Consider this, we live on a water planet. Through the millennia the water cycle has supported all life. Shaping weather, seasons and climate; providing habitats for most of the world's living things and most of them including us are almost entirely made up of water.
Now consider this: water is a finite substance, a limited resource. Only a tiny fraction of the earth's water is fresh. It supports everything from agriculture and sanitation to aquatic ecosystems like rivers and streams.
Water falls unevenly across the planet; but much of it is locked up in glaciers, permanent snow cover, ice and permafrost. Water is also stuck underground, very deeply earthed and hard to reach. To make matters worse, water is being threatened by pollution, overpopulation, climate change, mismanagement and war.
Pollution is so severe, that diseases are increasing in both humans and animals. Habitat are being destroyed, rain is turning into acid. So many chemicals flow into rivers and lakes that the actual composition of water in some places has been fundamentally changed.
Human encroachment is also drying our aquifers diverting the natural flow of rivers and straining water supplies. Hidden in everyday consumption is the careless and unnecessary waste of water. Massive dams displace millions of people and destroy whole eco systems.
Global warming is altering the water cycle, causing more severe and unpredictable flooding and droughts, ultimately shifting where water flows. Unregulated corporate privatization threatens access to water for the poor. Some governments fail to deliver water where it is needed most. These stresses have created political and military conflicts that will only get worse. Ultimately, humanity is poisoning, squandering and overburden water resources.
The result is that billions of people lack access to clean water. Millions of children die every year from preventable water born diseases. Lack of clean water and basic sanitation traps people in problem.
People are fighting and dying for it. We're at a crises point.
We still have time to turn this around.
We can conserve water and not waste it.
Invest in smart water infrastructure and technologies.
Increase environmental regulations on polluting industries.
Tell government leaders to fulfil financial pledges for clean water.
Ensure that water is not treated as a commodity.
And the most important: we must recognize that access to clean water is a basic human right.
And that United Nations should adopt a global treaty on the right to water.
Water equals Life.
There's no separation; by protecting water, we can protect our selves and this blue planet for future generations.
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