Too much on paper, too less for life

 

“Water, water, everywhere,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink.”

 

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge, we are also heading for a similar situation. At a glance the whole planet seems to be covered in water but less than 1% of fresh water both on ground (0.76%) and surface (0.0072%) of total water present on earth is available for human purposes.^[1] The map below shows the water stressed countries meaning at least a month in a year there is acute deficiency of water for everyday uses.^[2]

It's no brainer that the most abundant resource on earth is water yet we tend to forget its importance as granted. It is not, briefing the importance of water in a sentence ‘the fundamental need of life as we know’. With essentials at such a level, we seem to overlook its preservation. Going with the scientific definition, water pollution is defined as the contamination of water bodies due to human activities which impacts negatively on its natural properties and its genuine uses.^[3] The whole of humanity thrives in a mere percentage of this valuable resource. Yet our actions are deteriorating what is with us now. Add this with the rate of pollutants we discharge on all kinds of water sources. The most significant water issues in the globe are widespread water quality degradation, which poses a threat to human health and ecological integrity while also being a major concern for the long-term sustainability of water supplies.^[4] Untreated waste water filled with hundreds of chemicals from factories accounts for 80% of the direct source polluting water bodies like rivers, lakes, and ponds. Agriculture which is both responsible for higher single use of water and one of the fatal causes of water pollution threatening aquatic species and humans. The discharge of nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) and agrochemicals from intensive agriculture and animal manure can speed up eutrophication of freshwater and coastal marine habitats while also increasing groundwater contamination.^[5] According to the fact sheet from WHO worldwide 2 billion people are compelled to use contaminated water resulting in infectious waterborne diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid, and polio. The same article mentions that 829,000 deaths were reported from diarrhoea out of which 297,000 were children under 5 years which could be avoided. Another data suggests that 1.2 million people died from drinking unsafe water in 2017 which equals the same number of people who died in road accidents in the same year.^[6] One can be easily overwhelmed seeing the current status of a basic thing as complex as this. But one is the start of greater good. Acting responsibly, thinking concisely, being informed truthfully and raising awareness to others, making them work effectively, pressurizing governments can lead us to uproot the problems like water pollution.

 

 

“Be a part of the solution, not the pollution.”

 

Here, I’m not urging everyone to ‘conserve’ but ‘preserve’ meaning; we are becoming bigger threat to almost all the natural wonder we interact with. Water being a part of nature and natural resources which we completely depend upon it, let us pledge to protect it.

 

“Save NATURE to be saved.”

 

References

[1] distribution of water

[2] water stress map

[3] definition of water pollution

[4] water scarcity and quality

[5] wastewater; the untapped resource

[6] deaths from unsafe water