1 Elianet Montejo Morell Sustainability 11/19/2013

The destruction of our resources

Water is a unique natural resource with intriguing qualities; it is weak but at the same time very strong, it can be still or turbulent, it invokes spiritual reflections and rituals, but on a scientific level is the main source of oxygen and carbohydrates, both essential for maintaining life on earth (Stikker,1998). Water has no substitute. The worlds surface consists of about 70% water making it the most vital component of the earth system. Water is a unique resource for domestic use and hygiene. But does everyone have access to clean water? As the human population grows unstoppably, more water is needed. Irrigation to grow enough food to feed our population takes nearly 70% of the worlds fresh water resources. Countries should take the responsibility to maintain conservation and sustainable use of water, but also provide access to clean water for the entire community. But are nations and people wiling to spend millions of dollars saving water? Not at all, in fact, about 80 countries and regions, representing 40% of the worlds population are already experiencing water scarcity. Our priorities seem to have changed over time. Today more people own a cellular phone than a toilet according to water.org (19902013 Water.org). Our only renewable source of fresh water is rainfall. As the human population increases continuously fast, the availability of fresh water per head per year is decreasing rapidly according to Stickker (1998). Nations suffering from

2 water scarcity are using water reserves that are not sufficiently being replenished. "The scarcity of fresh water resources and the need for additional water supplies is already critical in many arid regions of the world and will be increasingly important in the future. Many arid areas simply do not have fresh water resources in the form of surface water such as rivers and lakes. They may have only limited underground water resources, some that are becoming more brackish as extraction of water from the aquifers continues. Solar desalination evaporation is used by nature to produce rain which is the main source of fresh water on earth. All available man-made distillation systems are a duplication on a small scale of this natural process (Desalination: Drink a cup of seawater? - US Geological Survey. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/drinkseawater.html). Water scarcity doesnt just affect us humans; it affects our whole environment and every single element that surrounds us. When water is scarce, people dont tend to think in what are the consequences of using all the resources. For example, when rivers do not reach the seas any more the ecosystem in that area changes. First, the river deltas become arid, silted and inhospitable to human, animal and vegetable life, disturbing social and ecosystem conditions. As a result, the ecosystems in and along the rivers will be disrupted. Dams will disturb breeding areas and there will be less nutrients from the river to serve irrigated agricultural land and fisheries in the sea (Stikker,1998). All of this only leads us to less food and more hunger, creating more degradation for living conditions and poverty. Throughout my childhood, I often saw the cruel face of day-to day survival. When rain was the only water resource for most of the people in my city, or when my

3 father would come home after a long, hard working day making pits in the ground to extract water for a living. Developing countries are the most affected ones when water scarcity and hunger strikes. Their life conditions are not longer sustainable but survival day to day. A recent example, typhoon Haiyan, a tropical cyclone in the Northwest Pacific Ocean island of Philippines with an estimated speed of 195mph. The storm caused more than 3,000 deaths and left more than 2 million without food and water according to CNN (http://www.cnn.com). Now the survivors of this monstrous storm must survive hunger and thirst. With water scarcity comes water contamination. There are bodies decomposing in the streets, debris left by the storm and not much clean water left. These are the life situations where water reserves are important. If the country would of have a water reserve for emergencies, fewer people would be suffering now. According to Gary White, co-founder of Water.org, millions of women are prohibited from accomplishing little more than survival. Not because of a lack of ambition, or ability, but because of a lack of safe water and adequate sanitation. Millions of women and children in the developing world spend untold hours daily, collecting water from distant, often polluted sources, then return to their villages carrying their filled 40 pound jerry cans on their backs(water.org, 2004). Lack of education is one of the reasons why many countries are still in a slow progress into a sustainable world, a place where everyone have the same access to resources like clean and safe water. With access to clean water and better hygiene, less disease would be spread around. The human capacity would evolve and see bright results.

4 As the population keeps growing, water will become more scarce leading to a depletion of reserves. Stikker comments that competition for water between nations and regions will increase and it could lead to higher problems. But it will also between sector such as agriculture, industry and municipalities, especially large cities(Stikker, 1998). If we have wars for oil killing many innocents and placing our security in risk, war for water could be World War 3. Water is very important for our existence and survival, but would future generations create something to over pass our use of water? The future awaits for new changes, imagine if we didnt had to depend on water anymore, our ecosystem would forever change.

Living in a sustainable ecosystem cannot fit one definition. If we look around what we think is our ecosystem might not be the same as someone from another culture. Throughout the years, we have changed our surroundings and shaped them to provide our necessities. Water has changed from abundant to scarce in many areas. From Flores essay A sense of the American West, the spirit of place really fits with my description of a sustainable environment. The human interaction with the environment is what shapes the result of our actions. Places where pollution, bad use of the land and abuse of our resources show the damage. If the actions are not favorable towards the environment we depend on, the outcome will not be good for us.

Dirty water is the world's biggest health risk and continues to threaten both quality of life and public health in the world and even in the United States explains the Natural Resources Defense Council (Environmental Issues - What temperament

5 predominates? (n.d.). Retrieved from (differentenvironmentalissues.weebly.com). Many of our water resources also lack protections, making them vulnerable to pollution from factory farms, industrial plants, and activities like hydraulic fracturing (NRDC, 2010). The way we use our resources, how well we use it and take care of it, its how much it will last and make our survival last. Many more natural disasters are to come, if our nations dont take act on the reserves we have, it will be catastrophic when we have nothing to keep us alive. Water scarcity affects all us not just developing countries. When our water gets polluted not only we would suffer the damages but also our generations. Taking care of what surrounds us and making sure that not just us but more generations to come also get to see and use our great resources. Our place, our environment is the human interactions with local environment(Flores, 1998). The actions we perform today are the results of tomorrow and the future.

Reference:
-Water.org. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://water.org/water-crisis/waterfacts/women/ - Water and Sanitation Program (WSP). (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wsp.org/sites/wsp.org/files/publications/global_plareport.pdf - (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nrdc.org/water/ - Mullen, J., Brumfield, B., & Carter, C. J. (2013, November 16). Typhoon Haiyan: More cadaver bags sent to Philippines as toll climbs to 3,633 dead. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/15/world/asia/typhoon-haiyan/index.html - Stikker, A. (1998, January). Water Tod . Water Today And Tomorrow, 30(S001632879800005-6), 43-62. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/science/article/pii/S0016328798 000056 -Flores, D. (1998). A sense of the American west. Spirit of place and the value of nature in the American west (pp.31-40) J.S. Sherow (Eds.). University of New Mexico Press.