The Urgent Need for Water Conservation: A Vital Need for Our Planet
Water is the natural resource that sustains the earth. Despite of its importance, water scarcity is increasing due to the factors like increase in population, over usage of water and climate change. Water conservation is a solution for to mitigate water scarcity. Let us explore more about the need of water conservation, exploring the current state of natural water resources, the consequences of water scarcity and the necessary steps we can adopt to preserve water for the future generations.
Current state of water resources
Water scarcity is increasing day by day, even in the countries with sufficient water resources, water scarcity is common. This may be due to the various factors like climate change, increasing population, contamination or poor management of water resources. Water scarcity limits the access to the fresh water for drinking and for practicing basic hygiene at home, in schools and in health-care facilities. When water is limited, sewage systems can fail and can become a cause of contracting diseases like cholera surges.
Groundwater is one of the largest freshwater resources on earth. In many parts on the earth especially where the surface water supplies are less, these water needs can be met by using groundwater. Groundwater depletion is increasing due to the excessive groundwater extraction. As the water table decreases it may result in the depletion f the lakes rivers and streams.
Consequences of water scarcity
Water scarcity can reduce the access for the clean freshwater. Without the access for the clean freshwater, the populations can be exposed to the deadly water borne diseases. It can also limit the educational and economic opportunities. The depleting water resources will lead to the difficulty in the food production to keep up with the rising demand. Agriculture needs 70% of the global freshwater in order to meet the current food demand. World energy requirements are increasing as the modernization and population growth as the energy production is one of the major consumers of freshwater resources. Water scarcity can also affect the production of the energy. As the water is not accessible for industry, farming and individual use which leads to the decrease in the economy.
Factors contributing to water scarcity
Due to the over use of water is increasing day by day and people using water more than needed. Now a day’s water pollution is also one of the major factors behind water scarcity. There are some places where they do not receive enough rainfall and this leads to the increase in the water scarcity. Global warming is one of the major reasons behind water scarcity, in this condition as the average air temperature becomes warmer, water from the natural resources will evaporate faster will ultimately end up in drying up of the water bodies.
Importance of water conservation
Water conservation might seem like a simple problem especially in those areas where the water is abundant. But just because it is abundant, we should not use it irresponsibly. Some people don’t realize that fresh water is a valuable and limited resource and its conservation makes a huge difference. When you conserve water, we can ensure that there will be enough water for the future. By conserving water we can reduce the depleting groundwater levels, drying up of lakes and rivers, especially in the times of drought. We can increase the agriculture production and increases the economy.