The Earth is a fragile mother who feeds her scattered life forms with a wonderful elixir, the water. Though the supply of water seemed to be in abundance occupying 70% of the Earth, the consumable quantity called the freshwater still lingers around 2.5%. A source of water is termed to be fresh only when it contains less than 500 parts per million of dissolved salts. Most of this again remains clutched amidst glaciers and snowfields diminishing the accessibility. This has posed on us a heavy barrier to judiciously utilize the scarce supply in lieu of our exploding population.
‘Water’ is an important ingredient for the human body for proper functioning of all the cells and organelles to sustain its entire anatomy and physiology. About two-thirds of our body is made up of water, in the brain at 95%, in the blood at 82% and in the lungs at 90%. Hence a mere 2% drop in the actual composition would showcase a devastating effect and will naturally lead to death. A human body can survive without water only for a week.
The water quenching our thirst should necessarily be a freshwater, an individual requires between 20 to 50 liters of water free from harmful contaminants to thrive. According to the UN reports, 1 in 5 people do not have access to safe drinking water. As a result, a child dies every 15 seconds from a water-related disease.
According to the United Nations, the freshwater consumption has exceeded twice the population rate in the last century. The forecasting is that about 1.8 million people would be tangled within water scarcity and two thirds of them would be stressed with water unavailability.
It’s high time for us to stop mocking and start acting to conserve water at home. Approximately 25% of freshwater is exploited in activities like laundry that accounts for 40 gallons, a 10- minute shower comprising 50 gallons and the rest in flushing of toilets.
Agriculture is one among the top water thirsty activities performed by humans where 70% of the consumption occurs. Just a kilo of rice requires 3000 to 5000 liters of water to survive and the same replicates in crops like cotton and sugar.
Global warming is rapidly melting the glaciers ultimately zeroing the contents of the rivers and the ground water table. It also hikes the sea level promoting the seepage of the same in to the aquifer table and actively turning it into brine.
Climate change is an unfolding challenge invariably impacting over a whole range of water resources. Hence water availability submits itself to the varying temperature and rainfall patterns. This in turn increases the frequency and severity of floods and droughts disrupting ecosystems that maintain water quality.
A freshwater supports various life forms and is exclusively called as a freshwater ecosystem. They are populated by higher concentrations of species. Around 10,000 of the world’s fish species reside in this ecosystem allowing an average discovery of 300 new fish species every year.
Dams fragment existing gigantic river systems. Many countries promote the construction of dams across rivers and there are 1500 dams waiting to spring up around the world. This is considered as the greatest threat to the freshwater ecosystems’ health.
The Freshwater Living Planet Index helps to track changes in the populations of freshwater species. It was found that the freshwater species suffered a larger decline between 1970 and 2007 as it fell by 35%.
Over the span of 50 years, the degradation of freshwater ecosystem has been well pronounced and this has contributed to the frequency and severity of floods widening the catastrophe caused.