Water: Matter of Life or Death

Do you like treats? Imagine that you have a bag of candies.

While you are eating your sweets, you think you should save
some for later. But you do not care and eat them up. A few
hours later you want more candies, but there are no more. That
is what is happening with the Earth’s water.

Currently, our planet is 70% of water, consisting of salty

and freshwater. You will probably think that we have a lot, and
the lack of it will not be a problem nowadays and in the future.
But certainly, it is a huge problem for all species alike. The only
water that we can consume, and use is fresh, that is in rivers,
lakes, lagoons, waterfalls, creeks, etc. All of those just represent
2.5% of the total amount of water.

Now there is not as much water as you thought, right? You

are probably thinking that we could use salty water so that we
do not waste fresh water. But we cannot drink salt water
because if we do, we could get sick or even die.

There is another problem that puts the availability of clean

water at high risk. We also pollute it with garbage, waste,
plastic, chemicals, oil, etc. This is killing animals, plants, and
people alike.

We lack consciousness of the importance of water, and we

act irresponsibly, wasting more water than we need. If we
continue like this, we will run out of freshwater. Future
generations will suffer the lack of it as never has been seen,
endangering all the life on planet Earth.

For example, a lot of enormous lakes and rivers have dried

out, like the Río Grande, which is a very important river that
separates the United States and Mexico. Day after day it dries
out, and it gets more and more polluted each time. That is
because of humans!
 Another great example is the lake Atitlan. This lake is the
biggest body of fresh water in Guatemala. People throw their
wastes in the lake as if it were a garbage dump.

In Honduras, the Lake of Yojoa is contaminated with

cyanide, which is used to separate gold from silver in the mines
that are around. The lake also has dried up over the years.

Now let’s see the other side of the coin: the climate change
largely due to deforestation, this has led to the melting of the
poles, for that reason we are now seeing frequently hurricanes
and tropical storms, that have produced large floods,
destruction, and death.

And because of this, the animals that live in the north pole
are dying, like the polar bear that is in danger of extinction.
 Imagine that you are on a hot summer day. You enter your
house and go to the kitchen. You grab a cup and turn on the
water, but there is nothing. You go to the bathroom to wash
your hands, but the water is not running. You ask your parents
what is happening, but they have no idea of what is happening.
Outside you see all your neighbors confused. One of them even
yells “But I paid my water bill yesterday!” What are you going
to do now?

All living beings need water, we can only survive 3 to

5 days without it. Water is life, without it, everything will end.
That is why I insist that we must take care of this vital liquid.
Thank you for your attention.

Credits:

Ecología Verde
CONTAMINACIÓN de LAGOS y RÍOS: Causas, Consecuencias y Cómo evitarla(ecologiaverde.com)

Hazteco
Proteger El Ciclo Del Agua - Danone (danoneespana.es)

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Made by: Luz Angélica Galeano Deras