injustices that are happening all over the world and we need to prevent these companies from taking advantage of us and our water supplies just to fatten their pockets. We need to project our political voices and let these companies know that these behaviors will not be tolerated. Among the people who are raising their political voices against water ownership is Maude Barlow, senior advisor on water issues for the General Assembly of the UN, who argued that, " high water rates, cut-offs to the poor, reduced services, broken promises and pollution have been the legacy of
Imagine living a life with limited water or not having any water at all. For many people, they wouldn’t survive or know how to go about life with this limitation. Water is a necessity to life, no matter where someone comes from or is currently living. Flint, Michigan, and Africa are just two of these places that are being affected currently by water. Many people do not know about Flint, Michigan having a water crisis currently unless they are from around that area and many don’t know how limited water resources are in Africa. Water has linked people all around the world through many different ways.
Water is a precious liquid that all western United States are learning to appreciate because a drought crisis has arised. Bubar (2015) defined a drought as a long period of little or no rainfall or snowfall, leading to a shortage of water. Moreover droughts are natural disasters that are not as violent as tornadoes, earthquakes, and hurricanes, but they can cause serious damage. Bubar (2015) found a small town in central California that is struggling to meet the simple if not given rights to have and use water. This town is called Porterville and has been affected by the drought at a greater extent where it has left families without running water. Consequently, if water in the western region of the United States is what sustains the United States in it long held position as the greatest country in the world, why is the western
Manzoor, K. P. (2011). The global water crisis: Issues and solutions. IUP Journal of Infrastructure, 9(2), 34-43.
Life springs up around water sources. It is no coincidence that some of the greatest civilizations have been build need fertile bodies of water. Known life relies on water to sustain that life. So it is no surprise when a debate arose in 2013 around comments made by Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck regarding privatization of water and the fundamental human right to survive from dehydration and illness from non-portal water consumption. Although the context of Brabeck’s comment was taken out of context, issues surrounding the access companies like Nestlé have been given to bottle their water when people do not have access to clean water and droughts are threatening crop production. Adding a price tag is not the answer. The market, both these companies and their consumers have a major role to play in the management of water; a role that requires a change in mindset of privilege many citizen of the United States, and other countries that do not see the direct effects that serious clean water issue have on people that do not have it.
As the worlds population grows, it is forced by circumstances that it has created to face the limitations of the worlds resources. Most people in the US have always been fortunate enough to have enough of whatever they wanted. When something they like breaks or wears out, they throw it away or buy a new one, and they often don’t even make an attempt to repair an item. They neglect basic maintenance until they damage their belongings beyond repair, and expect that they’ll always have enough. But some things are beyond their control, beyond there power or financial ability to replace or repair. The world’s drinking water supply is one of these without concern, without attention, without preventative maintenance and reclamation and
In today’s society, the idea of a limited resource is not a foreign concept. Most people understand that eventually humans will use up many of these resources, such as fossil fuels, and they will cease to exist. However, very rarely does a conversation about limited resources get started over the water. While water itself is not a limited resource, clean drinkable water is becoming scarcer as people continue to use excess water. The documentary “Last Call at the Oasis” highlights how precious water is to survival and just how much miss use of water occurs in the United States alone. Even though the United States has gone down the wrong path with its water consumption methods, it may not be too late to recover. With the proper systems and education in place, the chances of delaying a water crisis increase exponentially.
Water is a human right, not a commodity. It is the essence of life, sustaining every living being on the planet. Without it we would have no plants, no animals, no people. However, while water consumption doubles every twenty years our water sources are being depleted, polluted and exploited by multinational corporations. Water privatization has been promoted by corporations and international lending institutions as the solution to the global water crises but the only one’s who benefit from water privatization are investors and international banks. The essential dilemma of privatization is that the profit interests of private water utilities ultimately jeopardizes the safeguarding of the human right to water. Access to clean, sufficient
It is an essential resource for sustaining life as well as central to agriculture and rural development, and is intrinsically linked to global challenges of food insecurity and poverty, climate change adaptation and mitigation, as well as degradation and depletion of natural resources that affect the livelihoods of millions of people across the world. According to the World Bank, (2010) report, water is a scarce resource with multiple interwoven uses that range from drinking water, energy, irrigation, manufacturing things, transport of people and goods among others. The report further states that, more than one-sixth of the Worlds’ population does not have access to safe drinking water, with 80% living in rural areas thus access to water cannot not be guaranteed globally.