Environmental Management: Water Importance

Water is linked to almost everything in the world, it is a precondition for human existence and for the sustainability of the planet.

There are 663 million people with no access to safe water. Women and girls have to walk 6 hours each day to collect water in many countries; each year, over 3 million people die from sanitation or water-related disease, diarrhea, for example, has become the third leading cause of children death; moreover, 1/3 of the schools all over the world don’t have safe water or adequate sanitation.

Over 70% of the Earth surface is water from oceans, rivers, and lakes. From the world total, just a 3% is fresh water and 65% of it is frozen in glaciers. According to the World Health Organization, only 0,007% from the world's total water is safe for consumption and this is what the 7 billion people in the Earth should share.

What's more, this resource is not equally distributed. There are water-rich and poor countries. One of the biggest water-related risks that water poor countries face is the lack of water for industry, farms, and communities. There are at least 36 countries facing extreme risk of scarcity, among which are: Kuwait, Barbados, Antigua & Barbuda, Bahrain, and the Central African Republic. In the other extreme the USA, Canada, Uruguay, Japan, and Cyprus can satisfy the 100% of its water necessities for industry and community. According to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), is mandatory to generate water distribution policies, due to the fact that current water use policies around the world will soon make it impossible for farmers to produce enough food for the world population, and the hardest hit will certainly be the world’s poorest people.

However, in some countries, the water purification process provided by aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, supply water suitable for drinking, industry, recreation, and wildlife habitat. Ecosystems must be recognized as an integral part of development solutions, but there's a step before: Teach the communities how to consume and preserve water.

Besides, access to water and sanitation are recognized by the United Nations as human rights, reflecting the fundamental nature of these basics in every person’s life. So yes, we have to take care of water. Because as the population increases, the demand increases too, but the amount of clean drinkable water is still the same. And taking care of it doesn't mean to join an organization, but by making a few desitions we can make the difference. Actions have to consider better policies of how to save and avoid wasting; medium and long-term policies of water distribution and production of safe water for the communities because this resource highly essential for the planet's life and development of human communities.