‘Nature for Water’ World Water Day Is March 22

The only thing we cannot live without is water. The world evolves around water, a precious resource that we Americans take for granted. The average person cannot live without water for 3-4 days. Water is what feeds us, water keeps us clean and healthy. Here is a little truth, one can live without oil, without TV’s, without internet, without phones, without designer clothes. The most important thing to life is water. I contend now as I did 10 years ago, that water is our #1 Environmental Issue and a crisis that includes the ocean.

March 22, 2018 is World Water Day with the theme of ‘Nature For Water’ . This day is about giving attention to global access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene. World Water Day focus is also on sustainable management of freshwater and water in developing countries.

I Just Got To Eco You (water.org)

• 844 Million People Globally do not have access to Clean Water
• 33% of People do not have access to a toilet.
• 266 Million women and Children spend 6 hours a day finding water.
• 1 Child dies every 90 seconds due to water related disease.
• 31% of Schools do not have Clean Water (UNICEF, Advancing WASH in Schools Monitoring, 2015)
• 3rd leading cause of death in Children is diarrhea.
• 2 billion people use a drinking water source contaminated with faeces.
• 50% of the world’s population will be living in water stressed areas by 2025
• 38% of health care facilities lack an improved water source, 19% do not have improved sanitation, and 35% lack water and soap for handwashing. (WHO)
• $32 Billion is lost economically due to lack of water .

The Water Crisis is not just about walking five miles to pick up water, it involves: Drought, the lack of water, water pollution, inadequate water supplies, sanitation, lack of infrastructure for water, climate change, rising seas have contaminated water in many areas. Most of this is in the underdeveloped world. Capetown, South Africa is on huge water restrictions and about to run out of water.

The United States has been hit with many water crisis, it is not limited to underdeveloped countries. The California Drought, Flint Michigan water crisis, Montana’s water demand is increasing, Colorado’s fracking issues, Toxic run-offs and salty water in  Minnesota have led to a clean water problems. South Carolina, Utah, Nevada, Washington and Oregon have all had drought issues. Add in Texas which has had water restrictions in some areas (Galveston) North Georgia has outdoor watering restrictions after lifting some water restrictions in 2017. Arizona is one of the driest states and the bottom of the water chain.

December 19, 2016, Reuters released a startling report about America’s drinking water. Reuters’ investigation concluded that there were nearly 3,000 other locales in the United States where the lead contamination in drinking water was at least double the rates found in Flint’s drinking water. These were not areas where the contamination was the same, or even slightly elevated. No, these 3,000 areas have contamination levels that came in at least twice as high as Flint. (USA Today)

That is just the start. Clean water is a global issue and each of us can do our part to conserve water and take into consideration the impact of water in our lives.

Resources 

• UNICEF
• End Water Poverty,
• UN World Water Development Report (WWDR)
• Wikipedia: World Water Day 
• Right to water
• World Toilet Day
• Water.org
• WaterAid 
• The Water Project 
• World Health Organization 
• The Guardian: Global Infographics on Worlds Water Issues 
• Minnesota Wants to Recycle More Water: Running Out of Water