Mothers who are unable to provide fresh drinking water to their children, often times relying on sugary sodas and juices because it’s cheaper and more accessible than tap water. Families who go weeks at a time without showering, because nothing comes out when they turn on the faucet. Towns that go hungry because farmers can’t water their sun-drenched crops when the entire region is facing a water shortage.
While this scenario typically evokes images of Third World countries in far off regions of Africa and Asia, in reality, one may need not look any further than Detroit, Michigan, to see the realities of a global water crisis. According to the United Nations Development program, more than one billion people (nearly one in six people on the planet) lack access to clean, safe drinking water. This statistic is particularly dire, considering that effects of this widespread dilemma include improper sanitation, disease, and in many cases, death. The United States is no exception.
Aaron Krolikowski, a senior political science and environmental studies major traveled to Tanzania, Africa, to develop a water transportation system in a village there. Krolikowski observed that the villagers “have one water source for human consumption, animal bathing and drinking, irrigation, and the animal waste, which also ends up in this same river.” With no government regulation or a system for water purification in place, and with water in such high demand, this puts the people at risk. The most common victims are often women and children, says Krolikowski.
Water scarcity is characterized as an imbalance between water availability and demand due to rising population, urbanization, or ecological factors. This is a growing problem all over the world due to the privatization and commercialization of water by corporations like Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and Nestle. This happens when private enterprises buy access to water sources, once maintained and distributed solely by public and government services, and use it to make a profit. Many argue that by doing so, companies are turning a basic human right into a money-making commodity. According to the World Health Organization, water scarcity already affects four in ten people and is only expected to worsen.
Increasing global population is also to blame for the amplified stress on water supply. According to Krowlikowski, “the water scarcity problem is so widespread due to global population pressures and an increased demand for water by the escalating population.” According to the World Resources Institute, the world population is increasing by about one billion people every 12-14 years, and the need for water is only expected to worsen in the coming years.
When water is regarded as a basic human right, it is hard to imagine that currently one third of the world’s population is living in water stress. This means that two billion people are living day-to-day without reasonable access to drinking water. According to wateraid.org, only 60 percent of the population in the country of Uganda has access to safe drinking water, while only 43 percent have proper sanitation and 44 percent of the population is living under the poverty line. That still leaves almost half of the population without access to a safe water supply and in jeopardy of contracting potentially deadly waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrheal disease, and typhoid every day.
With lack of access to clean water comes improper sanitation which can lead to contamination of ground water resources. When the ground water becomes contaminated, disease and death often results. According to the U.S Coalition for Child Survival, microorganisms in unsafe drinking water are responsible for 2.2 million deaths a year and diarrheal diseases are responsible for 90 percent of deaths of children under five years of age in underdeveloped countries. Diarrheal diseases are often transmitted through bacteria and parasites in unsafe drinking water and go untreated because patients are unable to afford the medications to treat the diseases. For example, Guinea Worm Disease, which results when peoples don’t have safe water to drink and must be removed by a trained doctor. The people this disease affects don’t have access to safe drinking water and it’s no surprise that they have no access to health care as well. Cryptosporidiosis, or Crypto, is a diarrheal disease often transported by water through a parasite. This disease affects both humans and animals and can be potentially deadly if not treated properly according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention
This water crisis is not only affecting people in unindustrialized nationsn but has effects seen in America due to the privatization of water companies and increased water costs as well. According to recently popular documentaries such as Flow, Thirst, and A World Without Water, this water crisis is more widespread than most Americans think. As shown in the documentary A World Without Water, over 40,000 citizens of Detroit had their water in a one year period as part of an aggressive water cutoff program. This program was instituted by the mayor and his water director, who just happened to be the former president of a private water company. This is believed to be part of a plan to institute water privatization in Detroit. That year almost as many families in Detroit were without water much like in Bolivia, the poorest country in South America.
Water wars are happening all over the world due to shortages of water for drinking and irrigation. According to USA Today, 40 percent of the world’s population is already affected, and the number is only expected to increase in upcoming years. Issues like global warming are also expected to worsen the already deteriorating water crisis. A PBS documentary, Bottle This, projected that in 50 years a gallon of water will cost more than a gallon of gas. As stated in the 2006 documentary, A World Without Water, currently the most insensible water consumer uses as many as 800 liters of water per person per day. People who have access to seamlessly unlimited water use it as if it were unlimited with no clear understanding that many people on Earth lack this ability.
Commercialization of water by corporations like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestle has led to a huge bottled water industry, even though bottled water comes from the same sources as tap water and is sold back to the public at 1000 times the cost. The plastic bottles in which bottled water is sold not only require fossil fuels to create, but they also fill our landfills after disposal. Bottled water is the second most popular beverage (soda is still first), yet 31 percent of soda bottles are recycled and only 11 percent of water bottles are recycled. The bottled water industry is a seven billion dollar industry for selling people what they already have in their homes. Perhaps there is some truth to the old joke that Evian is naïve spelled backwards.
“The plastic bottles used for bottled water are a huge waste of our personal resources because they are petroleum-derived and they place an increased demand on crude oil,” said Krolikowski.
Esther Esdouza, a junior environmental design major and secretary of Environmental Network, recently came to the University at Buffalo from India. Esdouza can recall times in India when that she had to pump water from a well when visiting family members because they didn’t have running water.
Esdouza’s opinion about water scarcity due to bottled water and commercialization is that, “Bottled water companies using up fresh water resources is the cause of the water drying up.”
Perhaps Esdouza’s family was feeling the effects of the Coca-Cola Corporation’s bottling plant in Kaladera, India, which is responsible for the increasing water scarcity in the region. Before the plant opened, the ground water level in Kaladera was a safe 20 feet and now it is deep level of 150 to165 feet. Coca-Cola uses as many as three liters of water to produce one liter of their popular soda and uses Kaladera’s water to fill their bottled water bottles and ship them out of the country. Farmers are upset because they are taking water out of the ecosystem and hold them responsible for the falling water level. Coca-Cola blames Kaladera’s dry season, but the farmers insist that if the water was not consistent, then Coke would not have moved there in the first place. Many farmers have lost their farms and are unable to feed their families due to the falling water levels.
According to Esther Esdouza, “In a world where families are already worried about the cost of oil to heat their homes and rising costs of food, adding water to the list is another expense citizens would not be able to afford.”
With the cost of oil already so high and the cost of food rising four times this year, families will not be willing to pay for water. The world is covered 70 percent by water and many people believe that they have a right to it. Many health experts stress the importance of recognizing that water, like oil, is an irreplaceable resource, and this crisis needs to be addressed immediately. Milton Clerk, a senior health and science adviser for the U.S Environmental Protection Agency, told The Toronto Sun in April of this year that “We will in fact get into major water wars. You will see water wars coming in every way, shape, or form.”
Esdouza believes the increased popularity of documentaries like Thirst and Flow can help raise awareness about the growing water scarcity problem. The United Nations warns that by 2025, two thirds of the world’s population, or as many as five billion people, will lack access to water.
One way that UB students can help is through the Think Outside the Bottle Campaign. This is an effort to encourage communities, students, and organizations to choose tap water over bottled water. This campaign will be coming to UB and urging all students to take the pledge. Part of this campaign will be testing students to see if they really can tell the difference between the bottle and the tap. By taking this pledge you can reduce the millions of dollars in oil it costs to meet US demand for bottled water, and the over 2.5 million tons of Carbon dioxide emissions caused by the cars transporting those bottles.
According to Africa News, the wars of this century are being fought because of oil; the wars of next century will be fought because of water. It is necessary to recognize that water, like oil, is an irreplaceable resource. Without proper prevention the next major war will most likely be over water.
“Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.” The English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge said it best. Although water can be plentiful, covering more than half our earth, it can at the same time be incapable of use. Natural water resources need to be regulated for pollution and contamination in order to ensure public safety. In many countries there is no government regulation on water to ensure the public safety like there is in the U.S. “There is a lack of leadership on matters of resource management and distribution” said Africa News. If we want to secure water for the future it is important for policymakers and leaders to implement water regulations including resource management and equal distribution for everyone.
