BLOG OF iECYCLE

“Ignoring the urge to use water responsibly is the perfect
recipe for a disaster.”

We often ignore the importance water even after knowing how water is central to the realization of human potential. United Nation called water; a source of life for people and the planet. One can survive about a month without food, but only 5-7 days without water (Pendleton.or.us).

While many of us are privileged to have access to abundant water, others are extremely deprived. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reported that “1,800 million people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions”.

Source: UNWater.org

Although the earth is largely covered with water, only 2.5% is available as the freshwater. Out of 2.5% of the total available freshwater, only less than 1% of freshwater water is available for the ecosystems and humans (UNEP). Increasing population in the world is putting additional pressure on the available water resources.

The scarcity and the importance of the water on human development, business development and the environment has earned it a name of  “The Blue Gold”. Taking small actions can provide the gift of blue gold to people who are water stressed and contribute towards sustainable living.

Importance of water in daily life

Let’s refresh our memory about how water plays a vital role in our daily life. The human body has approximately 75% of water. Human blood consists of 83% of water. Even the human bones consists of 25% of water (Pendleton.or.us). Everything we use requires water. The following Table explains how much water is used for some of our basic necessities.

 Table Source: Pendleton.or.us

Impacts of water shortage

Water resources are dwindling down, but water needs for human, agriculture, and industry are steadily increasing around the world. At this rate, increasing water demands will exceed the available water resources further accelerating water shortage crisis. Ignoring the urge to use water is the perfect recipe for a disaster. The water shortage has major adverse impacts on the human development, business development, and the environment.

Human development is a process of allowing people to realize their true potential and lead a life that they value. While many of us try to get ahead in life, water shortage limits human development for millions of people around the world.

According to the United Nation 2008 report, 1.8 million children die every year due to the lack of access to safe clean water. Millions of women and young girls have to travel long distance and spend hours to collect water for their families resulting in the restriction of economic opportunities and gender inequalities (hdr.undp.org). Many people suffer from chronic dehydration due to the lack of clean drinking water. Dehydration causes daytime fatigue resulting in lower productivity and increased poverty.

Business development can also get severely impacted as a result of direct water supply shortage, rising water costs, and conflicts with the local communities. About 70% of available fresh water is primarily used for the irrigation system (World Water Assessment Programme). Therefore, the water shortage could cause major crisis for the agriculture industry.

Electricity generation requires significant amount of water. The lack of sufficient electricity limits the growth for all businesses. There are many industries that depend on the water as the main source. In a recent study report by CERES Group, businesses were told that “water is more important than oil”.

In the California State of Emergency proclamation, the Governor Mr. Arnold Schwarzenegger mentioned that the water shortage was responsible for the total economic loss of  nearly $3 billion in 2009 (co.lack.ca.us).

Water shortage also has significant impacts on the environment. The water shortage leads to significant degradation of rivers, lakes and aquifers. The dissolved oxygen levels and dilution of waste matter discharges are reduced as a result of lower flows in the rivers. Water shortage threatens the survival of wildlife, vegetation, and trees.

What can you do?

Each one of us has a social responsibility to help the environment. Water is a precious natural resource and needs to be protected to meet our future demands.

Below are the few basic suggestions that we all can try to implement to avoid major water crisis in the near future:

• Get educated – Keep yourself updated with the current water shortage situation around the world and learn how you can contribute to help.
• Improve the water efficiency – Much of the water is wasted from the scarce available freshwater because of the ignorance, bad habits, or using inefficient products. For example, one can save enough water to meet typical needs of seven people per day by just fixing the leaking faucet.
• Voluntarily reduce water consumption – This is absolutely critical. People particularly living in the developed countries often take the water for granted and overuse the water. We all should make sincere efforts to reduce the consumption of water. It could be as simple as taking a shorter bath.
• Spread the word around – Finally, it is equally important to let others know about the importance of conserving the water. One can easily do that with the internet social media networks such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter.

Give a gift of blue gold by conserving water and helping to make clean water accessible to everyone.

Happy holidays!