Water Scarcity: Factors Affecting the World's Clean Water - Essay Sample

Introduction

Water is a natural resource that is required for different purposes to ensure the world runs. Water is used by different organisms for different reasons. Water sustainability is a concern of the world where people are concerned about the diminishing clean water in the world. There is increased water pollution in the world, leaving little clean water that can be consumed and domestic used. There are various factors that affected the water in the world, leading to water scarcity. The factors include climate change that has affected weather patterns changing the reliance of rainwater used for various purposes. The paper discusses the various strategies being used to ensure there is the sustainability of the water from the source and how pollution affects the water.

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The sustainability of water is in question due to the decline in the storage of groundwater. The decline is a result of increased human consumption as well as irrigation. Policies should be established to facilitate the sustainability of groundwater (Kukreja, 2019). Through policies, groundwater will be used to meet the current and future demands without having socioeconomic or environmental consequences. This is a water resource that can be adequately utilized, but it is sometimes forgotten.

The utilization of groundwater can reduce the use of surface water sources, which are highly utilized and unavailable, thus affecting sustainability. The groundwater is a viable source of water, especially during drought, and can be used in activities such as irrigation. 50 percent of the population in the United States use groundwater as a source of drinking water (Kukreja, 2019). However, it is unfortunate that these sources are vulnerable to pollutants.

Groundwater contamination is mostly by man-made activities such as mining. Products such as road salts, gasoline, and oil get to the groundwater, thus making it contaminated an unfit for human consumption. Farming activities also contribute to groundwater contamination through products such as fertilizers and pesticides (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). Groundwater is also contaminated by waste from a septic tank as well as leaking landfills. Groundwater can be contaminated b natural pollutants such as fluorides, sulfates as well as manganese. Decaying matter in the soil also causes groundwater pollution.

Contaminated groundwater may contain Hepatitis causing bacteria whose effects on the liver may be irreversible. The pollutants may also cause dysentery, whose symptoms are dehydration and diarrhea. Natural chemicals, fertilizers, and pesticides also pollute groundwater, and drinking such water is dangerous (Kukreja, 2019). The contamination also leads to the loss of nutrients that are essential in sustaining the ecosystem.

For both surface and groundwater, the issue of depletion threatens sustainability. Excessive pumping of groundwater can lead to depletion, as it means that the rate of extraction is more than that of replenishment. To promote sustainability, the focus should not only be on the quantity and quality of groundwater produced but also the preservation of the quality. The depletion of groundwater is real and has been documented in places such as Borrego Valley, and Ojos Negros valley (Ponce, 2006). Water extracted in these places is primarily used in intensive agriculture. The depletion of this source of water is heartbreaking since the sources that they used before were depleted. In this valley, water sustainability is questionable, as even the current generation risks lacking water for consumption leave alone for future generations.

Groundwater sustainability can be achieved through the creation of necessary policies. In areas where groundwater is the main source of drinking water, there should be wellhead protection and control of water waste from percolation (Kukreja, 2019). When water seeps through the soil without a secure channel, it is wasted. The farmers should strategize on how to minimize the amount of water used for irrigation to avoid depletion.

Water sustainability is the responsibility of every person, and whether using water for domestic purposes, commercial, or irrigation, something can be done to promote sustainability. Farmers can reduce the amount of water they use in their farms through improved irrigation scheduling. Unnecessary frequent irrigations should be avoided, and farmers should create an irrigation schedule. Over irrigation is bad for the crops and also leads to the wastage of water that could be used for other purposes. Conventionally, farmers act on intuition or count the days after the last irrigation and proceed to irrigate their crops without checking the soil moisture. Irrigation should be done based on real-time moisture of the soil and using this schedule, the number of irrigation times will decrease as compared to when using the traditional method of day counting (Ganjegunt, & Clark, 2017).

There are different uses of water which include agricultural use which is the largest use of water in the world. The polluted water is not safe for uses; hence the people lack the water that is safe for use. There are various causes of water pollution, and the causes vary from one place to the other (Reynoso-Meza et al., 2017). The causes of water pollution include industrial waste where the companies release their water to the rivers. The waste from the industries is toxic and kills the living organism that lives in water. Water polluted by industrial waste cannot be used for any purpose because it's unsafe. Another source of water pollution includes sewage and wastewater that come from residential places. Raw sewage should not be released to the rivers because it increases the chances of the people getting diseases like cholera.

There is also water pollution from oil leakage from the vessels that operate in the water such as ships and boats. The oil released to the water pollutes the water, and there is no way of removing the water from the ocean (Yang et al., 2016). There is also chemicals and pesticides that are used in farming, and they end up in water bodies after they are swept by the floods that happen when it rains. The chemicals cause pollution to the water making the water unsafe for use. Pollution has been increasing over the years, making more water unsafe for use. The world has less clean water to use as more water get polluted.

Water use sustainability is where communities are able to conserve their water sources to ensure they are not polluted, and they remain to be the source of clean water for the communities. The communities have a responsibility of protecting water sources by ensuring there is no pollution (Alrumman, Keshk, & El Kott, 2016). The pollution of water sources is done by the people; hence they can protect the water sources from pollution if they want. Water sustainability ensures that the organizations use the water responsibly without compromising the source to ensure the future generations will have clean water to use. The increased pollution of water means that the future generations will face challenges having clean water for use.

There are laws that govern how people use water, and the law protects individuals from polluting the water. People have different interests; hence the interests of the majority need to be protected. The law protects the interests of the communities from exploitation, where few people control the water sources denying other members of the community from the opportunity to access the water (Evans et al., 2019). The Safe Drinking Water Act intends to keep water sources safe to serve all the people. The act prohibits companies and individuals against polluting water sources. The act also protects groundwater from contamination and regulates the people that have boreholes to ensure they maintain the law and do not pollute the water.

People need to know the various steps that the people can take to reduce water pollution which includes using organic farming to ensure that the chemicals used in farming such as pesticides are not carried by rainwater to the rivers (Yang et al., 2016). Companies and homes need to be responsible and stop releasing their sewage to the rivers and other water bodies. Laws need to be enacted to punish people and companies that release their waste to water bodies. Also, people can stop using plastics where the majority of them end up in water bodies like the sea hence polluting the water.

The life cycle of the water includes the raining of water to evaporation back to the air and then back to rain. When it rains, the water flows on the farms than to rivers where the water runs to the sea. The water then evaporates back to the atmosphere (Walker et al., 2019). There is also transpiration in plants where the plants release water to the atmosphere. When the water gets to the atmosphere, it condenses giving way for rain to occur where the water gets back to the ground. The water life cycle has been affected by the changing climate, increasing the rain that, in turn, causes flooding.

Urban communities are where pollution mostly occurs where many people are living within a limited geographical area without enough space and resources. Pollution mostly happens where people are struggling to get resources such as water and proper drainage systems (Walker et al., 2019). Lack of sanitation facilities makes the people too dumb their wastes into the rivers causing water pollution. There is also limited availability of clean water for domestic use; hence people end up using polluted water for domestic purposes affecting their health. Proper systems need to be set for communities to ensure there is no water pollution by setting up drainage systems and provident the people clean water to use.

For water pollution to stop people have to change their behavior and ensure they refrain all actions that might cause water pollution (Walker et al., 2019). Culture change has to occur where people stop engaging in activities that cause water pollution and begin engaging in activities that prevent water pollution and maintain ethical behaviors that respect the environment. The government can also improve the existing laws to punish people and companies that pollute the environment and the water by releasing their waste to the water. The policies are intended to change the social norms of the people and create a society that protects the environment.

At home, people can significantly reduce the amount of water they use in activities such as toilet flushing, showering, as well as washing clothes. Flushing garbage is water wasting and should be avoided by keeping such trash in the bins and disposing of them accordingly (Shannon, 2019). Also, it is advisable to have an adjustable toilet flapper, thus allowing the regulation of water used anytime you flash. Additionally, you can reduce the amount of water you use for showering by installing shower heads that are water-saving and take shorter showers while turning off water after soaping and turning on when rinsing.

Dishwashing machines also use less water as compared to hand washing. Regular checking of leaks on pipes reduces the amount of water wastage. When showering, the water can be trapped and used in the cleaning of areas such as driveways, and if it does not have soap, it can be used in watering flowers. The water trapped when showering can also be reused to flush the toilet. The water use in the kitchen garden can be reduced by watering in the morning or in the evening to avoid evaporation hence frequent irrigation (Shannon, 2019). Also, avoiding using freshwater for watering vegetables, plants, and grass can promote water sustainability. You can utilize the rain seasons by harvesting rainwater and using it for irrigation as well as cleaning.

Conclusion

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