WATER, WATER everywhere and……

My Third Entry in a series of 7 for "7 Day Blogging Challenge for bloggers"  from Jenson Taylor

WATER, WATER everywhere and not a drop to drink…

Though this become a saying among the people. It now becomes a serious matter of the day.

In reality almost 2/3 of the earth is filled or covered by water but potable or drinking water is still a distant reality.  Only a meager 3% will come under the fresh water category.   No doubt, now water crisis is a serious issue and its  already a talk/discussion of the nations.

Pic by Shahid Pattani Shaik Hussain
& Rejoy Poomala

A recent study says that, “Less than 1% of the world’s fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human use.” 

According to another statistics, the total area of the planet is 510,066,000 sq km. out of it the land area covers (148,647,000 sq km) 29.1% and the Ocean Area covers 335,258,000 sq km and the total water area is 361,419,000 sq km) 70.9% . Out of this 97% contains salt water and only 3% contains fresh water.

In short 71% of the earth surface is covered with water.  It is clear that a major portion of the available water is not potable.  It can be treated through different means like filtering and other purification systems.   Though it’s a costly task now many are making salt water drinkable though different process.

According to the latest UN estimates that by 2025, forty-eight nations, with combined population of 2.8 billion, will face freshwater “stress” or “scarcity”.

We need to be more alert in using the water carefully, if we utilize it little more carefully in a measure a bit of the problems can be solved. 

Lambadi women carrying water from a distant villages
Pic. Credit. AFP Photo/ Noah Seeleam

 Indian tribal Lambadi women carry drinking water home to Mukunda Nayak Tanda village in the Andhra Pradesh's Medak district, 200 kilometers away from Hyderabad.

  On April 20, 2010. The district suffered a severe drinking water shortage,and the villagers forced to walk a minimum of 4 kilometers to fetch water for themselves and their cattle as temperatures rise above 45 degrees Celsius in southern Andhra Pradesh.  On April 22nd marks the 40th Earth Day, which urges local action and increased awareness to understand and respect the environment. India, with its 1.2 billion citizens, faces challenges from rapid urbanization and industrialization, such as pollution, sanitation and water supply, as well as degradation of forests and agricultural lands, and is already the world's fifth largest carbon emitter despite a low per capita share. 

(     (Note by AFP PHOTO / NOAH SEELAM )

 

 Here are some shocking facts:

          

    * Around 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water, roughly one-sixth of the world's population.

·     *   In the developing countries almost 3.575 million people mostly of children die every year due to waterborne diseases associated with lack of safe drinking water, poor hygiene and sanitation.

·     *   Half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by people who are suffering from diseases connected with the consumption of contaminated water.

·      * During the past 10 or 11 years, diarrhea has killed millions of children than all the people lost to world war II.  Out of this 88% of cases are connected with drinking of unsafe water.

·    *    If we have an improved water supply system one-tenth of the global diseases burden can be curtailed.

·      * Above 6000 children die every day due to disease associated with contaminated water consumption.  In this case women and children are more affected.

·     * About 1.5 million child deaths happens each year is associated with diarrhea due to the consumption of polluted water. It kills more young children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

·      * Millions of children cannot go to school as they must go for water collection every day.

Pic. Credit. UN Photo

·       * Another survey says women in Africa and Asia need to travel nearly six kilometers to fetch the day’s water. That is to say in just one day more than 200 million hours of women’s time is used for collecting water for domestic use.

·     *   More than 80% of sewage in developing countries is discharged untreated which pollutes rivers, lakes and coastal areas.

Here are some beautiful scenes from around the world 

in relation to this subject.

Picture Credit. Biju N V Colorszone

   

Jordan River. Pic, Credit. Dr. Woodrow Kroll

Pic. by Anish Thankachan

Pic, Credit, Alice Mathews Martin

Pic. Credit. Wikiepedia

Anayirakal

Kuttaalam Water Fall Pic. by Nithin Prabhakar

pic by Alice Mathews Martin

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Alfi007's sxc.hu

Pic by Rejoy Poomala

Pic. by. Appachan Ozhakkal

Kerala Tourism

by  Plitvice-Lake-Croatia

Pic. by Plitvice-Lake-Croatia

 Plitvice-Lake-Croatia

Sweet Lake 'Sivani' From Kerala Pic. Credit. Nithin Prabhakar

Kerala Tourism.com

Kerala Tourism

Kerala Tourism

A Kerala Scene. Pic. Credit. Jefi Mathew

A Kasargod Lake (Kerala) Pic. Credit. Tinu James

Source:

(Data collected from various sources: The Hindu, Times of India, Google.com, Yahoo.com, Global issues.com, wikiepedia.com)

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