Water, water everywhere.. not a drop to drink...

[Vinodh Valluri]

This post is in relation to World Blog Action Day 2010, i.e., today! The topic for this year is clean water. Check out BeyondTheElements to sign petition requesting UN to make provisions for equitable access to clean water, especially in underprivileged nations.

Have you ever fasted from food and water for a day? How did it feel like,
not drinking water at all for an entire day? Try it... and you will
personally realize why water is precious. In the Bhagavad Gita, 7.8, Lord Krsna says: "raso'ham apsu kaunteya",
or "I am the taste of water". Isn't it easy to see why water is
critical to life as we know it on our planet? Our planet is mostly
water; not only are the oceans brimming with it, but lakes, rivers,
ponds and puddles, and nearly every single living organism has water in
it to some extent. The extent to which water is inequitably distributed
is a reflection of the social compartmentalization that is rampant in
our world today. Today, the average person in the US throws away an
empty Aqua Fina bottle [hopefully into a recycling container], while on
the other side of the world, in AIDS-stricken Africa, village women walk
miles with heavy pots balanced on their heads to collect water that is
hardly palatable. This is the unpalatable truth we live in - and
convince ourselves to live with. With this, let me leave you with some
more things to think about, and to act upon... By the way, if you have
already acted upon the petition on the right sidebar on this blog, Thank You! If not, Thank You! in advance.. Please do it!

The problem of scarce clean water:

Nearly 1 billion people lack access to clean water, which causes a litany of struggles, diseases and even death.

40 Billion Hours: African women walk over 40 billion hours each year
carrying cisterns weighing up to 18 kilograms to gather water, which is
usually still not safe to drink. More Info »

38,000 Children a Week: Every week, nearly 38,000 children under the age of 5
die from unsafe drinking water and unhygienic living conditions. More Info »

Wars Over Water: Many scholars attribute the conflict in Darfur at least in
part to lack of access to water. A report commissioned by the UN found
that in the 21st century, water scarcity will become one of the leading
causes of conflict in Africa. More Info »

A Human Right: In July, to address the water crisis, the United Nations
declared access to clean water and sanitation a human right over. But we
are far from implementing solutions to secure basic access to safe
drinking water. More Info »

Water over-consumption in industrialized countries:

While the developing world faces a water crisis, those in industrialized countries consume far more than their fair share.

Food Footprint: It takes 24 liters of water to produce one hamburger. That
means it would take over 19.9 billion liters of water to make just one
hamburger for every person in Europe. More Info »

Technology Footprint: The shiny new iPhone in your pocket requires half a liter of
water to charge. That may not seem like much, but with over 80 million
active iPhones in the world, that's 40 million liters to charge those
alone. More Info »

Fashion Footprint: That cotton t-shirt you're wearing right now took 1,514
liters of water to produce, and your jeans required an extra 6,813
liters. More Info »

Bottled Water Footprint: The US, Mexico and China lead the world in bottled
water consumption, with people in the US drinking an average of 200
bottles of water per person each year. Over 17 million barrels of oil
are needed to manufacture those water bottles, 86 percent of which will
never be recycled. More Info »

Water and the environment:

The disregard for water resources in industrialized countries impacts more than humans – it causes environmental devastation.

Waste Overflow: Every day, 2 million tons of human waste are disposed of in
water sources. This not only negatively impacts the environment but also
harms the health of surrounding communities. More Info »

Polluted Oceans: Death and disease caused by polluted coastal waters costs the global economy $12.8 billion a year. More Info »

Uninhabitable Rivers: Today, 40% of America's rivers and 46% of America's lakes are
too polluted for fishing, swimming, or aquatic life. More Info »

Water solutions:

The good news is that there are great organizations working on solutions
and new tools that empower people to do their part to address the water
crisis.

Building Wells: Organizations like Water.org and charity: water are leading the
charge in bringing fresh water to communities in the developing world.

Technology for Good: Do you want to measure how much water it took to make your favorite foods? There's an app for that. More Info »

Conservation Starts at Home: The average person uses 465 liters of water per day.
Find out how much you use and challenge your readers to do that same. More Info »

Keeping Rivers Clean: We can all take small steps to help keep pollution out of
our rivers and streams, like correctly disposing of household wastes. More Info »

Drop the Bottle: Communities around the world are taking steps to reduce water bottle waste by eliminating bottled water.More Info »

[Vinodh Valluri]

The first few steps to saving water are:
1. REDUCE [stop, if willing] eating meat - producing meat uses a LOT more water than producing vegetables, grains, and fruits.
2. Do not consume alcohol - fermentation [production] and processing of alcohol uses precious drinking water - even in villages where people are dying from lack of water!
3. Education: While modern education should help us understand the value of water, ancient wisdom of our country already forbids the excessive use of alcohol and meat. Naturally, this reduces the environmental destruction caused by a society. Real education should enable us to reconnect the heritage of India with rational science.

Our country has already given us the knowledge needed to sustain a civilization as robust as the royal kingdoms of preceding centuries, whose vestiges remain forgotten. If we are to sustain our country, we should reforge the broken legacy of Indian culture, and revive ourselves.

[Iqbal paul]

Valuable information.

[abdul fasi]

Thank alot for information. now the time has to come preserve the water by giving knowledge to the villlagers and poor people and mainly by education to our future generations.

[GOPI KANTA GHOSH]

Thanks for information...we must create awareness...it has to be a mission..a movement...