Threats to our Water

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Introduction 

Humans can barely survive three days without water.  It is a necessity to keeping us alive. Yet, we are not treating it with the respect it deserves.  We are polluting it more and more every day.

What are we doing to our water

70% of the earth is made up of water, however only 3% is actually drinkable. Two thirds of that drinkable water is frozen, which doesn’t leave us with much. Yet we are putting 12 million tonnes of plastic into our water each year and over 9,400 gallons of water is wasted every year. Agriculture alone uses 70% of our water but around 60% is wasted, through careless handling or damaged irrigation systems. Fertilisers  flow from farms polluting rivers and lakes. Then there are the chemicals that leak into water from washing our clothes and dyes from clothes production. 

The current and future effects 

In 2021 it was estimated that 2 billion people don’t have access to clean water and water scarcity is only going to get worse. It is not only a problem for humans. Marine life is being hugely affected by this problem. It is estimated between the years of 1960 and 2020 that the ocean lost around 2% its oxygen which is necessary for fish to survive. The ocean is also a huge carbon sink and absorbs around 31% of carbon in the atmosphere. However, the amount of carbon being absorbed has increased at an alarming rate as more is being produced. This increases the acidity of the water which is incredibly harmful to aquatic life, especially coral. Sadly, since the mid 20th century the amount of coral in the earth’s oceans has halved. Not only do corals produce oxygen for marine life, they also protect coastlines from storms. 

Pale pink background with text saying Threats to our Water and graphic of a river at the bottom

What we can do to help

  • Save water in whatever way you can, for example, collect rainwater for watering plants, turn off the tap when you brush your teeth.
  • Never litter, especially on the beach as it gets dragged back into the ocean and animals can get stuck in it.
  • Use environmentally friendly products especially laundry detergents and shower products as they eventually end up in our oceans. 


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