Water & climate change: 

Every year we burn mass quantities of coal, oil, petrol and gas in power plants, industrial installations, motors and engines. As a result emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have increased significantly in the last 100 years, Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reflects the thermal radiation from the earth?s surface resulting in a rise in the global average temperature of the earth.

The Earth?s climate will continue to warm up even if we succeed in halting emissions of greenhouse gases at once, because we will only begin to see the consequences of the emissions of previous years in the coming decades. That is why more and more countries are worrying about how to prepare for the impacts for example, how to adapt their farming methods, improve flood protection and reduce water consumption.

Global warming can also have a huge impact on water as heavy rains and floods may wash pesticides, fertilizers and pathogens into groundwater and their quality could deteriorate. If rivers and lakes warm up, their oxygen content falls. This creates an issue for animals and plants living in them.

Some countries are suffering water shortages while others are faced with flooding and heavy rains, some have to deal with both of these.

As an ordinary citizen of the world we should do anything to alleviate the problems with water. For many people it may be amusing when they read the hotel notice about re-using towels several times. But with every wash load and every dishwasher water is not only used but also polluted. We should also think about not only the cost involved in the water treatment plants but also the change in the morphology of our water resources like lakes, rivers and sea. Water treatment affects the natural course of the water bodies that leads to the depletion of habitats for plants and animals and that intensifies the flooding.

As global citizens, we should prevent the contamination of the domestic water pipes and we should clean the water filter every two months.