More than 70% of our planet consists of water.
But fresh water bodies form a very small proportion of this enormous quantity. About 2.7 per cent of the total water available on the earth is fresh water.
Of this, about 75.2 per cent lies frozen in polar regions and another 22.6 per cent is present as ground water. The rest is present in lakes, rivers, atmosphere, moisture, soil and vegetation.
What is effectively available for consumption and other uses is a small proportion of the quantity available in rivers, lakes and ground water. 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.
We need anywhere between 30-50 liters of clean and safe water every day and yet 884 million people, lack access to safe water supply.
One of the direct impacts of Climate Change would be the impact on the water resources and it could well lead to a spiraling effect which would be felt in terms of future water security and food security. The major cities of India like Delhi, Bombay, Chennai are already facing water woes.
Predictions for India so far suggest an upward trend in mean monthly temperature and average rainfall but at the same time, indicate a downward trend in the number of wet days per year.
The impact of climate change would be seen in terms of increased sub-regional variations and more extreme rain events. In a country that gets rain for less than 100 hours in a year (a year has 8,760 hours), this would be disastrous.
Keeping in mind the impending threats caused by climate change, regulating the unrestrained exploitation of groundwater and aggressive pursuit of water conservation should become a national priority.
On the 22nd of March, the world will celebrate World Water Day. This year, UNEP has decided to dedicate the day to raise awareness about the critical issue of water quality.
Watch out this space for :
- Raising awareness about the issue at various levels
- Some interesting and thought provoking articles from eminent people
- On ground action by our regional teams on various themes
- Information about doing water audits in your campus/office
- A lot of information and resources on Water and Water related issues
Some quick tips to conserve water
- Be a responsible individual. Do NOT waste water while brushing, shaving but letting the water run while you lather, check for leaking taps etc) – Remember there are a number of ways to save water and they all start with YOU
- Plant and maintain trees. An increased tree cover would translate into a lot of benefits like reducing run-offs, increasing percolation and recharging the groundwater reserves.
- Install rainwater harvesting systems in your home, school, college, workplace etc.
- Treat waste water properly so that it doesn't end up polluting the rivers. (Almost 60% of the pollution of River Yamuna in New Delhi is from domestic sources and almost 90% of the pollution in river Ganga in the city of Varanasi is from domestic sources)
- Share this with others and spread awareness