During the floods in 2007 this was a regular headline in local press, especially here in Gloucestershire. The ironic reality that flood water was covering the landscape and causing a horrendous amount of problems, yet there wasn't any fresh water to drink was a bizarre situation to be in – especially in the 21st Century. It was a stark reminder that natural disasters are no longer just something that we see in other countries but we can now expect them to happen on our sand-bagged doorsteps too. The future of this essential resource is concerning to say the least – the demand for water is soaring and the supply is tight. The amount of water readily available is fixed as a significant amount of the world's water is locked away in ice caps and glaciers. Here are some statistics that show, at a glance, the facts about the issues surrounding our water supply:
  • Globally water consumption is doubling every 20 years
  • Demand for water has tripled over the last 30 years in the USA whilst the population has doubled
  • China has 21% of the world's population and only 7% of its own water supply
  • It has been estimated that by 2025 around a third of the world will not have access to adequate drinking water
  • It takes 15 cubic meters of water to produce 1kg of meat, compared with just 1.5 cubic meters for corn. This has massive implications as countries including China, start to eat more meat.
  • Two fifths of the world's people face serious water shortages
  • Only 2.5% of the water on earth is fit for human consumption
  • 80% of all disease is borne by dirty water
Water Coolers Direct will be looking at the proposed solutions to this huge issue and will be evaluating the strategies in a future blog, so watch this space!