Mark Twain

Even though the earth’s mass is 70 percent water, much of it is salt water.  Only a small fraction, two and a half percent, consists of fresh water and much of that is not easily accessible—lying frozen in glaciers.  More than one billion of the earth’s six billion people lack safe water, while 2.4 billion do not have feasible methods of sanitation.

Where does all this freshwater go?  Irrigation for crop production takes up 65- 70 percent of supplies.  It takes over 528 gallons of water to produce enough food for one person for one day.  With the world population growing by about 85 million a year, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that crop production will have to increase 50 percent by the year 2025.  That means not only using more water for crops, but more water for the population in general.

In Africa, agriculture uses up 88 percent of the water supply. It takes 1,000 tons of water to produce every ton of grain.  Africa’s Nile River has long been used for irrigation of crops.  With the populations of countries along the river steadily growing, it is being strained for water. The Nile is fed by Lake Victoria, not only the largest lake in Africa, but one of it’s most polluted.  Like most large bodies of water, the lake is toilet, bathtub as well as the drinking water supply.  Unlike rich countries there are no treatment facilities, which have resulted in frequent outbreaks of cholera.

The United States also has water problems in relation to agriculture. The Ogallala Aquifer, America’s largest aquifer, is being depleted by irrigation.  The Ogallala Aquifer spans from the Texas pan-handle to South Dakota, and is responsible for watering one fifth of the U.S.’s irrigated land. Since the aquifer is made of ‘fossil water’ it is locked below the earth’s surface and cannot be refilled by precipitation.  It is currently being drawn down eight times faster than it can be refilled, at a rate of about 12 billion cubic meters a year.  Once this water is gone it is gone forever.

Industry gobbles up 20-25 percent of available freshwater in production of things like steel, computers, and the organic raw materials used in creating everything from latex gloves to dog food.  Industry in China is growing at a steady rate.  It is predicted that the annual industrial water use in China could grow from the current 52 billion tons to 269 billion tons within the next two decades.  The capital city of Beijing lies in China’s northeastern Hubei Province.  This area was once known as the “Province of a Thousand Lakes”, but now more than three-fourths of these lakes have been reduced to sand by industrialization.  The government has begun charging farmers for water, provoking tension among neighbors over fears of theft of an increasingly precious commodity.

Industrialization may also cause water contamination.  Many countries do not have acceptable waste management programs, so waste is dumped in to rivers.  The waste in turn can leak into ground water, contaminating the supply for entire cities.  Some steps are being taken to curb such pollution.  Beijing has begun to limit the development of textile and paper making industries, which use high levels of water.

Personal use accounts for the final ten percent of water use, but this ten percent is not divided equally among the world’s peoples.  The World Health Organization suggests that each person needs at least 2 gallons of water a day for drinking, food preparation, and cooking.  This isn’t even accounting for water used in basic hygiene.  According to a 2003 report from the WHO and UNICEF the average consumption per person is five gallons a day, but in homes with multiple taps, like those in the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe the total consumption rises to 25-50 gallons per person.

In communities and households without wells or household taps it is usually the job women to travel, often times up to two hours away, to collect water. With a gallon of water weighing about eight pounds, the sheer physical task of hauling sufficient quantities for, say, a family of five becomes daunting.  Inadequate household water supplies mean poor sanitation and hygiene.  The resulting diseases, like diarrhea, kill two million children each year in developing countries.

There are wide sociological ripples that stem from the basic shortage of safe water.  Traveling great lengths to retrieve this vital necessity leaves little time for family interaction, education, and other essential activities.   This was the case for 12 year-old Erika Makalli of Tanzania[1]. Erika and her mother would travel up to two hours away to collect water for their family.  Often times they would make multiple trips—sometimes devoting whole days to water collection.  Travel and water-born illnesses left no time for Erika to attend school, and no time for her mother to spend quality time with the family.  Now with an organization called Water Aid and their installation of a new water tap in Erika’s village and school, she is able to spend free time with her friends and get the education she has needed.

In November 2002, a Covenant on Economic and Cultural Rights (CESCR) declared clean water a fundamental human right.  Billions of people will live and die without claiming it.

Sources:
BBC News, World Health Organization, United Nations Environment Program, UNICEF, Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke. Blue Gold. The New Press, New York: 2002, International Year of Freshwater 2003, Global Policy Forum, International Fund for China's Environment, Water Aid, The Ogallala Aquifer Depletion.

[1] As reported by David Redhouse of Water Aid, 2004