WATER CRISIS ALREADY HERE

BASICS

· On our blue planet 97.5% of the water is saltwater, unfit for human use.

· The majority of freshwater is beyond our reach, locked into polar snow and ice.

· Less than 1% freshwater is usable, amounting to only 0.01% of the Earth’s total water.

· Even this would be enough to support world’s population tree times over, if used with care.

· However, water – like population – isn’t distributed evenly. Asia has the greatest annual availability of freshwater and Australia the lowest. But when population is taken into account the picture looks very different. For instance, the Congo river and its tributaries account for about 30% of the entire African continent’s annual runoff, but the watershed contains only 10% of Africa’s population.

· Throughout much of the developing world freshwater supply comes in the form of seasonal rains. Such rains run off too quickly for efficient use. India, for example, gets 90% of its annual rainfall during the summer monsoon season, which lasts from June to September. For the other eight months the country gets barely a drop.

WHERE’S IT GOING

Our increasing thirst is a result of population, industrial development and the expansion of irrigated farming. In the past 40 years, the area of irrigated lands has doubled.

SIGNS OF STRESS

· By the mid 1990s, 80 countries home to 40% of world population encountered serious water storages. Worst affected are Africa and Middle East.

· In Metro Manila, capital of the Philippines, for instance, there was a time when the water agency issued a call for public prayer to ask Almighty God for rains to come. Even during the rainy season, supply of potable water is still inadequate.

· By 2025 two-thirds of the world’s people will be stressing water stress. The global demand for water will have grown by over 40% by then

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