Are We Running Out of Water?

I’ve come across two great articles detailing the problems we are facing in today’s ever-changing (and growing) world as water’s demand and in turn, its waste, is increasing rapidly. Both articles reveal an urgency to give attention to the issues surrounding our water supplies and how we use this delicate resource.

Scientific American explains in its article, “Facing the Freshwater Crisis,” that as populations increase, the demand for water is also increasing. This obvious relationship is often overlooked as we can take for granted the convenience of clean water for the use of “drinking, hygiene, sanitation, food production and industry.” However, unless governments (local, federal, and global) begin to shape policy around water conservation and water usage we could face devastating water shortages all over the world.

In a similar article, “Tossed Food Is Also Lost Water,” posted on the New York Times Dot Earth Blog, water is explained to be wasted indirectly throughout the world as food is wasted carelessly. “The amounts of waste are staggering. In the United States, nearly one-third of the food that is produced each year, worth about $48 billion, is discarded. The water it took to grow and process that wasted food amounts to about 10 trillion gallons, according to the analysis. Many European countries have similar losses, proportional to their size.”