Water exists all around us. Within our own homes, with just a turn of the tap, we will have access to clean water. We often thoughtlessly use water in our daily lives. However, such an abundance of water around us has made us disillusioned. We see water as an endless supply that will always be available to us when this is not true. Our human activities have an impact on water quality and supply and if we continue to utilize water in the same manner, we may be faced with a water crisis in the future.

The Impact We Do Not See

There are different ways in which human activities impact our water supply and quality. One harmful practice that we are more accustomed to hearing about is our excessive consumption of water. One of the human activities that use the most amount of water is agriculture. It is estimated that 70% of freshwater around the world is used for agriculture. Water is used for a variety of processes in agriculture, such as irrigation, crop cooling and frost control. Closer to home, toilet flushing uses the most water in our households. Research done by the United States Environmental Protection Agency found that flushing a toilet uses 3 to 7 gallons of water. As we can observe, water is constantly being withdrawn to meet our urban needs.

However, this means that there is less water available in our environment. It has been found that excessive human water consumption has decreased local and downstream streamflow in Europe, North America, and Asia, increasing the severity of hydrological droughts. Prolonged droughts can harm ecosystems and result in land subsidence or seawater intrusion. Our environment will be negatively affected, and we will suffer from the consequences as well. In fact, reports have suggested that by 2025, about two-thirds of the population may experience water scarcity, a situation where there are insufficient freshwater resources to meet the current demand. A future where we are faced with water shortage is within reach, and it is important to recognize the need to protect our water resources for both ourselves and our ecosystem.

The water we use for both agriculture and our domestic needs can also affect our water quality. Water used for our domestic needs may be contaminated with organic material. In the case of sewage outfall, the organic material in water will need oxygen to decompose, which will stress or may even kill aquatic biota. In terms of agriculture, antibiotics are often fed to livestock to enhance their growth. The manure of these livestock, which contain pharmaceuticals, are scattered across land as fertilizer and may leach into local water bodies, contaminating them.

Another aspect in which agriculture harms water quality is through the increase in sediment in water bodies. While sediment can occur naturally in water bodies, agriculture, and other human activities such as mining, clearing forests and building roads can create large amounts of sediment. Sediment regimes are important for the sustainability of a natural ecosystem. Sediment is considered to be a pollutant and can reduce water quality by preventing natural vegetation such as algae from growing in water and reducing visibility for living organisms in the water. The water bodies in the environment are suffering from our human activities.

The Future is in Our Hands

The future of our water supply may seem dire, but it is still not too late for change. The simplest way is to begin by reducing our water consumption from within our own homes.

There are many methods we can adopt to save water. In particular, due to the COVID-19 situation, it is found that water consumption has increased. This is expected because people are more aware of the need to maintain sanitary conditions by washing their hands and is a practice that must continue due to the nature of the pandemic. However, it was also found that traces of the virus may remain on objects, many people often wipe down their materials upon returning home. Instead, an alternative to wiping objects down with water is using uv sanitizing for home to sanitize objects such as wallets, cell phones and keys. Not only would this save water, but it is also efficient and provides a peace of mind given its effective cleansing.

Regarding the issue of sediment in water bodies, we can also adopt day-to-day practices such as washing their car at commercial car wash or avoid moving when lawns within 10 to 25 feet of a stream or creek.

While it is important to play our part as individuals, it is also necessary for governments to set systems in place to ensure the sustainability of our water resources. To effectively manage our resources, we need to recognize the cyclical and cascading effect of human activities on hydrological pathways. It is not possible to cease our human activities, but we must learn to reduce our impact on the environment and protect our water resources. Some countries are increasingly looking towards hydroponic agriculture, which uses up to ten times less water than conventional agriculture. The United States of America has also implemented the Clean Water Act, which requires facility owners to adapt withdrawal technologies such that they will have less impact on the environment.

There may be an abundance of water on earth but only a small amount is available for use, and we cannot take it for granted. Water is a precious resource, and we need to take action to secure water sustainability for all of us.