Are We Running Out of Safe Water?
Water is a unique and fascinating substance! We are confident that life as we know it cannot exist without the presence of clean water. People are able to live weeks without food but merely days without water. Recent moon explosions were planned for the purpose of, hopefully, detecting the presence of water through analyzing the dust, for moon colonization is virtually impossible without it.
It is certain that earth is not short of water. It contains 326 million trillion gallons of water, meaning we could each have our own 56 billion gallons. The average person in the world has a daily requirement of water for sanitation, bathing, and cooking needs of about 13.2 gallons. That means the world contains enough water to last each of us over 11 million years (not counting population growth)! That doesn’t take into consideration the free recycling system provided for us called evaporation and condensation.
Of course, this is a little misleading for not all (or even most) of this water on earth is in a useable form. Ninety-eight percent of the water on earth is in the oceans, and is, therefore, too salty for use. Of the 2% of the planet's fresh water, 1.6% is unusable in the polar ice caps and glaciers. Another 0.36% is found underground in aquifers and wells. A mere .036% of the earth’s water is found in lakes and rivers. That still provides 392 million gallons for each of us. The sobering fact is that only about 0.007% of all water on earth (and less than 1% of the world’s fresh water) is accessible for direct human use.
The problem is bad also because useable water is not evenly available to the world population. For example, the average American uses more water in one shower than most third world people use in a whole day. Nearly one billion people of the world do not have access to safe water. Nearly one billion people of the world lack access to safe water. Further, two and a half billion do not have improved sanitation, that is, a means to separate drinking water from waste water.
The lack of sanitary drinking water results in major health issues throughout the world. As many as half of all people in hospital beds at any given time are there because of a water related disease. This results in one child dying from a water-related disease, usually from diarrhea, every 15-20 seconds. That totals a staggering 1.4 million children each year. Children in poor environments often carry 1,000 parasitic worms in their bodies at any time. We are told that 88% of cases of diarrhea worldwide are attributable to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation, or insufficient hygiene.
Polluted water brings death, but also an increase in disease, crime, birth defects, and decreased ability to concentrate in school. In other words, it results in major economic decline. An investment in pure water for a people, or in desalination of the sea, is an investment with big returns. It is estimated that on average, every US dollar invested in water and sanitation provides an economic return of eight US dollars.
Some want us to live like they do, not watering our lawns or taking a shower as often. This is fallacious thinking. Lowering our living standard in use of water only borrows their problems. The main reason America has sufficient good, clean water is that we have learned where to get it and how to preserve it. Our response to criticism should not be guilt but better stewardship and an increased willingness to share our knowledge with others. When we are frugal and generous with our water, we will set a higher standard for other nations to follow.
But what if you are on well water or city water that has bad taste or odors. You would be benefited by an activated charcoal water filter. The Berkey Filter are the best line of activated charcoal filter we are aware of. Check out the Berkey Light or another model. One amazing feature is that each set of filters they ship with can be re-cleaned to purify up to 6,000 gallons of drinking water.