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Is there enough water?
The total amount of water on the Earth is estimated
to be 13.6 billion cubic kilometers (including oceans and polar ice caps). The oceans contain an estimated 1,000 billion,
billion, billion liters of water (estimated by Igor Shiklomanov in
World Fresh Water Resources in 1993). Yet of all the water in the
oceans, only 3% of the water on Earth is freshwater usable by humans.
Precipitation on land is estimated to be 113,000 cubic kilometers per
year, of which 72,000 cubic kilometers is lost to evaporation. The total
geographically available is thought to be about 34,000 cubic kilometers
(in rivers, lakes, and streams or as snow in the snow pack).
According to the United Nations Review of World
Population 2000, the world population was 6 billion in 2000, and is
projected to be 9.3 billion in 2050.
Actually a better question is whether there is
enough "clean, fresh" water for all of us on the Earth. The "Us"
includes the animals and plants that support the human population,
because without them we could not survive.
The Face of Drought 2002
Much of the United States has been in
drought during 2002. This has impacted virtually
all segments of our society, from industrial production and jobs to
recreation and tourism.
Do we
face increasing drought?
In the western United States, an arid region, experts
have discovered that "Over the last four hundred
years the average drought is between 5 and 15 years long."
What about Pollution?
Pollution is defined as:
Main Entry: pol·lu·tion
Pronunciation: p&-'lü-sh&n
Function: noun
1 : the action of
polluting especially by environmental contamination with
man-made waste; also : the condition of being
polluted From -
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
According to recent estimates, about 2.3 billion
people suffer from diseases linked to water. As much as 80% of all
illnesses in developing countries are water-related. Less than half the
population of Asia has access to improved sanitation.
Dirty water does kill. It is estimated that 1.7
million deaths per year are caused by unclean water. The major water
borne diseases are:
Cholera - an acute infection of the intestine
causing severe vomiting and diarrhea
Typhoid - a bacterial infection passed on in
drinking water, causing high fever
Guinea-Worm Disease - caused by a large
roundworm, the larvae of which may be present in drinking water.
Larvae develop inside people and emerge from the legs and feet.
Diarrhea - a symptom of bacterial, viral or
parasitic infection spread by contaminated water. Can cause death by
dehidration.
Polio - a virus passed on by water, food or
human contact. Caused irreversible paralysis.
Trachoma - produces blindness
Poor sanitation and lack of sewage treatment can
lead to surface water, ground water and soil contamination. Both human
and animal sanitation cause disease in water supplies. For example, farm
animals in the United States produce 130 times more waste than humans
do, much of which finds its way into the water system.
H. Court Young
© 2006, H. Court Young
is the author of Understanding Water and Terrorism
and Understanding Water Rights and Conflicts, Second
Edition.
He is a writer, author and publisher writing about
water, security and terrorism issues. He is also an
eBook publisher with eBooks about meteorites, and World
War II. For more information visit
http://www.tmcco.com
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