This is important, because the planet is in the midst of what the United Nations is calling a "water crisis. In other regions, water is simply scarce. A water shortage can affect you no matter where you live in the world. It's arguably humanity's most vital natural resource. It sustains all other activities; it's the essential basis of economies, societies and human life. The current crisis results from a combination of factors, but one rises above the others: the global population boom.
As populations grow, so too, do their demands on water. People must be fed, and agriculture must have water to grow crops and livestock. This puts a demand on naturally available water.
To secure a source of water for its people, a government may construct a dam, but dams have drawbacks as well. Additionally, wasting too much water can hurt the local environment as it drains too much usable water away from the natural ecosystem. Wasting water does not always hurt humans or the environment. In areas where there are few humans but large amounts of usable water, you can't really "waste" water because new water arrives into the human-accessible portion of the water cycle faster than you can send it back out.
For instance, consider a remote cabin that is situated in a temperate mountainside forest and that draws its water directly from the ground using a private well. People in such a cabin can't really waste water. They can leave their faucets on all day if they want and they won't be affecting the environment or other humans much. They may not be wasting the water, but they are wasting the electricity that is used to pump the water up from the ground.
In contrast, in areas that have a lot of humans e. In regions of the world that are both densely populated and arid, wise use of available water resources is critical to human survival.
The identification of what exactly constitutes the wise use of available water resources is really more of a political issue and a personal moral issue than a scientific one, and therefore is best left to the policy makers and to personal opinion.
Let us instead focus here on the science. What is the human-usable portion of the water cycle? The answer is: fresh liquid water on or near the surface of the earth. Humans cannot survive drinking salt water, so pumping untreated water directly in from the oceans and from salt lakes is not an option.
It's true that salty ocean water can be converted to fresh water through distillation or reverse osmosis, but these processes are relatively costly so that they are not economically feasible in most parts of the world.
For most regions, the ocean is simply not a viable source of human-usable water. It is a no brainer that our flora and fauna need water to survive. And they too would thrive if we reduce our water consumption. The less we consume, the less pollution we create.
The less pollution we create, the more beneficial it is to our environment. Our future generations have only one world to live in, and it will be in whatever condition we may leave it. Failing to conserve water, now that it is clearly a necessity, poses danger to future generations and what we leave behind. The more we conserve water, the more inhabitable the Earth will be for them to thrive on.
Water conservation starts at home. By adapting small practices to reduce water consumption, we may collectively be able to create a big impact in our environment and community in the long run. Call Us Now. January 18, Water Conservation. Here are 10 reasons why you should: 1. Water is a scarce and finite resource.
Water is necessary for life.
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