Water Our Precious Resource

Water Our Precious Resource

Susan Anderson

April 21, 2018

Water Our Precious Resource

Introduction and Scope of Paper

        Water is vital to our everyday survival and is a vital ingredient for the development and nourishment of what we call life.  Water is actually a renewable resource however, our planet doesn’t have enough freshwater available to meet the needs of everyone in the world. Historical water has been used as a divide of conflict and today threatens local or regional struggles dominance, and is also used by a terrorist whose purpose is to control local water supplies to promote their ideological religious beliefs (Kreamer, 2012).

Water covers about 71% of the earth’s surface in liquid and frozen form, however, only about 1% is safe for consumption in its raw stage. The oceans hold about 96.5% of earth’s water and water is constantly moving from one place to another, and this is due to our water cycle (Perlman & USGS, n.d.).

There are many reasons why water consumption is abused and we will introduce you to practices that will educate the human species on smarter choices when using this precious resource known as water.  Some of these methods can be introduced to our lifestyle immediately, unfortunately, some will take a little longer and will require the individual to research and initiate help from others or tasked it on their own.  

History and Contemporary Viewpoint

Historically water was and still is one of the most important natural resources in the world.  Water is vital to our everyday survival and is a vital ingredient for the development and nourishment of what we call life.  Historically, humans used water as social order and the social values that taught man of its importance led them to the development of irrigation systems were water was limited due to precipitation. Early man used irrigation system as a social status and sometimes prohibited the use of these systems to those who were of a lower class, some even taxed those for the use of these systems (National Research Council (US) Safe Drinking Water Committee, 1977).

Past issues of the control of water politically are currently threatening some regions in the world, rivers that cross transboundary such as, North Korea and South Korea.  In 2009 North Korea opened up the Hwanggang Dam releasing flood waters intentionally which led to deaths of 5 South Korean.  The Turkish Government has been put on notice for their acts involving stopping the flow of waters to Iraq.  Some of these rivers in Iraq have been taking over by terrorist and these groups have threatened and acknowledged their involvement in terroristic acts within Turkey (Kreamer, 2012).

Man uses water for many things, some are drinking, bathing, cooking, washing, cleaning, farming, businesses, swimming, and without this precious resource life as we know it would simply cease to exist. Water covers 71% of the earth’s surface in liquid and frozen form. Without water or precipitation plants wouldn’t grow, nor would any living organism, that is why it is imperative that we educate ourselves on sustainable methods to protect this natural resource that is being wasted (National Research Council (US) Safe Drinking Water Committee, 1977).

Historical Significance

People learn from history and historically we learned that rainwater is not drinkable water and should be filtered, cleansed, or boiled in order to drink.  As early as (460-354 B.C.), M.N. Baker (1949), found that Hippocrates (cloth bag used to strain the boiled water), was used to purify the water at the time. Baker also told of the historical use of public water supplies that lead to the infections of cholera in humans in London in 1854, this outbreak forced London to make vast improvements to their water supply system (National Research Council (US) Safe Drinking Water Committee, 1977).  Experiments in the United States water systems was by using filtrations was done by the MA State Board of Health, which included very notable professors and scientists and the end result was the chemical-coagulation filtration process that was patented in 1884.  This process started the trailblazing efforts of others to discover filtration systems that made our precious resource of water drinkable and free of contaminants that would harm us (Baker, 1949).

Local Real-World Applications and Specific Steps

Worldwide nearly a billion people do not have the access to clean water, and many of those that do not have access to clean water are living in under-developed or developing countries and many organizations are taking steps to shorten these gaps between countries that have resources and those who do not.  By taking methods to ensure that everyone has the opportunities afforded to us in developed countries we must be attentive to our usage of this valued resource. It will take education to break the cycle of water waste, many humans do not realize the scarcity of this natural resource and take it for granted that it will be around forever.

   We can start by taking shorter showers, it is estimated that we lose 6.35 gallons a day waiting for showers to warm up (Lutz, 2005).  We can use rainwater for irrigation of our gardens and flower beds, purchase water bottles that clean our water for us and stop purchasing water with non-recyclable plastics.  

One known student in New Hampshire decided to do take action to help reduce the water shortages in developing countries and came up with a system that cleans contaminated water through sunlight, and she was a 14-year-old high-school student at the time.  Her name is Deepika Kurup from Nashua, New Hampshire, and her inspiration to help find a solution to the global water crisis lead her to the discovery of developing a system that could easily purify water containing harmful bacteria, and the system cost was also cheap.  After many hours of research (3 months) including her vacation from school, she proved that sunlight could eliminate contaminants found in some of these countries waters (Matus, 2012).  Her discovery has led to universities and companies using this method to create renewable hydrogen energy by using sunlight and water (Matus, 2012).  People like Deepika understand the significance of the water shortages in the world and will continue to make others aware of this important resource that is threatening to existence if we don’t find measures to recycle.  

Not only is there a concern about water being scarce, we are also experiencing pollutant's in our waters that is threatening the quality of those waters.  Luckily, many organizations and individuals are working on thought-provoking methods that raise awareness and offer resources that will give access those with little or no access.  The EPA works globally, s as a multilateral organization to protect those pollutants that affect the ecosystems as a whole (Environmental Protection.gov., 2018).

Action Plan One