It’s been awhile!
Busy as a bee, I have been looking for nonprofit grassroot projects I could work with while I’m in Peru next month. I came across a handful of water conservation, management and filtration projects, reports and statistics that awakened the curious cat within asking questions such as: What is the state of the world’s freshwater today? What will happen in the future? How can we prepare today?
Fortunately, and not so for my eyes, I came across the United Nations World Water Development Report, a flagship UN-Water report published by UNESCO. It touches upon the need to sustainably manage the world’s finite resources.
According to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), here are the facts about the world’s precious resource, water:
- The total volume of water on Earth is about 1.4 billion km3
- The volume of freshwater resources is around 35 million km3 (2.5% of total volume)
- The total usable freshwater supply for ecosystems and humans is about 200,000 km3 of water - less than 1 percent of all freshwater resources
The conclusion, even if you skip the 867 page report, is: we are not using our water wisely. Water scarcity is everywhere, even in large, wealthy nations such as the USA. Increased stress on water means this scarcity will increase, unless we do something about it. Take a look at countries that are already dealing with these problems and the technologies and policies they have put in place.
Do you know how much water you use? Calculate your water footprint at www.waterfootprint.org and try to optimize your clean water use by, for example, using rainwater to water the garden.
TAKE ACTION! Here is 100 Ways to Conserve Water.
(Image Source: Abstract Macro Photography by Andrew @CubaGallery. Statistics & Content Sources: www.water.org, www.unwater.org, www.unesco.org, www.wateruseitwisely.com)
