Freshwater & resource Essay

Freshwater is a valuable natural resource, but freshwater is only 3% of the total volume of water in the world. Two-thirds of this is found in glaciers and polar ice caps; thus leaves only 1% which can be readily acquired. Humans and other living organism on Earth need water to be able to survive. Freshwater is important in the transportation of nutrients in soil and is necessary for the propagation of plantations that support life for other organisms. Freshwater is a scarce resource; however it is easily contaminated by human activities. Human activities such as mining can contaminate rivers with heavy metals. It can also disrupt the ecological balance that requires the use of freshwater. Farmers who use excessive pesticide can contaminate freshwater supplies. Pesticides sip into the soil and flows to rivers when it rains. This human activities causes health problems, not only to humans but to other organisms as well. In some regions of the world, freshwater is not used efficiently. Irrigations and artificial dams disturb the water ecosystem. Irrigations and artificial dams direct the flow of freshwater to other paths which can harm organism who highly require freshwater. The ecological balance is destroyed which can affect several organisms that is part of the ecosystem. Excessive irrigation also induces desertification. Desertification is the decline of biological and economic activity of the soil. Desertification has been seen places around the world, such as China wherein farmers used irrigation inefficiently. Freshwater is renewable but it should be used in way that nothing is wasted. More and more people over the world are experiencing the lack of freshwater. Creating an effective water management is the only solution for this problem. References Richter, B. (2003). Ecologically sustainable water management: managing river flows for ecological integrity. Ecological Applications , 13 (1), 206-224