Dear “Earth Talk”: How could there ever
be a water scarcity? Isn’t water the most plentiful thing on Earth?
— Chris Carroll, Austin, Texas
Seawater may cover more than 70 percent of the
Earth’s surface, but thirsty human beings rely on finite supplies of
fresh water to stay alive. With exploding human population growth,
especially in poor countries, these finite supplies are quickly spoken for.
Further, in places without proper sanitation, water can become tainted with
any number of diseases and parasites. According to the World Bank, as many as 2 billion
people lack adequate sanitation facilities to protect them from waterborne
disease, and a billion lack access to clean water altogether. According to
the United Nations, which has declared 2005-2015 the “Water for
Life” decade, 95 percent of the world’s cities still dump raw
sewage into their water supplies. Therefore it should come as no surprise
that 80 percent of all the health maladies in developing countries can be
traced to unsanitary water. Sandra Postel, author of the 1998 book Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity, predicts big water-availability problems as populations of
so-called water-stressed countries jump by perhaps sixfold over the next 30
years. Developed countries aren’t immune to freshwater
problems either. Researchers found a sixfold increase in water use for only
a twofold increase in population size in the United States since 1900. Such
a trend reflects the connection between higher living standards and
increased water usage and underscores the need for more sustainable
management and use of water supplies even in more developed societies. With world population expected to pass 9 billion by
midcentury, solutions to water-scarcity problems are not going to come
easy. Some have suggested that technology — such as large-scale
saltwater-desalination plants — could generate more fresh water for
the world to use. But environmentalists argue that depleting ocean water is
no answer and will only create other big problems. Others believe that applying market principles to
water would facilitate a more efficient distribution of supply everywhere.
Analysts at the Harvard Middle East Water Project, for example, advocate
assigning a monetary value to fresh water rather than considering it a free
natural commodity. They say that such an approach could help mitigate the
political and security tensions caused by water scarcity. As individuals, we can all rein in our own water use
to help conserve what is becoming an ever more precious resource. We can
hold off on watering our lawns in times of drought. When it does rain, we
can gather gutter water in barrels to feed garden hoses and sprinklers. We
can turn off the faucet while we brush our teeth or shave and take shorter
showers. As Postel concludes, “Doing more with less is the first and
easiest step along the path toward water security.”
For more information: United Nations Water For Life
Decade, www.un.org/waterforlifedecade.
Send questions to “Earth Talk” in care of
E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; or e-mail
earthtalk@emagazine.com.
This article appears in Jun 1-7, 2006.
