Got H2O?

Fresh water, an essential ingredient for the survival of life, and its fair and equitable availability for all, has become one of the most pressing global issues our nation currently faces. As the human population continues to grow and water consumption among humans continues to increase exponentially, the demand for this vital natural resource is extremely high. At the same time, water sources are being depleted, polluted, and exploited by various corporations just as fast, adding to the severity of water scarcity in the world.

The amount of safe drinking water has become more limited for several reasons. Climate change, which is causing rainfall patterns in usually dry areas to change, decreases the already insufficient amount of rainfall needed for sustainability. As technology and industry continue to grow, additional demands are placed on the available water supply to meet the needs of manufacturing and agriculture. The growing need for biofuels is also exhausting water supplies by increasing the use of crops once intended for food, such as corn, to be grown specifically for the manufacture of ethanol. Additional water is then needed to grow crops for food. To further complicate matters, our riverbeds and streams are being polluted by contaminated wastewater and sewage.


Powerful water, food, and energy companies are supporters of buying water rights, taking over the assets of publicly owned water systems, endorsing bottled water, and selling water in areas deprived of access to safe drinking water. In theory, this was to provide a fair distribution of water; however, due to different interests on the part of the private water industries, the privatization of water has not yet proven itself to be a viable solution. In many instances it has taken water out of the reach of the poor, negatively affected the environment, and turned water into a business for profit.


In underdeveloped countries, the absence of readily available drinking water is a serious health risk and an economic hardship. Those who cannot get access to clean water risk illness or death by drinking contaminated water which is known to cause diarrhea, typhoid fever, cholera, and dysentery. Nearly two million children die each year from illnesses caused by dirty drinking water (http://www.pacinst.org/reports/water_related_deaths). With such a limited amount of safe drinking water available, and an increasingly growing population, the problem of water scarcity becomes even more urgent.