Wasting H2O? Not So Much!
By Sam Kantrow on February 20, 2012, 12:00am
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Hippies all over the world are telling you to not let the water run in the sink because it gets wasted, so is that actually true, or do they just have their hemp necklace on to tight?
First off, I should tell you that our planet never loses or gains water. It always stays the same. What's this mean? It means that we always have 1,386 million cubic kilometers of water on Earth, or about 36.6 quintillion gallons of water. If you're thinking that it's a lot...we'll you would be correct! HOWEVER, most of that water, about 97% of it is not usable, and is in the oceans as salt water.
Of the 3% of fresh water, about 68.7% of that is stuck in glaciers and icecaps, and about 30.1% is in the ground. So without getting toooooo mathematical, only 1% of the water on Earth is in the ground or in lakes, rivers, and freshwater streams. That's a very small percentage, but does that matter? 1% is a lot of fresh water, and since it all evaporates as fresh water, should we care?
In a word, yes! It's true that fresh water is a renewable resource, but the world's supply of clean, fresh water is rapidly decreasing as demand is exceeding the supply on Earth. So what's causing this? For the most part, we are! The earth's population is growing at a rapid rate. In 2000, the world's population was at 6.2 billion, in 2011 it exceeded 7 billion people, and is set to increased to near 10 billion by 2050. More people means more businesses, and these businesses often create a lot of byproducts that can be pushed into our fresh water! More people means we also have a greater strain on wells, water pumps, and water purification systems.
So will all of our water go away? No! But we need to pay attention to the rapidly reducing amount of water we've got to drink, and be mindful of the cost of water purification for the future as our fresh water supply dwindles! We're literally washing money right down the drain!
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