Free Custom «The Creeping Water Crisis» Essay Paper

This essay investigates the literature on water crisis that is currently taking toll in the global arena. It examines the causes and effects of the increased use of water by humans due to the population surge especially in those regions that are already facing serious shortages. According to the literature, these problems start with poor management of the natural resources by humans and the laxity by governments to implement the environmental laws. In order to reverse this self-destructive trend, the literature suggests that society must adopt a new perspective to the idea of environmental conservation. The political class, policy makers, civil society as well as the general public must dispel the loose idea that conservation of the environment is a preserve of some aspects of the society. Furthermore, adults must model their kids to develop into a responsible people who will be able to promote the green agenda. Finally, the society must urgently begin to see the environment as our first and foremost responsibility to keep, at least for the sake of the next generations. (Brown, Lester, 2008)

 

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The beginning of the 20^th century saw the global population increase by up to three fold the previous statistics of the 19^th century. However, the bad news is that it came with a six fold increase in the use of renewable sources of water. This trend has caused scientist to project that the increase may go up by another 50% imposing an even greater strain on the natural water sources considering that we are in the heat of the industrial age. It is a pity to imagine what this would imply to our environment if immediate action is not taken to tame the human race’s appetite for this natural resource. As a matter of fact, this age has been marked with more water delivered waste products from industries, a fact that has had grave impacts on the welfare of the human race. These include a worrying number of people who lack access to safe water for drinking, inadequate sanitation, mortalities from water borne diseases if the statistics from WHO are anything to go by. (Rawsthorn, Alice, 2011)

The causes of this menace have been associated majorly with the increasing global population that does not seem to have been properly planned for. Due to this, most societies find that the pressure on the existing water resources is gradually becoming unbearable. The dire need for people to find alternative lands for settlement when they finally realize that they are too crowded in an area makes them encroach in the forests as the next best option. And worse still, when they finally establish their settlements in these forests, they feel an urge to draw all their sources of livelihood from the forests including using them as the grazing grounds especially among the nomadic communities. As if this is not enough, they often clear more of the forest cover to establish farm lands and this eventually reduces the overall source of natural water. (Fannin, Blair, 2011)

In certain instances, weak laws have been blamed for the deteriorating nature of the global environment. For instance, laws that only cosmetically penalize illegal logging have played a major role in destroying the global forest cover which makes 90% of the total water catchment areas in the world. Although the people involved in this are certainly aware of the environmental implications of their actions, the greed for money, as would any non rational human, has blinded their eyes to the obvious threat that their actions pose to the next generations. It is therefore appropriate that the stakeholders in this field take a bold step towards regulating the use of the forests especially as relates to logging. (Fannin, Blair, 2011)