Water sustainability

Why is it necessary to use water (more) sustainably?

Sustainable living is a lifestyle in which decisions and everyday actions meet immediate ecological, social and economic needs without compromising the needs of future generations. In this case we are talking about using water sustainably, as oppose to using water to fulfill present needs without foreseeing the possible negative impacts it could have in the future.

It is necessary to use water more sustainably because water is a limited resource and will soon run out if it isn't used in this manner, because water is indispensable for our survival and because it is irreplaceable, unlike oil.

Water is at the core of everything in our lives: it is used to grow crops, for livestock, to create energy, to make simple articles of clothing... it is used to manufacture (or grow) all products in our homes, from shampoo bottles to kitchen doors. However, 97.2% of the planet's water is sea water which humans cannot consume, 2.1% of the planet's water is inaccessible glacier water, and less than 1% of consumable water is available to humans. And this small percentage of available water is growing more and more meager as it becomes polluted and used over-excessively.

To put things into perspective, let's examine how much water is used for different products: a piece of paper uses 2.6 gallons of water; a pound of potatoes uses approximately 60 gallons of water; a pound of rice uses approximately 229 gallons of water; a simple cotton t-shirt uses approximately 400 gallons of water; a pair of denim jeans uses 1800 gallons of water; and a pound of beef uses approximately 12 009 gallons of water. It is estimated that on average each individual uses between 80 and 100 gallons of water per day.

As it has been said, water is used in large amounts, and is starting to run out. The meager 1% of accessible safe water is already insufficient for the population of 7 billion today: nearly 1 billion people do not have sufficient access to safe drinking water. Rivers, lakes and other water sources are depleting rapidly over the years: the Colorado River lost 65 cubic kilometers from 2004 to 2013, and now does not reach the ocean; xxx xxx xxx. Women in sub-Saharan Africa spend an average of 200 million hours per day just to collect water for the most basic needs, and nearly 2 million people die from a lack of safe drinking water every year. That means that every eight seconds, a child dies from lack of water safety.

So where will we be in twenty, thirty years? What will happen if we continue this way and use all of our water carelessly?

There is already a colossal number of people who don't have access to reliable, safe drinking water. It is estimated that in 2025, 40% of our planet's population will not have sufficient access to drinking water, and by 2050 this will have risen to half the population. Scientists have been studying the rising water crisis in order to predict the possible consequences that may affect the human race if it worsens. They believe that as it grows more and more precarious, it will lead to a massive famine, since crops could not be grown and livestock could not be kept in life. It is also likely for pandemics to occur, since water borne

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