Water Shortages and Human Populations

By Gord Easton

Water shortages are becoming a more and more frequently discussed issue in the news. Drought conditions, water pollution and the waste of water is helping create this crisis. There are many rivers, lakes and streams that have dried up or are so polluted that there is no life left in them.

There is some good news on the pollution front as there is some efforts being made by some local governments to clean up the water in their areas. But until the droughts stop and the pollution is brought under control we will have some major problems in the world.

4 billion people are expected to suffer because of the droughts and pollution. It is expected in some regions riots could result because of the water shortages. In some areas there will be huge conflicts between the industrial use of water and water for personal use. Who will win these battles in the end? I do not have a crystal ball to predict but if I was to guess it will be the poor who are the most defenceless.

What can be done about it? It is simpler than you may initially think. The first place to start is the simple reduction of your water use. Where I live we have an abundance of fresh water so this can be easily overlooked. Any reduction of water usage helps save the planet. If we reduce our water consumption we reduce the cost associated with the processing and treatment of the water, chemicals needed to treat the water and also a reduction of the waste water produced.

Now lets look at some basic water savings, if each of us in North America reduced our water consumption by only 1 gallon per year, that would be a saving of over 500,000,000 gallons of water, enough water to fill over 800 olympic size swimming pools. That is a lot of water.

Do what you can to reduce your water consumption if by only a bit. As a small amount will go a long way to reducing the environmental impact of water shortages.

Gord is an environmental blogger and his blog is anuplanet.com.
Gord is an environmental blogger at http://anuplanet.com.

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