Facts About Water Scarcity

I have been doing some research on why water is getting scarce even though water covers 70% of the Earth's surface. The human body is composed of 65% water, a potato is around 80% water, a tomato is about 95% water. Needless to say, living things cannot survive without water - it's a NECESSITY. We all know water is a basic need for all living things but knowing that is not sufficient. We need to educate ourselves about the health effects of water scarcity, its impact on our daily lives and how it can hinder global development. I stumbled upon a very informative article published by the WHO (World Health Organisation) that states ten facts about water scarcity. Reading this article fortified my belief that water conservation is not an issue to be taken lightly.

Fact File

1) Places with a lot of rainfall may also be susceptible to water scarcity. Usage, distribution, conservation and quality of water determine whether or not demands of households, industries and the environment will be met.

2) One in three people in every continent is affected by water scarcity.

3) Almost a fifth of the world's population live in areas where water is physically scarce and almost a quarter of the population live in developing countries where water is scarce because of lack of infrastructure to retrieve water from rivers and aquifers.

4) Water scarcity forces people to depend on unreliable sources of drinking water. It also means they cannot bathe, clean their clothes properly.

5) Poor water quality can cause various types of diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery, trachoma, plague and typhus among many others.

6) Water scarcity sometimes leads people to store water in their homes. This can provide a breeding environment for mosquitoes which are carriers of dengue fever, malaria and other diseases.

7) Water scarcity highlights the need for good water management which can reduce breeding grounds for insects such as mosquitoes and other water-borne diseases.

8) Water shortage has led farmers in poor urban and rural areas to use wastewater for their production which is unhygienic since wastewater can contain disease-causing organisms and chemicals.

9) Millennium Development Goal no.7, target 10 hopes to halve the no. of people without access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015. Water scarcity can prove to be a hindrance in reaching this goal.

10) Governments and many organisations are making it a priority to supply sufficient quality water to people. Individuals can contribute by learning how to conserve water and other resources in their daily lives.