Only 1 percent of the water on this planet is available for human consumption, according to the Arizona Cooperative Extension. The rest is salty ocean water or bound up in the ice of glaciers or the polar caps. As the population of the world grows, even more people will be competing for that limited supply of water. Wasting water is senseless in a time of tight supply, and saving water does help.
Resources
Global water use has risen nearly tenfold since 1900, according to Australia's Savewater!. Each American uses an average of 100 gallons of water per day while 2.4 billion people across the world don't have access to the water they need for basic sanitation. A third of the world's population is already experiencing inadequate drinking water quality and supply. Water resources are already strained.
Shortages
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the next 15 years, 1.8 billion people will be living in areas with extreme water scarcity. Two-thirds of the population will be living under conditions where water scarcity places stress on their daily life. That's only in the next 15 years. In the next 30 years, the population of this planet is expected to rise 45 percent, advises Savewater!. Within less than a human lifetime, nearly everyone on the face of the planet will be feeling the effects of water scarcity.
Local Impact
Water shortages affect more than just the drinking, washing and watering of plants that we do on a daily basis. According the the U.N. World Water Development Report, water is crucial in protecting and promoting health. It is essential to maintain food production and rural livelihoods. It is necessary for industry and manufacturing, for production of electricity and for the maintenance of the infrastructure of cities. When a society experiences water shortages, everyone suffers, but the poor suffer most of all. Not just prudence but also compassion dictates careful water use.
Global Impact
If you live in a dry area, it's obvious why you should conserve water. But what if you live in a wet area? You, too, should use water responsibly. Tony Allan, a professor of geography at King’s College London, has coined the term "virtual water." Virtual water is the water it takes to produce a product. For example, agricultural products, which require large amounts of water to produce, contain large amounts of virtual water. If you live in an area with lots of water, your area can grow water-intensive agricultural products. You can then trade those products for products containing less "virtual water," minerals your area doesn't have, for example. In other words, areas with water can produce water-intensive goods for the many areas in drought, but only if the water-rich areas use the water resources they have efficiently. Wasting water means we may have plenty for ourselves but not enough to produce exports. By wasting water, we waste a resource that is increasingly valuable in trade, and we leave other parts of the world without water-intensive products entirely.
Small Changes
You can save enough water to make a difference. An efficient shower head can save as much as 25 gallons per shower, notes the Tuscon Water Board. An efficient toilet can save two gallons per flush. You can save 10 gallons by properly adjusting the level of water to the size of your laundry load and another 18 gallons by only filling the bathtub halfway. A little thought and planning can save hundreds of gallons of water each month.
References
- Savewater!: The Global Water Situation
- Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvannia: Not a Drop to Drink: Why Water Supplies in the MENA Region Are Getting Scarcer
- U.N. Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization: The 2nd UN World Water Development Report: 'Water, a Shared Responsibility'
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Coping with Water Scarcity
- Tucson Water: Homeowners' Guide to Using Water Wisely
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