Fresh Water Availability

Fresh Water Availability

Introduction

Water is the key requirement for every individual and society. Water is a basic need that is essential for life. But it does not mean that all of the water resources available in the world are fresh or usable. For human beings, the availability of fresh water is very necessary. Fresh water is the one that is clean and free from impurities. It is a renewable resource and the latest results show that the supply of groundwater has decreased to a certain level. That is a threatening sign to our ecosystem.

Before beginning with the topic, it is very essential to understand the distribution of the world water. The distribution of the locations of water on earth states that the saline water (oceans) composes of 97% of the total water available in the world. The remaining 3% is the fresh water that is available to the humans. The fresh water is available in the form of lakes, icecaps and glaciers. The analysis of the data interprets that the availability of the fresh water resources are very scarce (Gleick, 1993).

The availability of the fresh water is of key concern, the reason being that it is used for the industrial, domestic and agricultural use. Major part of the fresh water is available in the form of glaciers which is again very difficult to use. Other than this there are many other concerns regarding the availability of the fresh water. The problems related to the fresh water like augmentation, sewage, storm water, water waste and many other problems causing health problems etc. Because of the limited availability of the fresh water resources, it is very important to protect the resources so that the fresh water need can be satisfied.

Causes and Impacts Influencing Fresh Water Availability

Fresh water use is not limited for the development purpose but it is also important for the societies to survive. Some of the recent researches state that the availability of the fresh water can decrease to a dangerous level because of the pollution. Pollution is not the only thing that is shortening the fresh water resources, other factors like population growth and their demand for fresh water has increased rapidly.

In order to fulfill the demand for fresh water, governments are taking some important steps like the supply of water for the urban dwellers, usage of the technology for converting the polluted water into augmenting of the fresh water resources. Let's look at the different perspectives where the usage of fresh water is of immense importance.

Environment (Natural Science Perspective)

The availability of the fresh water is very crucial and has become a key concern of how to extract water from the environmental resources. The water usage needs can be satisfied from the artificial wetlands and lakes. The storage of water can be very beneficial for maintaining the wildlife and it can also be helpful as far as fish spawn is considered. The usage of environmental resources can lower down the need of fresh water in other ...