The Problem
Many people in the first world overlook basic necessities that we use every single day. Water is one of them. Water is something that everyone needs. Water is a natural resource that not only humans need to survive, but also all life on this planet needs to survive. It is the fundamental ingredient to life and is important that everyone has access to it. Many people do not have access to water, but everyone who has access to it does not have it easy. There are millions of people whose only source of water is water that has been contaminated and is undrinkable. This gives rise to the problem of impure water supplies, which can lead to numerous problems, most prevalently, disease and ultimately even death.
780 million people around the world have inadequate access to water. That is close to 1/7th of the world’s population. Imagine out of every 7 people that you saw, one of them would be denied access to water and could very likely die. 2.6 billion people lack good water sanitation. There are two main reasons for why people do not have access to clean water in the world. The first is that people are unsuitably located, and thus are denied access to water because of the scarcity in natural resources. The other is because of lack of sanitation and filtration of the water.
This seems like an insignificant percentage left available for consumption, but in reality, it’s more than enough to sustain human life on the planet.”Water is a relatively restricted resource on the planet. 70% of the world is water. Of that 70 percent, 98% of it is in oceans, or is salt water, which is undrinkable. That leaves 2% of the earths' water being fresh and 1.64% of that is locked up in glaciers or ice near the poles. That leaves only .36% of the water on the planet to supply 7 billion people. This seems like an insignificant percentage left available for consumption, but in reality, it’s more than enough to sustain human life on the planet. We have enough water to account for everyone and we will be able to sustain that too.
The problem is that not everyone is equal. Water is not distributed equally because of natural landforms and climate, and because of wealth. The earth is so overpopulated that people have settled in all corners of the world. Some of these places are high up in mountains, in large deserts, and do not have a sufficient water source. Another reason is because many third world countries do not have enough money to clean water or even pump water into their areas. They are then forced to drink dirty water. Many people in developing countries are forced to walk miles and miles to find only dirty water to supply their families with. Even if they can get there they can only bring back as much as they can carry.
UNICEF reports that 1.4 million children die due to the fact that 1 out of every 5 children in developing countries do not have access to safe water. This number is way too high and we should be doing things to lower it. 3.4 million people die each year from exposure to dirty water. This is the same amount of people as there are in the city of Los Angeles. Disease is a major killer and infecting agent in the water. There are very serious water borne illnesses that kill everyday. Close to half of all people in developing countries suffer at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits.
This seems like an insignificant percentage left available for consumption, but in reality, it’s more than enough to sustain human life on the planet.”Water is a relatively restricted resource on the planet. 70% of the world is water. Of that 70 percent, 98% of it is in oceans, or is salt water, which is undrinkable. That leaves 2% of the earths' water being fresh and 1.64% of that is locked up in glaciers or ice near the poles. That leaves only .36% of the water on the planet to supply 7 billion people. This seems like an insignificant percentage left available for consumption, but in reality, it’s more than enough to sustain human life on the planet. We have enough water to account for everyone and we will be able to sustain that too.
The problem is that not everyone is equal. Water is not distributed equally because of natural landforms and climate, and because of wealth. The earth is so overpopulated that people have settled in all corners of the world. Some of these places are high up in mountains, in large deserts, and do not have a sufficient water source. Another reason is because many third world countries do not have enough money to clean water or even pump water into their areas. They are then forced to drink dirty water. Many people in developing countries are forced to walk miles and miles to find only dirty water to supply their families with. Even if they can get there they can only bring back as much as they can carry.
UNICEF reports that 1.4 million children die due to the fact that 1 out of every 5 children in developing countries do not have access to safe water. This number is way too high and we should be doing things to lower it. 3.4 million people die each year from exposure to dirty water. This is the same amount of people as there are in the city of Los Angeles. Disease is a major killer and infecting agent in the water. There are very serious water borne illnesses that kill everyday. Close to half of all people in developing countries suffer at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits.
In the first world, the income is very high and since water is abundant the cost of it is relatively low. In the third world, the income of people is much lower, and since water is scarce, the cost is high. Since the income of the communities is lower they are not able to help themselves and solve the problem. They need outside assistance to find a solution. If we invest in cleaning up towns that are like this then the world’s standards and quality will increase.
Most of the world’s water is used by a very small percent of the world’s population. If the leaders of the world come together and can find solutions to distribute the water evenly then we can give people the right to live. This problem should be high on the list of things to solve because people should not be denied the right to live because of lack of resources. We cannot just stand by and watch people go through this when we have the power and resources to prevent water pollution from ruining lives. However, we are improving drastically. In 2009 every 15 seconds a child died from dirty water. Today every 21 seconds a child dies form dirty water. This is still horrible but this improvement has saved 1656 children every day.
Most of the world’s water is used by a very small percent of the world’s population. If the leaders of the world come together and can find solutions to distribute the water evenly then we can give people the right to live. This problem should be high on the list of things to solve because people should not be denied the right to live because of lack of resources. We cannot just stand by and watch people go through this when we have the power and resources to prevent water pollution from ruining lives. However, we are improving drastically. In 2009 every 15 seconds a child died from dirty water. Today every 21 seconds a child dies form dirty water. This is still horrible but this improvement has saved 1656 children every day.
© Will Severynse