While around 70 percent of the world is covered by water only 2.5 percent is freshwater, as you can see, it makes up a very small fraction of all water on the planet. The rest is ocean-based and saline. Even in that case, just 1 percent of the world's freshwater is easily accessible, with much of it in glaciers and snowfields. In summary, only 0.007 percent of the planet's water is available to fuel and feed its almost 7 billion people.
Due to different reasons (geography, climate, engineering, resources, etc.) some regions are relatively flush with freshwater, while others face drought and debilitating pollution. In much of the developing world, clean water is either hard to come by or a commodity that requires laborious work or significant currency to obtain.
People need freshwater to survive, water Is life, it is essential for producing food, clothing, and almost everything else, also moving our waste stream, and keeping us and the environment healthy. Unfortunately, we have proved to be inefficient water users. The average hamburger takes 630 gallons (2400 liters) of water to produce, and many water-intensive crops (cotton for example), are grown in arid regions.
According to the United Nations, in the last century water use has grown at more than twice the rate of population increase. By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people will live in areas plagued by water scarcity, with 2/3 (yes, two-thirds) of the world's population living in water-stressed regions as a result of use, growth, and climate change.
The challenge we face is how to conserve, manage, and distribute the water we have.
Image www.water.org
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