Human life, like all animal and plant life, is dependent upon water. Human societies and individuals cannot survive for more than a few days without fresh water. But despite the fact that 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, less than 3% of it is fresh water and 2/3 of that is frozen away in glaciers, ice, and snow.
Even so, for most of us, a supply of fresh water is something we generally take for granted. However, for nearly 800 million people in the world, the nearest source of fresh water is far away, unclean or unaffordable. These people are in water poverty.
For them, water poverty dominates life. Women and children spend their days carrying heavy loads of water over great distances. Poor sanitation leads to fatal and debilitating water-borne diseases, and over 2.5 billion people have substandard sanitation facilities.
Water poverty is primarily driven by economics. It is lack of access rather than a fundamental lack of resources that drives it. For example, in many parts of the world, water pumps and other essential equipment cannot be maintained and often stop working.
The effects of climate change will only make matters worse. Damage from storms and shrinking snow packs reduce reliable water supplies and increase costs. In Great Britain, a new definition of water poverty now applies to 4 million households whose water bills exceed 3% of their income.
The growing water crisis around the world is only beginning to attract the attention it deserves. Adequate water resources are a problem that must be attacked with all the financial and human resources we have.
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End Water Poverty
Photo, taken on October 22, 2007, courtesy of Greg Riegler Photography via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, with partial support from the Field Day Foundation.