Natural Awakenings Twin Cities October 2021

trifonenko ivan/AdobeStock.com
One in three people worldwide does
not have access to a toilet. Around 2.3
billion people lack access to even basic
sanitation services, forcing them to either
practice open defecation or use pit latrines
and buckets. Fecal contamination in the
water supply is a major cause of deadly
waterborne diseases such as hepatitis A,
norovirus and E. coli.
Annually, 1.6 million people die from
waterborne diseases. Of the 5 million
people that become ill from bad water,
most are children.
Water privatization causes harm.
When corporations site water bottling operations
in developing countries like India
and Bolivia, they significantly deplete supplies
needed by local farmers. In the U.S.,
when a struggling public water or electricity
utility sells their rights to a private
corporation, household water and sewer
services typically become, respectively, 59
percent and 63 percent more costly.
In the U.S., 2.1 trillion gallons of
clean water is lost each year due to poor
infrastructure, including old, leaky pipes
and broken water mains. David Le France,
CEO of the American Water Works Association,
estimates that repairing America’s
water infrastructure will be a trilliondollar
program. Due to divided efforts in
governmental decision making, adequate
policies and budgeting are often difficult to
come by.
Often, water burdens fall upon women,
some of whom walk four miles a day
just to fetch water that is likely contaminated.
In sub-Saharan Africa, for example,
it takes about six hours to carry a 44-pound
container of water from a source that often
has the potential to make them sick, according
to the Global Water Institute.
One-third of the world’s largest
aquifers are water-stressed. Underground
aquifers are naturally replenished through
rainfall and surface water, but a deficit occurs
when more water is pumped out than
replenished. Eight of the biggest aquifers,
including those in Saudi Arabia, northwestern
India and Pakistan, are not being
replenished at all.
Meeting the United Nations’ sustainable
development goals for the water
crisis will cost $114 billion per year.
Attaining these critical goals will be timeconsuming,
expensive and may face political
division. Yet the cost of not doing so is
also high. Addressing healthcare needs due
to water-related diseases and poor sanitation
costs $260 billion globally each year.
Water scarcity is real. To ignore it or
to assume that it is only a problem of the
Water Scarcity Solutions
1Save Water Limit the use of water
and of washing machines. Take
short showers instead of full baths.
Educate Empower people to help
2 by showing them how to prevent
and mitigate water scarcity problems
now and in the future.
3Recycle Water Learn about and
employ available technologies to
recycle rainwater and other water
used at home.
4Support Water Conservation Allocate
money and time to help water
conservation efforts around the world.
Improve Farming Practices Farming
and irrigation practices 5
and technologies need to become
more efficient.
Use Fewer Chemicals in Farming
6 To ensure clean water and reduce
water shortages, farmers need to decrease
their use of chemical fertilizers
and pesticides, which leads to groundwater
pollution.
developing world is to be blind to the
reality that the rest of the world is experiencing.
Excessive water consumption and
poor water management are factors that
can be controlled. Supporting clean water
initiatives will certainly help the movement
against the global water crisis. Finally,
educating ourselves and raising awareness
is a task we should all take on.
Jeremiah Castelo is the founder of World
WaterReserve.com, which publishes information
on water scarcity and purification
methods. This article is excerpted and
reprinted with permission.
7Improve Sewage Systems Improving
sewage systems in underserved
areas will help to provide clean drinking
water and prevent disease and
water scarcity.
Better Water Distribution
8 Infrastructure To prevent severe
water shortages in times of drought,
efforts are needed to connect poor
people in developing countries to public
water supplies.
Support Clean Water Initiatives
9 Donate money, time and skills to
organizations worldwide that are working
to bring clean water to areas that
don’t have it.
Source: Conserve Energy Future at
Conserve-Energy-Future.com.
October 2021
25