Friday, October 15, 2010

In Search of Clean Water

It is believed that water is one of the few life-sustaining elements in the entire solar system, and it is only found in high volumes here on Earth. For billions of years, nature has depended on water in order to flourish and develop. But then, man appeared and became the dominant force that would shape the world, and indeed he did. In just several thousand years, he drastically changed the face of the Earth, exploiting all its natural resources and tainting the once pure source of life. Now we are beginning to realize that the search for clean water has begun.

In every successful and industrialized city is a river, sea, or lake behind it. World-renowned cities like New York, Tokyo, and London could not have developed into large, bustling cities if not for the help of their adjacent sources of water.

It is just natural to depend on water as a source of food, an area for trade, and a means of travel. What makes everything wrong is when water becomes both the starting and end point of industrialization. Once all the available clean water within an area is exhausted, there is no way to replace it. You cannot suck in all the filthy water in the sea and refill it with clean water, unless you are a god.

In locations where getting clean water is impossible, people just satisfy themselves drinking unsafe water, hoping their bodies are strong enough to fight the disease-causing microbes in it. While adults usually emerge victorious over their microscopic foes, children do not, which results to thousands of deaths.

Unfortunately, six out of ten individuals just wouldn’t care if told this fact, and three will just shake their heads and return to whatever it is they’re doing. Only one may take a step to solve the problem, that is, if he is not part of the second group.

Water is not just a necessity. It is life itself. Numerous cities around the world are already experiencing shortages of clean and potable water as a result of our own ways. But there are still things we can do to reduce the damage. We just have to be aware of what is going on. If we do not act now, more people will perish from this Earth. Eventually, its description as “the only planet in the solar system that has life” may become a myth.