The New Crisis

The old saying of water water everywhere and not a drop to drink is becoming more of a reality everyday. Water is rapidly becoming the crisis of the 21st century. Here in the United States we consume about 600 liters of water per day where 50 is really only needed to sustain life. People in Africa would be lucky to consume 50 liters in Africa. It is true that water is a renewable resource and we can reverse pretty much all damage that we may cause to water. Aquifers all over the world are quickly running low and they are not able to recharge themselves. Much of the water that we are using from the aquifer is from the last ice age. For example in the plains of America we are pulling water from the Ogalla aquifer to water our crops. Because we are using so much water land subsidence is becoming prevalent. Adding more fuel to the fire is the fact that we are having droughts all over the world. We can see what can happen to farm land when there is a drought and no water for plant, the Dust Bowl of the thirties is a perfect example. This was before we were able to pull large quantise of water out of the ground then in addition to this was the drought that hit. Now that oil has been exploited companies are looking for new ways to make a profit. The new business is investing in water. Companies all over the world are buying the rights to water. They are "helping" nations with there issues of delivering water to its citizens. They over charge, have poor service and do not have the good of the environment in mind. This is a incredibly profitable business one company cleared $60 billion in one year. Fortunately we can help with the water crisis by fixing leaks, using better technology and making some sacrifices. 14 percent of water that flows through a municipal system is because of leaks, so we are paying for water that we are not even using. So if we can take care of these things and be more conscious about the water we use it can avoid a major problem.