But wait, there's more!
How about these statistics:
One billion people in the world lack safe drinking water, and 2.6 billion people lack access to a toilet.
And here I am with THREE taps in an apartment for just one person!
Today's "Worldview" show on public radio featured a segment on drinking water around the world and the upcoming global water crisis.
Jerome McDonnell interviewed people from The Peer Water Exchange and Ann Feldman, founder of the Chicago group Artistic Circles - which just released the documentary Water Pressures, about water scarcity in Rajasthan, India. It is the most water-distressed region in the world.
Some stats from the movie:
1 in 8 people worldwide lack access to safe water. In the Thar Desert outside Rajasthan, India, local rainfall is just two inches/year. The average individual in Rajasthan uses 4 liters of water/day. In the US 400 liters/day.
Hear the radio show here.
On Saturday, the India Development Service will present a seminar called, "Water: Sacredness, Scarcity and Sustainability" from 9:00a.m. to 3:00p.m. at the Loyola University Medical Center Strich School of Medicine in Maywood. Click here for more.
In (North) American culture we come to "expect" certain things- clean water is one of them. But given how we treat our natural resources and Mother Earth, perhaps we are becoming too presumptuous! Thanks for heightening our awareness!
ReplyDeleteDear CK
ReplyDeleteThis is an important subject. I was lucky to hear a presentation on the subject of what China and the US are doing about averting the choke point of water scarcity. More than half of water use is for process water, not consumption, for cooling the processes of energy generation such as coal and others. There are a group of researchers in an organization called circle blue in Washington that are a think tank for raising awareness about this. I heard them speak last week.
cheers,
Arturo
Isn't it interesting - how the subject is on our mind at the same time (similar to how students wear the same color clothing on the same day).
ReplyDeleteToday I heard a radio piece this morning about the privatization of water in Bolivia.