Water is an essential part of the life of human beings. People do need water in almost all their day-to-day activities. Food, which is one of the basic needs, is prepared using water. Development activities too, depend on water availability. The three main human aspects that depend on water include the socio-economic development, energy production, and food production. Animals too, use water to survive in their respective environments. Climate change and adaptation also depend on the available water resources. In this regard, water acts as an important link between the society and the environment.
Water usage can be categorized into domestic and commercial usage. Domestically, we use water to make food, to rehydrate, and for cleaning. Commercially, water can be used for irrigation in crop production, in industries as a raw material and for cooling machines, and to produce energy. Water is also essential for maintaining a good health in human beings. Most infections are related to poor hygiene, and lack of clean water. If humans use clean water in their daily activities, the infection rates are greatly reduced. Because of such great importance of water, there is need to attain a balance between the water that we obtain from the available water resources and the amount of water that we use for both domestic and commercial purposes (Asdak & Munawir, 2017). Also, there is need to establish good water control and cleaning systems so that the wastage of water resources are minimized, and the water supply for domestic use is clean. Various countries worldwide have authorities responsible for controlling water usage.
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Water resources refer to the available natural sources of water that can potentially produce usable water for human activities. According to geography, about 70 percent of the earth surface is made up of water. Also, 97 percent of the earth’s water is salty water, while only 3 percent is fresh water. Over two-thirds of the freshwater exist in frozen form, while most of the remaining fresh water exists underground. The freshwater existing above the ground is, therefore, a very small fraction of the earth’s total water. One positive thing about the fresh water is that it is always renewable. The underground freshwater resource is steadily reducing, mostly in Asia, and both South and North America. The small fraction of the available fresh water resources means that water is a precious commodity which must be used with care and any kind of wastage should be minimized. While most developed countries have a well-structured water allocation mechanism, most developing countries are experiencing various water problems such as shortages and floods.
Sources of Fresh Water
Human beings mostly use fresh water for both the domestic and commercial activities. The fresh water is very limited in supply, thus, there is need to properly manage the few available resources. Freshwater resources include surface water, groundwater, frozen water, desalination source, and the under river water. All these sources provide fresh water which needs to be processed first before they can finally be used (Asdak & Munawir, 2017).
Surface Water
The surface water refers to the waters available in the rivers, lakes, or any other fresh wetland. Water from the surface resources has the ability to naturally self-regulate in that, they get replenished through precipitation, and they get lost through discharge to larger bodies, evaporation or groundwater recharge. The amount of water available in the ground resources is affected by a number of factors. First is precipitation which is the only natural factor. Others include the storage capacity of the water bodies, permeability of the soils beneath the bodies, and the evaporation rates in the environment where the water bodies are found. The human activities also have some impacts on the surface water bodies. People tend to increase the storage capacities of water, by building storage reservoirs such as dams. When there are excess water capacities, they drain the wetlands. Humans also control the flow of water by building runoff systems and pavements.
In the daily lives of humans, water requirement does vary from time to time. For example, there are farms that need a lot of water during a particular period but need no water during some other periods. Therefore, people do collect the surface water and place it in some storage facilities, where the water will be drawn when its need arises (Haddeland et al., 2014).
Under River Water
When a river flows, its water content is a combination of the visible flowing water and the water that is flowing through the rocks and sediments beneath the river. Mostly the invisible water consists of the majority of the water in the river. The under river water does act as a source of fresh water for the regions nearing the river. They are usually seen in areas with many potholes and underground rivers.
Ground Water
The ground fresh water is located in the pore spaces of the soils and rocks in the subsurface. Some of the groundwater flows within aquifers right below water tables. Just like the surface water, the groundwater serves as one of the commonly used water resources for human consumption. The slight difference is that extracting the underground water requires more resources and so, many people do not use it (Pyne, 2017). The groundwater, therefore, has a low turnover and so, it is larger in volume. The source of groundwater is the seepage from the surface waters through the permeable soils. The groundwater is naturally reduced by seepage into the oceans and into springs.
Desalination and Frozen Water
Water from the salty sources, such as seas can also be converted into fresh water through a process known as desalination. The process simply removes salt from the water. The widely used desalination processes include distillation and reverse osmosis. The process is, however, more expensive than most of the alternative fresh water sources. This reason explains why desalination is not a popular fresh water source. Frozen water is currently being used only for research purposes. Several attempts have been made to make the icebergs as a source of fresh water but no breakthrough has been made yet.
Scarcity of Water Resource
Scarcity is the biggest threat to the water as a resource. Water scarcity exists in two ways. First, there is an uneven distribution of the freshwater sources. Some regions have a low supply of water that cannot satisfy all their needs. Secondly, the globe as a whole has a low fresh water supply. The scarcity of water is caused by the increased usage in the industrial sector. The business world is expanding daily due to the increased inventions and innovations. Industries are, therefore, expanding their levels of production. The expansion means that more water is being used, leading to depletion of the available resources.
The demand for domestic water is also increasing, thus, contributing to the scarcity of water resource. There is an urbanization trend which is on the increase. The urbanization means more water is required for domestic use (Gabor et al., 2017). The wells and tanks are not sufficient enough to supply all the urban populations. The general population is also increasing day by day, increasing the demand for water. In the coming years, the available sources of water will become depleted if conservation measures are not put up.
Conclusion
Water is an essential resource in the life of human beings. Even though a huge portion of the earth is covered by water, most of the water is salty. Just a small portion of the earth’s water is fresh. Of the fresh water, some large fraction is not readily available for use. The water from these sources must first undergo some processes, some of which are very expensive. The freshwater as a resource is scarce and is unevenly distributed. Governments and some non-governmental organizations exercise some regulatory mechanisms to help conserve the available water resources.
References
Asdak, C., & Munawir, M. (2017). Integrated Water Resources Conservation Management for a Sustainable Food Security. KnE Life Sciences , 2 (6), 238-245.
Gabor, R., Hall, S., Eiriksson, D., Jameel, Y., Millington, M., Stout, T., ... & Neilson, B. (2017). Persistent urban impacts on surface water quality via impacted groundwater in Red Butte Creek.
Haddeland, I., Heinke, J., Biemans, H., Eisner, S., Flörke, M., Hanasaki, N., ... & Stacke, T. (2014). Global water resources affected by human interventions and climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 111 (9), 3251-3256.
Pyne, R. D. (2017). Groundwater recharge and wells: a guide to aquifer storage recovery . Routledge.
