Aditi Lohe Speech Final

Water, water everywhere; not any drop to drink.

Every time you clap, a child in Africa dies from dehydration. By the end of this speech, thousands will be dead. Living here in the United States, we have not had any problems with water scarcity; in fact we take water for granted. In other places such as India and Africa, water is a treasure. People travel long and hard distances to find water for their families. We haven’t gone through the trouble of searching for water; instead we just turn on the faucet. We haven’t gone through the pain of dehydration, we have cold and hot water that runs from the tap. Others are not as fortunate as us. They actually understand the true value of water and its uses. So today, I’m going to enlighten you on the problems with the lack of safe drinking water, other factors affecting the proverbial drought our world is facing, and finally, some possible alternative methods we can use to help solve this over-flowing issue of water scarcity.

Water scarcity is one of the most major problems in our world, affecting more than 1.1 billion people. This being said, one in every six people lacks access to safe drinking water.

In 2006, one third of all nations suffered from clean water scarcity. When my family and I visited India, I was astonished by just how large the problem of water scarcity really was. Kids were eating scraps off the road and drinking from puddles, littered water bottles, and dirty lakes. In many parts, the land is dry and cracked; it’s only a wonder how many survive. I mean when people think of India what comes to mind? Saris, food, elephants, curry, monkeys, the movie Bend it Like Beckham, the “red dot” people wear on their foreheads? But what no one considers is all of the raw sewage pollution, the dust, the poverty, the lack of available water resources. How many people walk miles every day only to be able to carry back one or two pots of water for the whole family to live off of.

This type of problem exists almost everywhere in the world, except here in America. Sure California is suffering from a drought, but it is no comparison if you put it up against other countries in our world. For instance, in sub-Saharan Africa, out of the 800 million people living there, 300 million of them live in a water-stressed environment. According to the findings presented at the 2012 Conference on water Scarcity in Africa, “it is estimated that by 2030, 450 million to 650 million people in Africa will be living in high water stress areas, which will most likely displace anywhere between 350 million and 400 million people as conditions become more difficult to live in.” Just think about it. 400 million people will be forced to leave there home.

Also, there are other factors affecting the proverbial drought our world is facing. For instance, in Texas, there was a large drought which caused fights for the water between residents and the oil companies. Not only is there this prolong drought, but for several years there has been an excessive demand of water for fracking, which is where water and toxic chemicals are mixed together and used to drill into rock, by the oil and natural gas industries. Many of the communities in Texas are having trouble with finding a clean water resource. Millions of gallons are used annually for fracking. This is increasing the rate of water-stressed areas and also the rate of water pollution.

Considering how we rely on clean water to survive, I say it is terribly sad to know that we are currently heading towards a water crisis; and that too, we are just breeding the problem, not attempting to fix it? Sources that we tap for drinking water are being tainted with pollution and the variation in climate patterns are threatening lakes and rivers. Water pollution is caused by many different things. A few examples are sewage and wastewater, marine dumping, industrial waste, radioactive waste, oil pollution, underground storage leakages, atmospheric deposition, and global warming. Basically, all types of water pollution are harmful to the health of humans, plants, and animals. Water pollution is not something that has an immediate effect on us, but rather it hurts us after long term exposure. Examples of some pollutants are:

·        Heavy metals from industrial processes that accumulate in water sources.

·        Industrial waste- and I don’t mean Kim Kardashian- which often contains many toxic compounds.

·        Pollutants from sewage water that can often result in infectious diseases like Cholera and Typhoid Fever.

These are only a few examples of the consequences of water pollution. And while water pollution is having a great effect on everyone, there are alternative methods that we can begin to use to solve this overflowing problem with water scarcity.

For example, we can:

·        Conserve water by turning off the tap when running water is not necessary.

·        Be careful about what we throw down the sink and not throw paints, oils or other forms of litter down the drain.

·        Use environmentally friendly household products and cleaning agents.

·        Take great care not to overuse pesticides and fertilizers.

·        Plant more in our gardens

·        Not throw litter into rivers, lakes or oceans but helping to clean up any litter we see instead.

Basically, be like a stereotypical teenage boy and only shower once you start to smell.

Lastly, we can conserve water by using better farming techniques and better manufacturing techniques as well as recycling water.

It is clearly obvious that water plays a great role in our world. We use it to drink, to manufacture, to clean, to farm, to advance our society, and much, much more. I mean without water, where we would all be? Dead. Not to be crude but, we would be dead. This wonderful resource is not unlimited. We need to conserve our water usages and recycle water. Many communities around the world do not have water easily available to them whereas here we take it for granted. We cannot survive without water, so we must keep it clean and protect it.

Today we discussed the problem with the lack of safe drinking water, other factors affecting the proverbial drought our world is facing, and the possible alternative methods we can begin to use to help solve this over-flowing issue of water scarcity. And I know that this is a large problem that needs time to fix, and we’re just teenagers so what can we do, right?  But let’s just take into account that it is our generation that will be the most affected by this growing issue, so therefore we are the ones that really need to take action. The smallest of things can add up to make a large difference. I urge all of you to consider the ramifications of taking our clean drinking water for granted and to take action to minimize the impact our carbon footprints are making. Founding father Benjamin Franklin sums up the importance of having clean drinking water best with his statement, “When the well is dry we know the worth of our water.”

Works Cited

National Geographic. “Ocean Acidification: Carbon Dioxide is putting Shelled Animals at Risk.” National Geographic Society. 1996-2015. Print.

The Guides Network. “Water Pollution Guide.” Fubra Limited. 2003-2015. Print.

“Ocean Acidification by the Alliance for Climate Education. May 22, 2012. Non-Print. Video.

Jeff Orlowski. “Chasing Ice.” November 16, 2012. Non-Print. Documentary.