The Looming Water Crisis

One of the complaints you hear these days is about the high price of gasoline. But there is a more alarming crisis lurking behind the scenes: the future of our water.

Water is abundant both on and under the surface of the earth, covering about 70 percent of the planet’s surface. It also exists in the air, in the ground as soil moisture, and in aquifers. Earth’s water supply is constantly moving from one position and state to another. Without this cycle, life on earth would cease to exist.



It would seem that finding potable water should be a relatively easy task, but this is hardly the case: of all the water on earth, 98 percent is saline, leaving only 2 percent as drinkable water in streams, rivers, lakes, and groundwater — the very sources now threatened by human consumption and contaminants.

Threats to Our Potable Water

The threats facing North America’s water supply are numerous. They include increased demand by energy production, agricultural run-off, leaching of radioactive materials and heavy metals, and depletion and contamination of aquifers.

 Flooding may exacerbate contamination of groundwater by mobilizing dangerous chemicals from storage, or re-mobilizing chemicals that are already in the environment, such as pesticides and military waste products. Climate change has also caused water tables to drop steadily in major farming regions of North America as groundwater is siphoned off at a faster rate than nature replenishes it.

Of all the challenges facing the delivery of drinkable water, none is as insidious as the privatization of water supplies by multinational corporations. With the help of politicians, these corporations have quietly assumed control over water supplies of more than 400 million people worldwide. Privatization of water supply is hardly the answer to this crisis, and water belongs to everyone and to no one in particular. Ultimately, each community will have to spearhead the production of potable water supplies.

Quest for Ideal Water Purification Methods

Communities need to research newer, cost-effective ways to increase drinkable water supplies by reuse or desalination. They also have to understand that water treatment involves removing all contaminants, including disease causing organisms. Every avenue to this end must to be explored.

It is comforting to know, however, that it is possible to lessen the impact of the crisis using existing science and technology, though the costs are often prohibitive and some, including disinfection through chlorination, have serious side effects. For now, the quest for ensuring adequate, cost-effective methods of purifying water must continue.

Time to Save Our Water May Be Running Out

According to recent U.S. Geological Survey statistics, in the United States, we have 4 percent less drinkable water each year due to contamination and increase in demand. If this trend continues, shortages of potable water — which could lead to famine, diseases, civil strife and even wars — will not be averted any more than the dawn of a new day can be avoided.

Now is the time to prepare to meet this looming crisis. It has been said the best way to predict the future is to invent it. Let’s join together and invent the future of our water.


Sources:
USGS: "Water Resources for the United States" - June 2007, Scientific Investigations Report 2006-5239
Public Citizen: “No to the Privatization of Water” , UPDATE – January 31, 2005 – Managua, Nicaragua