Blue Planet water crisis

The Earth. The Blue Planet with 70% of its surface being water. The overwhelming amount of water on our planet is brackish or salt water found mostly in the oceans. Only 2,5% of all Earths water is fresh water that is accessible for the use and support of life. Going further into the discussion we discover that approx. 30.1% is groundwater- water deposited below the surface of Earth and 68.6% of our fresh water is locked in glaciers. What does it leave us? Only 1.3% of surface water – rivers, lakes, streams.

As we know from the previous article “The Tap water of the world”, surface water is the source that we humans and other species count on to sustain their existence.

Technically, there is enough freshwater on a global scale to cover our needs. However, due to broad unequal water distribution and human misuse aggravated by climate change and further driven by the rise in global water demand by the industry (on the larger scale) lead to devastating consequences, one of which is global water crises.

Alarming is the forecast by numerous environmental groups and world research community that the demand of fresh water is expected to outstrip supply by 40% in 2030 if current trends continue and nothing is being done to reverse it.

Fresh water is a renewable but a limited natural resource. Interesting the fact that fresh water never leaves our planet and is being refilled through the perfectly natural process – water cycle in which water from seas, lakes, forests, land and rivers evaporates, forms clouds and returns as precipitation. There is a problem though. If more fresh water is consumed, through human water malpractices, than it is naturally restored, it will result in reduced fresh water availability and can cause severe damage to surrounding and linked environments. We should all ask ourselves- what can we do to make a change/reverse this development?

We already did the first step – became aware of the situation.

Education and access to information
Give water the real value and price
Recycle and reuse of water
Improved practises in agriculture and livestock farming
Applied technological and scientific advances

In our next publications, we will focus more on details and try to contribute with awareness to minimise our water footprint.

(source World Economic Forum)