Author: Mert Erol
2/3 of our world is covered with water and 97.5% of this existing water consists of oceans and other salt waters and the remaining 2.5% of the water is fresh water that all humanity can use. The world population is increasing day by day and the amount of water used is also increasing. With the increase in agriculture, industry, daily use and drinking needs, the world's water resources are in great trouble. With the wrong irrigation in agriculture, unconscious water used in industry and industrial wastes being released into fresh waters, humanity is facing a great water crisis. In this article, we will talk about this water crisis and how water management will be.
Water Crisis
Only 2.5% of the water available in the world is usable water and all people need to use this available water carefully. Approximately 460 million children in the world live in places where water shortages are severe. Natural disasters in these regions can affect water resources and as a result, water shortages increase even more. As a result, children's access to clean water decreases and their chances of catching epidemic diseases such as cholera and typhoid increase. In addition, with climate change and the resulting high temperatures, our fresh water evaporates and our access to water decreases. With the increase in global warming, glaciers are melting and this increases the ocean and sea levels and as a result, rising sea levels mix with fresh water and make our clean water unusable. With increasing industrial production and agricultural production, the amount of water we use increases and this turns into a water crisis. Due to excessive and incorrect irrigation in agriculture, excessive water used in industry and our streams flowing into the sea, our fresh water decreases and the possibility of us facing a major water crisis increases. For this situation, measures must be taken on a global scale, starting with a regional one, otherwise, if the situation continues like this, it seems we will be faced with water wars in the future.
Water Management Solutions
As a result of increasing drought and overuse, our clean water resources are decreasing and we as a whole humanity may face a major water crisis. Here are a few suggestions to solve this crisis.
1- Explaining the importance of water conservation to people
We need to use our increasingly diminishing clean water resources carefully. For this, starting from individuals, the importance of quality water and what we may encounter should be carefully explained to the society. It is necessary to raise people's awareness about this issue by giving conferences in cities, adding nature and water-related lessons to school curricula, or by starting a major campaign on television or social media. Some people in the world are living unaware of the water crisis and think that their countries are rich in water. This misconception should be prevented and awareness should be created from the individual to the society and then on a global scale.
2-Development of water treatment technologies
Although technologies that purify salt water and turn it into fresh water are currently available, they are not sufficiently developed. Although the purification process in coastal areas works well, the process of turning sea water into clean water will be more effective and sufficient with better quality filters and new technologies.
3-Preventing the discharge of waste into clean waters
A lot of industrial waste is generated due to the developing industry in the world, and factories discharge this waste into our streams, rivers, that is, our clean waters. As a result, the surrounding ecosystem and humanity are adversely affected by this process. Factories near streams and rivers should be carefully inspected on a country basis, and if necessary, a government officer should be assigned to each factory regarding waste processes to prevent water from being polluted by waste. In addition, it is seen that streams connected to the sea in countries are flowing in vain, and it is possible for states to prevent water from flowing in vain by building dams or changing water beds if the conditions are suitable.
4- Reusing used water
As our water resources are gradually decreasing, it is necessary to collect the water we use somewhere and use it for plant watering, cleaning outside the house and other secondary purposes. In a region with water shortage in Greece, water used in the bathroom and after very light washing is used for garden watering. With the spread of this method in the world, we can prevent excessive water use to some extent.
5- Collecting rainwater
Water flowing with rain sometimes seeps through the soil and accumulates in underground sources and reaches us again, but some of it goes directly to waste. In order to prevent this, a pipeline should be installed on the roofs and this water should be collected somewhere or directed directly to irrigation. In this way, the water flowing in vain will be evaluated in a beneficial way and we will prevent using it from the resources we have. We will have achieved great water savings with the development and spread of these systems.
As a result, we can use only a very small amount of the world's water, and this amount we have has started to become insufficient day by day. With the increasing population, agricultural production, industrial production and daily use have increased, but the water resources we have have not changed. For this, we should use the fresh water we have carefully and strictly follow the conservation measures. For this, we should start by raising people's awareness and continue with technological developments and other conservation practices. Otherwise, we may soon say goodbye to our waters that are polluted with industrial waste and diminished by excessive use, and this may turn into water wars in the future. It is possible to prevent this situation by raising people's awareness from childhood.