|  | Public Health Safety | Environmental Health

Limited Natural Freshwater Resources

All freshwater is limited. While most of the Earth is covered by water, 97 percent of it is found in the salty oceans, making it undrinkable. A large amount of freshwater does exist, but most of it is inaccessible. Further adding to this problem is that supplies are being worn away by human impacts on the environment.

  1. Significance of Freshwater

    • The importance of freshwater needs little introduction. Human beings and other life forms need it to survive. It is also necessary to keep ecosystems going, including ones that are sources of food, goods and services. Compounding the problem is the relative scarcity of freshwater. According to the World Health Organization, only 2.5 percent of the planet's water is fresh. Even less than that is accessible.

    Sources of Freshwater

    • Currently, there are 9.25 million trillion gallons of freshwater on Earth. While this seems like a lot, 6.44 million trillion gallons (nearly 70 percent) is locked up in the ice sheets, glaciers and permafrost. Rivers, lakes and wetlands provide only 31,341 trillion gallons (0.3 percent). With glacial water nigh inaccessible and visible water like rivers and lakes composing very little, the next best source is groundwater. Groundwater comprises 2.78 million trillion gallons of the world's freshwater (30 percent).

    Threats

    • With less than half of the world's freshwater being readily available, protecting it would be a logical step. However, the WHO reports that things like deforestation, land use and climate change are all reducing the available freshwater. Compounding this problem is the demand for more freshwater due to increasing populations. Even then, water quality is threatened by pollution, further affecting this already limited resource.

    Freshwater and Human Health

    • More than 1 billion people do not have access to safe water, while 2.6 billion do not have necessary sanitation. The end result is water contamination from bacteria, making freshwater supplies pointless. The WHO says that 3.2 million people die every year because of water-borne illnesses. With this in mind, it is no surprise that there is a positive correlation between adequate freshwater, human health and economic productivity. An economy cannot prosper if its workforce is dying by the millions.

Environmental Health - Related Articles