Water scarcity – why is it an issue?

Every drop of fresh water is precious.

Water is essential for life. The #WaterIsLife hashtag you see on social media reminds us of this.

And fresh water is essential for life on land.

That’s why we have World Water Day : it helps us to remember how important fresh water is and how we can value and look after it better. (The best hashtag to see what people are saying and sharing about the day on social media are #WorldWaterDay.)

And now every drop of fresh water is increasingly precious.

So, it’s increasingly important to focus on our fresh water resources.

Here’s why:

Warmer atmosphere holds more water

So what’s causing it – and what does it mean for our fresh water?

One consequence of damage to our climate is that a warmer atmosphere holds more water – so rain events can become less frequent & more extreme. Here is one example from the extreme rain in eastern Australia in March 2022:

A video from under the bridge is just as spectacular:

It’s a new water feature 🤩 pic.twitter.com/MjmqAx2JVb

— Robert (@the_LoungeFly) March 8, 2022

Less fresh water on land

The warmer atmosphere holding more water is a big contributor to drying of our soils as well as floods that bring destruction, disruption, disease and lack of drinkable water, and freshwater that flows to sea rather than soaking into the ground.

This is why we have increasing water scarcity.

Yet demand for water is increasing.

Why demand for fresh water is increasing

Our increasing population & higher living standards also increase demand for fresh water.

So too does extracting coal & gas – which in turn increases damage to our climate & the consequences of that damage.

In the face of (increasing) water scarcity, this is not good.

On another front, eating large amounts of meat (esp. red meat like beef & lamb) and dairy also consumes large amounts of freshwater & damages our climate. And increasing numbers of people are eating more meat…contributing to water scarcity.

This is also not good as we deal with (increasing) water scarcity.

Yet eating more plants (including protein from plants) is good for us & our common home. To make a start, try Meat Free Monday as a start.

Every drop of fresh water is precious – so we need to treat it as precious

All this underscores our need to value highly our freshwater and to use it carefully.

This is why there is a growing movement to value every drop of fresh water and make every drop count.

You can find out more about what people are doing by searching for “Every Drop Counts” in a search engine or searching for #EveryDropCounts or #MakeEveryDropCount on social media. You’ll find some great inspiration and ideas there.

I like the Make Every Drop Count campaign run in Melbourne, Australia – especially its title. Check out the practical hints it has shared from members of the Melbourne community.

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And I have written some posts too.

Individual action isn’t enough

There’s a lot of focus on action at the individual, family and other small levels. While this is important. it’s no where near enough to solve the increasing water scarcity problem.

We also need systems-level changes.

One important thing we can do to get systems-level changes is to support and vote for people who are focussed on the common good (not vested interests). In particular, we need our representatives to be people who are committed to:

• water as a public good
• taking action for the urgent and transformative changes we need to change course for a safer and more sustainable future: more stable and habitable climate with more reliable and safe freshwater supplies and less disruption and destruction.

Take action

Of course learning and becoming inspired is important.

Yet taking action is more important – because that’s what makes a difference to our world.

• Here are three things you can do to look after our fresh water:
  • make at least one of the practical water-saving changes suggested by people in the Melbourne community, shared via the Make Every Drop Count campaign
  • eat less meat – some extra reasons and hints to help you get started are here
  • vote for people focussed on the common good (not vested interests) – especially people committed to water as a public good & taking action for the urgent and transformative changes we need to change course for a safer climate and more reliable, publicly-owned freshwater supplies

• If you’re on social media, share all or part of this post.
  • This post is based on a Twitter thread I wrote for World Water Day. You can read and access the original thread at https://unrollthread.com/t/1506182641313521672/
  • Use relevant hashtags:
    #WorldWaterDay #WorldWaterDay2022 #WaterIsLife
    #EveryDropCounts #makeeverydropcount
    #ClimateImpacts #ExtremeWeather #ClimateCrisis #ClimateActionNow #MeatFreeMonday

Join me!

Any change or challenge is easier if you have company along the way.

So, let’s journey together.

• Read my blog. It has ideas, thoughts and experiences for living a lower carbon lifestyle, more in harmony with nature – while also adapting to the consequences of our damaged climate.
• Commit to taking action yourself.
• Comment on my posts. That way you can let me know you’re joining in the effort to turn around our world so it can remain liveable – and what your experiences are.
• Share with others my posts and what you’re doing – our efforts, progress, experiences and challenges – on Facebook, on Twitter, in conversations with friends, on talkback radio and in letters to the editor.
• Subscribe to get posts direct to your inbox.

A problem shared is a problem halved. We’re all affected by the changes to our world, so we need to be all in on the action to stop, reduce and deal with those problems!