People Need Clean Water

1993 Words8 Pages
People Need Clean Water The fact that three-quarters of Earth’s surface is comprised of water speaks to it’s value to our lives as living beings. Of that amount, the vast majority is salt water found in oceans, leaving only 3% of the total as freshwater (Dale, 2011). Having considered the value of freshwater, it is now noteworthy knowing that water and sanitation problems take more lives each year than guns. Each year 3.75 million people die from water related disease. That’s equivalent to the entire population of Los Angeles (Postel, 2012). In the 20th Century the world’s population tripled. However, the quantity of water available has not tripled and the capacity to offer clean water has not tripled. Clean water is any nation’s most valuable resource as it is relied on for drinking and for growing food. We also rely on water for recreation, manufacturing, energy development, commercial fishing, tourism, and many other purposes essential to public health and the economy (Postel, 2012). Contaminants that threaten the health of our water threaten the health of people. Strict policy to ensure that states are regulating the use of these contaminants and their impact on our water continues to be a debate amongst policy makers. While politicians are working to find a way to address clean water issues in the United States, clean water remains a major issue because of the required emphasis on maintaining both quantity and quality of water, because the debate over which waters are protected under current policy continues to be an area of contention amongst policy-makers, and because our technology to regulate this clean water issue is ever evolving. Although Earth is considered a “watery planet,” only 3% of Earth’s water is fresh, and much of that is locked up in ice caps and glaciers. Since life on Earth depends on this limited supply of water, it is critical to learn to
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