Water Global Human Needs



Literature Review

Background

The world is already facing the problem of global warming due to the emission of green house gases which are continuously affecting our environment. Similarly, due to the global warming the average temperature of the globe has changed. Similarly, there has been increase in rains and droughts. The world is at great stake due to the environmental issues. Water is the important natural resource of our globe. Both animals and humans need fresh and clean water for their sustenance and perseverance. Fresh water is consumed by human beings and animals on a very larger scale. The fresh water resources are not only decreasing but they are also affected by many environmental impacts like Pollution. Pollution is contaminating the fresh water reservoirs due to which many water born diseases are erupting. According to an estimate almost more than one million people die every year due to the water borne disease (Jorge, 2004).

Fresh Water and Global human needs

Approximately 70% of the Earth surface is covered by water. However, the proportion of fresh water out of this total water is approximately three per cent as suggested by the documentary. Unfortunately this fresh water is harmed by the activities of the human beings (Gleick, 1996). We are continuously wasting, polluting the available fresh water and not realizing its importance. Similarly, most of the developing countries are also not managing this important source of water properly (Gleick, 1996). There are no dams and reservoirs for the storage of water and instead the water is sent into the sea due to which it is wasted in large quantity every year. The availability of fresh water also varies from one country to another. There are many countries where there is no sources of fresh water at all and they make use of the sea water by purifying it. On the other hand, there are many countries which have ample resources of the fresh water but they are wasting it. The availability of fresh water should be given importance, as one of every six person is access to clean and pure water. Water pollution is an uprising issue prevailing in this 21st century.

Scarcity of Water

Most of the water resources particularly the fresh water resources are depleting du to the increasing consumption of the water by the human beings and scarcity of the rains in most of the regions (Seckler, Barker & Amarasinghe, 1999).The major source of fresh water is rain, but due to the environmental impacts there are many regions where rain has not occurred in the past several years. These regions mostly come in Africa. However, the scarcity of the water is not only limited to Africa but many developing countries are also facing the water shortage. For instance, currently the most populated country China is facing the unavailability and access to fresh water where approximately more 25% have no access to safe and clean water. The countries which are facing the issue of the water can overcome it if they follow the ...