Water scarcity
Alright here is a speech I had to do for a class of mine, which explains why it is written in a slightly dramatic and dorky manner. Anyways, it has some good tidbits in it and some ways to cut down on your water use.......
Try to think of one day in your life that you haven?t seen or used water. Unless you?ve had a near-death encounter in a desert, I bet you can?t think of one. Water is everywhere. It?s in our fountains, our glasses, our fishbowls, and in our bathtubs. In Madison, you can?t go more than a couple of miles without seeing a giant lake filled with water. Everyone uses water all the time, and it seems so abundant that many of us don?t worry about its future supply.
The sense of security with water that many people have is false and misguided. Today I will tell you some facts and statistics about the earth?s water supply and its future. Although these numbers might trouble you, you must not let them make you feel hopeless. It is in our power to change the direction the world is heading in. In the second part of my speech, I will share with you some quick and simple ways to cut down on your personal water usage and save some of the water supply.
First, let?s talk about the current state of earth?s water supply, and some estimates of what will happen to it in the future
Although water covers the majority of the earth?s surface, a very small percentage is available as fresh water that humans can use. In an article in Science magazine, Sandra Postel, Gretchen Daily, and Paul Ehrlich state that only 2.5% of all the water on earth is fresh water. Two-thirds of this is frozen in glaciers and ice caps, leaving about 0.77% of all the water on earth available to humans.
The majority of available water is that which runs through the hydrologic cycle, or the natural cycle of precipitation and evaporation. This water is replenish able, meaning that although water leaves the hydrologic cycle, more is introduced via rain, snow, and other precipitation.
Not all fresh water is actually available to humans. Some places with fresh water are just too remote to practically use the water. The article in Science magazine estimates that 3.3 trillion gallons of replenishable water is actually available to humans each year. That is equivilant to 26 Lake Mendotas for the entire human population.
Since water isn?t evenly distributed around the globe, parts of the world already have water shortages. The article ?Entering an era of water scarcity,? by Sandra Postel, gives a list of places where water use exceeds water replenishment. These include: the U.S. Great Plains, the central valley in California, northern Africa, southeast Asia, and others. The yearly water deficit in southern India is greater than the average annual flow of the Nile River.
In an article titled ?Water Scarcity in the 21st Century,? David Seckler and others state that one quarter of the world population and one third of the population in developing countries experience or will experience water shortages by the year 2025.
Since water is used for so many things, a shortage of water means trouble for everyone. In the same article by David Seckler and others, it is shown that agriculture accounts for 70% of water use. In Sandra Postel?s article, she states that 40% of the world?s food comes from one quarter of the world?s cropland which is irrigated, meaning that water is taken from another source to water the crops. If this land experiences a water shortage, a food shortage will soon follow.
Sandra Postel also states that overdrawing water damages and threatens aquatic ecosystems, which are already in a delicate balance. Less aquatic habitat means that more aquatic organisms will be in danger of extinction. The United Nations website estimates that over half of the worlds wetlands have been drained, and that 20% of known freshwater species are extinct or endangered.
Lastly, David Seckler and others show that water scarcity leads to a decline in water quality. Water that is currently polluted is unusable, and this percentage will increase as all of the usable water is taken up. The United Nations states that 1.1 billion people, or 18% of the world population currently lacks access to a clean water supply.
Future estimates of water supply and demand are not very optimistic. With a current human population of 6 billion, our current world-wide water demand is approximately 5.7 billion gallons a year, according to Sandra Postel and others. This is currently sustainable since 3.3 trillion gallons are replenished annually. However, as population is expected to increase to 8 billion by the year 2025, world-wide water demand will also increase exponentially. Estimated water need for the year 2025 is 2.5 trillion gallons, which will only increase with more people. This estimate of future water demand might be quite lower than it will actually be. According to the United Nations website, water use increased six-fold in the last century, which is twice the rate of population growth. If this trend continues, we might run out of water sooner than we think.
Now, I want you all to take a deep breath. All of those facts and numbers are a bit scary, but things can be improved if we all take a personal responsibility to conserve water.
I would now like to share with you some personal steps you can take to reduce your water intake and therefore save part of the water supply. Here in the U.S., we are guilty of using more water than other parts of the world. According to the UN, our water use averages 100 gallons per person per day. Germany averages 34 gallons per person per day, and undeveloped countries average just 7 gallons per person per day. It is obvious that our lifestyles are not sustainable. When researching this speech, I thought I would have to take drastic, life-changing steps to make any difference, but I found that many of these suggestions are extremely simple to do once you make them a habit. All of these tips have been gathered from www.wateruseitwisely.com.
First, let?s start in the kitchen.
When washing dishes, don?t continuously run water from the tap. Fill one side
of the sink with soapy water to wash, and the other side with clean water to rinse.
Try not to use your garbage disposal, and use a compost instead if you can. Limiting garbage disposal use can save 50-150 gallons a month per household, according to the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.
If you have a dishwasher, only run it when it is completely full. This can save up to 1000 gallons a month. This goes true for the washing machine, too.
Lastly, don?t run the water when washing fruits or veggies. Fill a bowl of water to wash, then use this water to water household plants.
Now let?s move to the bathroom, where lots of water is used.
First, turn off the water while you brush your teeth. The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California says that this can save 300 gallons a month per person.
Also, when washing your hands, turn off the water as your lather them with soap, then turn back on to rinse. I recently started doing this, and I was surprised how much water goes down the drain when washing hands.
Lastly, keep your shower time short, around five minutes. I know this can be hard to do, but you can save around 1000 gallons a month.
This is just a short list, but the website www.wateruseitwisely.com lists over 100 things to do to save water. Especially when you own a home, I encourage you to check this list out and take some steps to lessen your impact. I also encourage you to tell your friends and family about these steps. The more people who act smart about water improves its longevity.
We live in a time where environmental pressures are mounting and change needs to occur before things are too late. Water, probably the resource most taken for granted, is already in deficient supply in many areas of the world, and current projections estimate a worldwide shortage as the population continues to grow. We cannot live without water, plain and simple, so steps must be taken to ensure that we and future generations have enough of this precious resource.
I ask you to take to heart some of the suggestions I?ve made, if not for yourself then for your children and grandchildren. We cannot make the mistakes of previous generations and ignore problems that have not yet slapped us in the face. You might think you are only one person, but together we can achieve great things.
Bibliography
Mono Lake Website. ?Water Conservation Tips? 29 Jan. 2007. 15 April 2007.
http://www.monolake.org/socalwater/wctips.htm
Postel, S.L. 1999. Entering an era of water scarcity: the challenges ahead. Ecological Applications 10:941-948
Postel, S.L., Daily, G.C., and Ehrlich, P.R. 1996. Human Appropriation of Renewable Fresh Water. Science. 271(5250):785-788.
Seckler, D., Barker, R., and Amarasinghe, U. 1999. Water Scarcity in the Tweny-first Century. Water Resources Development 15: 29-42.
Water Use It Wisely. ?100 Water-Saving Tips? 2007. 14 April 2007.
http://www.wateruseitwisely.com/100ways/sw.shtml
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joshiwawa posted on 07/11/2007 @ 3:33:21 am
nice story