Whether or not you buy into global warming or climate change, there is no denying the fact that the earth is going through a catastrophic drought and water shortage. Every continent on earth is experiencing extreme drought, and America is one of the few countries that isn’t suffering the worst water shortage on record.

Only a few of our western states are affected currently, but it’s quite possible that many more states will soon be at risk.   

Most people are focused on energy shortages, a global economic collapse, or problems with immigration, and possibly another world war.

I can assure you that without water, all of those fears and speculations will be imminent. In my opinion, the problem is not with the amount of rain we receive, but with the vast amount of water it takes to provide for the 7.5 billion people to survive on a daily basis. The food and agriculture that it takes to feed all the people on earth is also non-existent without huge amounts of water on a continuous daily basis.

Simply put, our ecosystem wasn’t designed to provide for the current world population. If you look at world population numbers, there were only 1 billion people in or around 1800. The world population didn’t hit 2 billion until the late 1920’s, 3 billion by 1960, 5 billion before 1990, and 6 billion by the year 2000.......you get the picture.

Centuries ago, most people survived by living close to lakes, rivers, marshes or deltas, and natural springs. This is no longer possible with our population numbers, so many must depend on water wells for survival. Many wells have simply dried up, or they have succumbed to chemicals or other contaminates that eventually soak down to the water source.   

Even though the earth is a blue planet,  97.5% is salt water, and that leaves us with a mere 2.5% of fresh water. There are many that believe that we can remove the salt from our oceans, but it’s not nearly as easy as one might think.

The concentration of salt in seawater is 35 parts per thousand, or 3.5%. The weight of salt in 1 cubic mile of seawater is approximately 120 million tons. Since the average American consumes 1 ton per year, we would quickly have too much salt to dispose of to get the water we’ll need from the sea.

Much of the remaining fresh water is contaminated now, and approximately 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to fresh drinking water or toilets.

The human and animal waste is washed into their water supplies, therefore it’s consumed by people, livestock, and the wildlife. It’s estimated that 4,000-5,000 young children die daily around the world due to contaminated water, sadly that’s not counting the amount that die of starvation every single day.

There are now many non-profit organizations that help people in countries like Cambodia with fresh water techniques by simply supplying them with an in house filtering device.

One might wonder why they don’t just boil their water, but poor countries lack access to natural gas and propane like the industrial countries have. They would have to buy coal or wood to achieve that task, simply too expensive for extremely poor families.

The mass exodus of people in Africa and South America is due to the unprecedented drought conditions, and they are simply trying to gain access to water for their survival. Many are at the mercy of rebels, neo-governments and ideals, or extremist groups that gain control of the people with food and water supplies.  

Eventually America will be affected by the world drought conditions, regardless of our fresh water supply. It’s difficult to get exact numbers on the amount of water usage by the U.S., but it’s estimated that we used close to 322 billion gallons per day in the year 2015.

Everyday more water is wasted by consumers and manufacturers, and much of it will not be absorbed back into our atmosphere for natural rain. Some water will be permanently contaminated, and can never be recycled for future use.  Of course the earth can filter this poison water, but it takes decades if not centuries to do so.

I’m not pointing the finger at others, I’m just pointing out the likely scenario that fresh water will be the #1 concern at the top of every country’s list in the near future. I can honestly admit that I’m guilty of using more water than necessary, as will most everyone else that reads this.

As we take that second daily shower, water our lawns and flower/shrub beds, fill up the swimming pool, or wash our vehicles for the second or third time this week, maybe we should take a moment and give thanks.

It may soon be a luxury that is part of our past, and sadly not the future.

Mike Atchley