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Every Drop Counts

Published 06th November 2009 - 7 comments - 1506 views -

I had something else in mind for the today's post but, in preparing an article soon to be published, I've spent the last several days reading about water issues. On what's regarding water resources, Earth's situation is on the edge . I can't believe CO2 emissions have been almost exclusively under a huge magnifying glass lately when water scarcity is just as important as climate change.

In short:

  • 97% of the world’s water is salty, while only 3% is fresh.
  • 68.9% of the fresh water is contained in snow and glaciers and 30.8% is groundwater.
  • Only 0.3% is found in readily available sources such as rivers and freshwater lakes.
  • 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies.
  • 3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease.
  • By 2025, nearly 230 million Africans will face water scarcity, and 460 million will be living in water-stressed countries.
  • The number of people living in water-stressed countries is projected to climb from the current 470 million to three billion by 2025. 
  • To achieve the 2015 targets for freshwater provision, water supplies will have to reach an additional 1.5 billion people in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

And you can read many other facts by reading any of the linked water resources in this post.

Basically, if we don't start to manage it properly, all the money & the power in the world won't be enough to buy a glass of fresh water in the future. So we have to do something. If you haven't already, check out Federico's call to action which is a nice first step, because water should be COP15 priority number one. 

What else?

I've thought about it all yesterday and also part of today. As most people in my country don't like to be filmed and politicians are not worth it, I had to find something else. And I did. After several hours of work, the following poster campaign started to come out really nice. I hope this series will make you think twice before taking water for granted (because we all take it as such).

 

Th!nk About It!
Every Drop Counts.

97% of the world’s water is salty, while only 2.5% is fresh.

Category: Fresh Water, | Tags: climate change, cop15, water resources,



Comments

Alda on 06th November 2009:

Great posters Adela! Did you make them?

They say the next big war will be waged over fresh water. Which makes my country, Iceland, very vulnerable. We’re fortunate here in that we have plenty of fresh water - for now.

Adela on 06th November 2009:

Thank you. Yes, I’ve done them. (several hours work bc I’m not very good with Photoshop but am proud of the result smile )

And yes, I agree - I’ve been through a lot of water related materials lately - all speaking about the same - war on fresh water.

Abhishek Nayak on 07th November 2009:

In India a major issue of contention among states is over water. The rivers are our equivalent of oil pipelines, which everybody wants to control.

India’s tale of rivers is absolutely heartbreaking. The main glacier fed rivers have been raped by industrial waste, so much that one of the largest rivers called Yamuna that flows by Delhi has been declared dead. Nothing survives in its water.

Future domestic wars will no doubt be caused due to water in India. And that is the Malthus factor that will limit growth of population.

BTW great posters!

Yordanka on 07th November 2009:

I appreciate your work for the water problems.

I guess that this should be a main problem for a lot of countries next years.

Adela on 07th November 2009:

@Abhiskek - It’s sad. Michael Pritchard’s talk about the LifeSaver bottle. is helpful. His live demonstration shows that any kind of water can be filtered into drinkable water. I think this is a nice start in terms of management. But making people conscious about what they face is as much important.

@Yordanka - Yes, I’m sure it will. That’s why the sooner people realize the importance of the water issue, the better.

Lucy Setian on 09th November 2009:

Nice info. Thank you, Adela.

Federico Pistono on 11th November 2009:

Thank you Adela for bringing back this issue and for providing additional information.

I love your poster! <3

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