Background to Water150 Project
Last updated
Last updated
Water Supply
Water is the foundation of life. The human body is 60-80% water, and we need at least two (2) liters of clean drinking water daily to survive. Animals and plants need water too, and the biodiversity on earth is directly linked to access to water. Without water, there would be no life on earth.
Water covers about 70% of the earth’s surface. However, drinking water accounts for only 3% of the total volume, with 2/3 of it bound in glaciers. This implies that humans have access to only 1% of the drinking water on earth, and most of the supply is underground.
Water consumption has increased significantly at a rate of about 1% yearly over the past decades. This deteriorating condition is due to the global pattern of population growth, economic development and changing consumption patterns, causing global water demand to increase by 600% over 100 years.
This increased demand has led to more challenges regarding access to clean drinking water. One in four people were without access to safe drinking water services in 2020. Scientific reports also predict that almost 6 billion people from the projected global population of 9.4 - 10.2 billion people will suffer from clean water scarcity by 2050. Overconsumption of water, geographical access, and pollution also negatively impact the supply of clean drinking water. These are some of the factors that contribute to the growing problem of accessibility to clean drinking water globally.
The trend of increasing water demand and consumption accompanied with poor resources management indicate that the problem will persist into the future until it becomes a global emergency. More than 30% of the world’s largest groundwater systems are already in distress.
Water distribution is uneven globally. Different areas have different supply levels, with several parts of the world, including entire countries, without access to freshwater. Water supply in these places came through importation, transportation, or chemical production.
Based on the geographical accessibility, there are no guarantees for everyone to access the water they need to survive. Water is the foundation of life, and if it becomes even more scarce, it will force the world into a global recession that threatens the core of our existence. It’s not unthinkable that a third world war could be about water. People are already fighting, manipulating, and lobbying to gain or keep their access to water.
When water is accessible but too far away from where people live, it negatively affects the opportunities for human development. Walking several miles every day to get the daily amount of water for survival is time and energy-consuming. Life becomes primitive and focused on survival, and the possibility of productive activities such as school, work, etc., is significantly reduced.
On the other hand, chemically producing water is cost- and energy-consuming, as the process requires enormous amounts of resources. Chemically produced water does not have the same natural structure as natural drinking water. There are also indications that people appreciate the taste of natural water better than chemically produced water. However, the chemical production of clean drinking water can be a critical option in certain places. Otherwise, the only option would be to move.
Access to clean drinking water directly from the tap is not the norm in most places. It is a luxury for many people. In countries like Sweden, clean tap water is accessible 24/7 and often taken for granted. However, that’s not the case in most parts of the world.
The depletion of groundwater reservoirs (also called aquifers) and subterranean watercourses is a concerning negative trend. This depletion is a consequence of human activities and overconsumption in that area. Water is in an eternal cycle, changing state and location, while the volume remains constant. However, we can see obvious disturbances in this cycle due to the carefree attitude of humans.
Overreliance, overconsumption, and wastage of aquifer reservoirs and the water flow from water sources will cause rapid deterioration and eventual disappearance of these resources. Depletion of aquifers or subterranean rivers affects access to water. It will also have a strong negative effect on biodiversity and the climate. Water affects temperatures by providing underground coolness. It will also significantly impact nature and life itself since all life needs water.
A relevant example in this context is the Ogallala aquifer in the USA. It is one of the world’s largest aquifers, and it has helped to keep a stable climate and large natural biodiversity for thousands of years. Farmers and industries heavily rely on the aquifer for their operations. They gain access to freshwater to irrigate large fields of crops by drilling and pumping water from holes in the ground. When the water dries, the drilling goes deeper to continue production. The problem is that we can’t accurately measure the rate of water depletion. The natural water cycle may fail to replenish water stores in the aquifer at the same pace as people use it. Over time, the deficit will increase until it becomes impossible to restore.
In the last 100 years, people have consumed many synthetic materials used in production, leading to pollution in nature and water. Common pollutants that affect our drinking water are microplastics, PFAS chemicals (a carcinogenic substance found in fire extinguishers and other places), and heavy metals. Nature is not equipped to filter, dissolve, or remove these substances. They may be involuntarily consumed by animals or in our drinking water. This is a global problem, present in countries like Sweden too. Consuming these by-products through the water we drink for sustenance is a paradox; water gives life while the pollutants in water shorten it.
Natural, clean drinking water is produced in the natural water cycle. Water passes through layers of soil, gravel, and sand to end up in the water reservoirs as clean drinking water. Keeping and protecting this natural process is critical to life.
Even though humanity has learned to produce drinking water artificially, it is extremely energy-consuming, and it seems to strongly affect the natural structure, memory, and life of water. Therefore, it is only produced in places where the absence of natural water makes it a necessity. From a strictly energy-conscious perspective, humanity can’t afford to pass on nature’s free water purification that provides clean drinking water through the natural water cycle. Our overall well-being would also be negatively affected if we stopped drinking naturally processed water. Humanity’s survival depends on the constant supply of natural drinking water.
Two factors seem more important than others to preserve the natural water cycle: not overconsuming water sources and not polluting them. As a proxy for these factors, we can study the abundance of life and biodiversity. If the quality of the natural drinking water quality is high, we will enjoy more abundance and biodiversity of life.
Due to the lack of geographical accessibility, overconsumption, and pollution, we observe how people, corporations, and institutions buy water sources for speculative reasons. They invest enormous amounts in the most important natural resource, hoping to sell it for a profit as water becomes more scarce. This trend amplifies the problem of access to clean drinking water for sustenance, taking us further from securing this basic human right.
