Given the seamless manner in which it is generally supplied to our homes – many people take water for granted, and whilst many recognize its importance, others may assume that the earth has an infinite amount of it. However as the world’s population continues to expand rapidly – the freshwater people need to in order to survive is becoming increasingly scarce – resulting in extensive re-cycling, and technologies developed to extract water supplies in a more sustainable and eco-friendly manner.
Although water covers around 70% of the planet’s surface, only around 2.5% of it is fresh, and only 1% is readily available, with the remainder being contained within snow-fields and glaciers. This results in the stark and alarming statistic, that only 0.007 % of fresh water is required by the 6.8 million people that live on the planet.
The present shortage of water supplies is the outcome of decades of political, environmental, social and economic mismanagement – that has consistently failed to recognize that world-wide water supply needs to be a highly systematic and internationally co-ordained effort.
Water is absolutely essential to the preservation of human life – the body actually consists of 60% water and we need it to survive. It is also a key resource within industry, manufacturing, agriculture and food-production, and the United Nations has recently estimated that by 2025 – as many as 1.8 million people will live in areas subjected to water-shortages as the result of factors including climate-change and depletion of supplies. This could lead to catastrophic levels of human suffering, especially in areas that are already subject to drought-type conditions on a regular basis.
Therefore as supplies continue to become more scarce, it is essential to remove these sorts of barriers and make a concerted effort to nurture and maintain the supply of the world’s most vital natural resource.