Water is a Resource

I recently read some very interesting statistics from the Economist; by 2040, 5 billion of the projected 9.7 billion people in the world will live in water-stressed areas; farming accounts for 70% of global freshwater use; Israel recycles 86% of its wastewater. These facts caused me to think a lot about the world and how we treat it.

​Many, however, not all, of us in the United States are fortunate enough to be able to turn on our faucets and have fresh water pour out. We fail to realize fresh water is a resource that is slowly becoming more and more scarce. Water is cheap in the lower 48, where water is about $1.50 for 1,000 gallons (fcwa.org). In Hawaii, almost all of their fresh water comes from desalination, a fairly expensive process. The cost just to produce freshwater is $4.13 per 1000 gallons (hawaiitribune-herald.com). That's almost 300% more expensive.

Now, imagine the world is stressed for freshwater, which it is expected to be in 20 years. Likely, the world will turn to desalination, since it is fairly well-known. The average American family of 4 uses 400 gallons of water per day (epa.gov). If this continues through our dystopian, water-stressed world, that will be $602 a year per household, just to produce, based on Hawaii's current cost to produce freshwater, not to mention the markup and transportation costs to bring desalinized water from the coasts to landlocked regions.

Now, remember how I said 70% of world's freshwater use is used in farming? Farms are more common in the Midwest of the United States, where there is little-to-no salt water to be desalinized. Costs of farming will skyrocket, therefore causing food prices to surge.
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I could go on and on with negative effects of a lack of water, however, I have limited time and I'm assuming you do to. In conclusion, if we as human beings do not cut back on our freshwater use, we will not only be wasting water, but wasting our time and money in the long run.

To see your water use, and how you could reduce it, check out this website: http://www.watercalculator.org/
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