Do we forget the significance of water in our daily life?

By Alara Bordier

We can all live without fuel or without technology. Yes, believe me, it’s possible. I can already
see you smiling while reading this statement. Even if you are addicted to your phone, you can
survive without texting your friends every two minutes or checking your social media every hour.
Your biological system is not tied to your digital equipments. It’s impossible to have a heart
attack or a respiratory arrest because you don’t use it. Otherwise, you can begin to worry right
now. But there is one thing we can not live without: it’s water.

Nowadays, water becomes a rare resource and the issue of missing water is more complicated
than ever. In a decade, the world may need twice as much water as it has access to. 844
millions of people live without access to safe water all around the world. Is the consumption of
water far away from our priority of daily life? Probably. During this time, residents of Cape Town
in South Africa are awaiting “Day Zero”. That’s the day, estimated to June 4th, when the city will
shut off its taps in the residential district. Last february 13th, the South-Africa government
decreed the state of natural disaster. Four provinces registered the lowest level of precipitation
since 1921. From this day, the army will take in charge the distribution of water. The inhabitants
will have to go to the 200 distribution points to get water and each person will have the right to
take only 25 liters per day, the equivalence of more than 6 gallons, whereas each american
uses an average of 100 gallons of water a day at home.

But the water crisis happening in Cape Town is not an isolated case. Much closer to us,
California towns have to face regularly the serious and worrying problem of drought. The Great
Salt Lake has half the volume it did when settlers arrived in the mid-1800s. The reason? The
absurd wastage of our consumption habits.
Letting the water running to make sure it will not be too cold when we will take our shower or
deciding to not turn off the tap when brushing your teeth… Why do we do that? Only for our own
well-being? You probably think that all these daily habits don’t have a dramatic effect but make
not mistake...all these actions combined can lead to disastrous consequences. Our habits are
very far from others countries where water crisis is a major concern and population has to walk
ten kilometers everyday in order to survive.

Most of the time, we are not really conscious of all the things around us which use water. More
than 95% of water use worldwide occurs outside the home. To illustrate this idea, let’s take the
example of food. We need water to irrigate fields and then water to extract the oil that helps
transports that food to supermarket, etc, etc. Even if this is “invisible” to us, agriculture and
industries use the most part of water with 90% of the total using of water. Energy is the top user
of water, after agriculture : in this case, water is used to prepare coal, extract oil, construct solar
panels...
This kind of ‘end of the world’ we usually see only in movies, when people have to fight to have
access to water, can appear well before we expected. Some conflicts may appear in the coming
years relating to the exploitation of the water of the rivers especially in Africa, Middle East or
Asia…

Which solutions can we do to avoid a such tragic situation?

Using water isn’t only turning in the faucet at home. Energy, agriculture and industries use also
a lot of water to work. That means that we have to pay attention to our own consumption in
those sectors too. Taking care of your electricity usage is a two for one good deed : it can
reduce your electricity bill but also save water. Wool and cotton are very thirsty fabrics, so buy
fewer clothes. Production of one kilogram (2.2 Ibs) of fruits needs 962 liters (254 gallons) of
water. To produce the same weight of beef, you need 16 times more! Reducing your
consumption of meat can have a huge impact too.

One of the other solution to limit the crisis extension would be for example to install a
water-efficient fixtures in our homes to save at least 20% of water in our daily life.

Or it can be very simple actions of everyday life. By turning off the faucet while brushing your
teeth, you can save up to 4 gallons of water, that’s more than many people around the world
have in a week.

Solutions are everywhere. Local changes can have global effects.

It’s not just the problem of others, it can become a worldwide big crisis in just a few years.
Just think about that and don’t wait to react.