Why should we save water?

Lina and Leon are brushing their teeth. - Leon! Don’t leave the tap on! You’re wasting water! - Why does it matter?! Water is always in the tap anyway! Water is practically everywhere around us - it covers more than 70% of the Earth’s surface in the form of oceans, lakes, rivers, and glaciers.

It is in the clouds, in the soil, and in all living things. The total amount of water doesn’t change, and there is as much water on the planet now as there was when dinosaurs existed! If there is so much water and the amount of it doesn’t change, why should we save it? To begin with, not all water is suitable for all human needs. Most water on the planet is saltwater, which is not suitable for drinking, cooking, industry, farming...

Also, most freshwater is trapped somewhere where we can’t access it - for example in soil, in living organisms, or in glaciers in the mountains. A great portion of freshwater is also not usable because of pollution. In fact, only about half a percent of all the water on Earth is accessible, clean freshwater, suitable for human consumption. Leon is lucky enough to live in a place where there is plenty of freshwater available, and it can be delivered directly to his home. But that’s not true for everyone.

Water is not distributed evenly around the planet. In some places the climate is dry and hot, and water evaporates quickly. In other places it rains frequently and water collects in lakes and underground. But even where it normally rains a great deal, certain events, such as drought, or overuse of water, can lead to water shortage. Saving water can minimise the risk and severity of temporary water shortages.

In places where good freshwater sources are scarce, water often needs to be obtained in another way. For example, on some islands, where it doesn’t rain much, people use seawater. But they have to remove salt from the water first. They need to desalinate the water. However, desalinating usually requires advanced technology and is very costly.

Even in places where freshwater is easily accessible, providing everyone with clean drinking water can be very costly. It requires you to drill or dig wells to access groundwater sources. You need to run facilities to purify water and make it suitable for drinking. And you also need to build and maintain systems of pipes and pumps. Distributing water and delivering it from a source to someone’s tap requires a lot of electricity as well.

All this costs a lot of money. Wasting water or using more water than necessary, might make it more difficult and even more expensive to access water and deliver it to everyone. The total amount of water on Earth stays the same, and there is no risk of Earth running out of water. But the amount of clean usable freshwater is not endless, and we still need to use water resources wisely and carefully. By preventing water wastage, and reducing water consumption, we can conserve our water.

We can help ensure that people around the world will be able to enjoy clean water. Now, and in the future.