Water: so necessary and so scarce

2003/06/05 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Ingurumena
• Giza zientziak

The motto chosen by the United Nations for this Environment Day is exciting: "Two billion people are dying from lack of water." Despite being a gross amount, the United Nations also provides other data to make it aware, for example, one in six people has no access to fresh water. In addition, 2.4 billion people do not have a suitable system to obtain clean water, which causes a child per second to die from diseases.

Therefore, it is clear that the slogan has not been chosen without more. It is raw, but the situation is also so. Precisely, the year 2003 is the Year of Fresh Water of the United Nations, and they want to draw attention to the fact that water is a treasure to preserve in this Environment Day.

It is not just a matter of encouraging governments to take action. With the aim of raising awareness to the whole society, it has launched different initiatives aimed at each sector. And it is that the forecasts made by the United Nations for the future are not very positive. If the current trend does not change, within 20 years the human being will use 40% more water than now, and many more people will suffer the consequences of lack of water.

The solution is not in the hands of a single friend, even if topical, we can all do something. Surely there is more than one without realizing that it spends more water than necessary. And you… do you want to know if you are a friend of water? If the answer is affirmative, here is a test prepared by the United Nations Environment Programme.

Image: Image: United Nations/UNEP