Is Water Abundant

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At the surface level, this seems like a very simple question. Considering the fact that about 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, it is one of the most abundant resources on the planet. So if water is so abundant, what’s the deal with this whole global water crisis? Why do 780 million people in the world not have access to clean drinking water? Why do 3.4 million people die each year from drinking contaminated water? With 97.3% of the water on the planet too salty for consumption, and another 2% locked up as polar ice, only .5% remains as fresh, potentially drinkable water. In this context, the question of whether water is abundant takes on a new meaning. Considering that less than 1% of water is available for consumption, it is much easier to justify all of the violence, disease and death that is a direct result of this scarcity. In his book, Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think, Peter Diamandis examines some of the most innovative water-related technologies and discusses how they are paving the way for a world with abundant water for everyone. Innovators are people who do not accept the status quo. They challenge conventional wisdom and find creative solutions to everyday problems. Peter Diamandis presents a great lesson that we have learned through the innovations surrounding aluminum. In the 1800s, aluminum was considered the most valuable metal in the world. Its rarity can be explained by chemistry, given that aluminum never appears in nature as a pure metal. In reality, behind oxygen and silicon, aluminum is the third most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, making up 8.3% of the weight of the world. The only problem was figuring out how to extract the aluminum from the Earth’s crust. In 1886, a new breakthrough technology known as electrolysis was discovered, which uses electricity to liberate the aluminum from its naturally

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