Dying Earth
Water pollution
is the contamination of natural water bodies by chemical, physical, radioactive or pathogenic microbial substances. Adverse alteration of water quality presently produces large scale illness and deaths, accounting for approximately 50 million deaths per year worldwide, most of these deaths occurring in Africa and Asia. In China, for example, about 75 percent of the population (or 1.1 billion people) are without access to unpolluted drinking water, according to China's own standards. Widespread consequences of water pollution upon ecosystems include species mortality, biodiversity reduction and loss of ecosystem services. Some consider that water pollution may occur from natural causes such as sedimentation from severe rainfall events; however, natural causes, including volcanic eruptions and algae blooms from natural causes constitute a minute amount of the instances of world water pollution. The most problematic of water pollutants are microbes that induce disease, since their sources may be construed as natural, but a preponderance of these instances result from human intervention in the environment orhuman overpopulation phenomena.
Classes of water pollutants
Chemical water pollutants are generally atoms or molecules, which have been discharged into natural water bodies, usually by activities of humans. Common examples of such chemical water pollutants are mercury emanating from mining activity, certain nitrogen compounds used in agriculture, chlorinated organic molecules arising from sewage or water treatment plants or various acids which are the externalities of various manufacturing activities.
Physical water pollutants are either (a) much larger particles or (b) physical factors such as temperature change, both of which while not typically toxic, cause a variety of harmful effects. The most obvious of physical pollutants are (a) excessive sediment load, mostly arising from over-intense land use practices and (b) rubbish discarded from human manufacturing activity (e.g. plastic bags, bottles). While these materials are not so harmful to human health as chemicals or pathogens, they comprise the majority of visual impact of water pollution. In the case of thermal pollution, these point source discharges typically affect the metabolism of aquatic fauna in adverse ways.
Sources
Water pollutant sources can be grouped into two supercategories: (a) point sources which can be attributed to discrete discharge from a factory or sewage outfall and (b) non-point sources that include agriculturalrunoff, urban stormwater runoff and other area wide sources.
Many of the common inorganic chemical water pollutants are produced by non-point sources, chiefly relating to intensive agriculture and high-density urban areas. Specific inorganic chemicals and their major sources are: monopotassium phosphate, ammonium nitrate and a host of related phosphate and nitrogen compounds used in agricultural fertilizers; heavy metals (present in urban runoff and mine tailings area runoff). However, some inorganics such as chlorine and related derivatives are produced chiefly from point sources, ironically employed in water treatment facilities. Moreover, some of the large dischargers of heavy metals to aquatic media are fixed point industrial plants.
Improper storage and use of automotive fluids produce common organic chemicals causing water pollution are: methanol and ethanol (present in wiper flluid); gasoline and oil compounds such as octane, nonane (overfilling of gasoline tanks); most of these foregoing
While it is not possible to reconstruct water pollution conditions throughout prehistory, certain facts are clear. Modern prevalence of chemical and radioactive water pollutants are clearly correlated with the population explosion and resource use of modern humans. The trends in chemical water pollution increasing from the early Holocene to the 1960s is relatively clear worldwide; starting with the advent of the Australia in the USA, a turnaround in most aspects of water quality began in the early 1970s for most of North America; similar trends in much of Europe as well as India andMadagascar began slightly later. Only in the developing countries including China and rainforest, has chemical water pollution failed to reach a peak, due to high population growth coupled with the priority of economic development above environmental protection in many cases.
Sediment loading of surface waters is a clear long term increasing problem, due to the intensification of agriculture (both for crops and livestock) and increased runoff from urbanization. In extreme cases, such as the north central highlands of coral reef massive topsoil loss has followed extreme slash-and-burn Holocene destruction from the 1970s onward. Most of this loss has resulted in ongoing heavy sediment loads to the central Madagascar river system as well as many of the nearby coastal waters in the Indian Ocean.
A more interesting situation arises with pathogenic microbes. Even though there is evidence that many of the present day water-borne microbes existed earlier in the Quaternary for humans and even as early asCretaceous Period times for other fauna, a case may be made that the rate of incidence of microbial pathogenic infection may be at an all time high for humans, given the overcrowding and inability to supply fresh drinking water to a large percentage of the human population in its present level of 2010. These effects are exacerbated by the likelihood that modern diseases may be mutating at a more rapid rate than historic, given the abrupt man-induced alterations of the chemical, physical and biological environment; human adaptation is not likely to be able to keep up with the pace of such disease mutation velocities; therefore, it is likely that present day water-borne pathogenic disease is at a higher rate of occurrence with present day human populations, in all world regions except for those where water pollution control, medical care and prevention are at the highest levels (e.g. USA, New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Denmark). - C Michael Hogan
Radioactive substances are really merely a special sub-class of chemical pollutants, and by mass represent the smallest of the contributors to water pollution; however, their potential for harm allows recognition as a separate class. In fact, most discharge of radioactivity is not from the negligible escape from nuclear power plants, but rather arises from agricultural practices such as tobacco farming, where radioactive contamination of phosphate fertilizer is a common method of introduction of radioactive materials into the environment.
Common pathogenic microbes introduced into natural water bodies are pathogens from untreated sewage or surface runoff from intensive livestock grazing. One of the most common disease agents is Giardia lamblia, a parasitic protozoan common in fecal material of many fauna including humans; this microbe is particularly insidious, due to its resistance to conventional sewage treatment. This and other protozoans and bacteria are important causes of illness and mortality in developing countries where population density, water scarcity and inadequate sewage treatment combine to occasion widespread parasitic and bacterialdisease.
discharges are considered non-point sources since their pathway to watercourses is mainly overland flow. However, leaking underground and above ground storage tanks can be considered point sources for some of these same chemicals, and even more toxic organics such as perchloroethylene. Grease and fats (higher chain length carbon molecules such as present in auto lubrication and restaurant effluent can be either point or non-point sources depending upon whether the restaurant releases grease into the wastewater collection system (point source) or disposes of such organics on the exterior ground surface or transports to large landfills, both of which last two cases lead to non-point release to water systems.
The most significant physical pollutant is excess sediment in runoff from agricultural plots, clearcut forests, improperly graded slopes, urban streets and other poorly managed lands, especially when steep slopes or lands near streams are involved. Other physical pollutants include a variety of plastic refuse products such as packaging materials; the most pernicious of these items are ring shaped objects that can trap or strangle fish and other aquatic fauna. Other common physical objects are timber slash debris, waste paper and cardboard. Finally power plants and other industrial facilities that use natural water bodies for cooling are the main sources of thermal pollution.
Common pathogenic microbes, in addition to G. lamblia, are: species of the genus Salmonella (which variously cause typhoid fever and food-borne illnesses); species in the genus Cryptosporidium, which are fecal-oral route parasites often transmitted as water pollutants and are associated with inadequate sanitation; parasitic worms that live inside faunal digestive systems for part of their life cycle (This widespread syndrome is spread partially as water pollutants, with an estimated three billion people currently affected). Hepatitis A is a viral disease, one of whose pathways of transmission is water-borne.
Leather is a product with some major environmental impact, most notably due to:
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the use of chemicals in the tanning process (e.g. chromium, formic acid, mercury and solvents, ...)
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air pollution due to the transformation process (hydrogen sulfide during dehairing and ammonia during deliming, solvent vapors).
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Leather biodegrades slowly; it takes 25–40 years to decompose. However, vinyl and petro-chemical derived materials will take 500 or more years to break down and return to the earth.
One ton of hide or skin generally leads to the production of 20 to 80 m3 of wastewater including chromium levels of 100–400 mg/L, sulfide levels of 200–800 mg/L and high levels of fat and other solid wastes, as well as notable pathogen contamination. Pesticides are also often added for hide conservation during transport.
wastes representing up to 70% of the wet weight of the original hides, the tanning process comes at a considerable strain on water treatment installations.
Tanning is especially polluting in countries where environmental regulations are lax, such as in India, the world's third-largest producer and exporter of leather. To give an example of an efficient pollution prevention system, chromium loads per produced tonne are generally abated from 8 kg to 1.5 kg. VOC emissions are typically reduced from 30 kg/t to 2 kg/t in a properly managed facility. A review of the total pollution load decrease achievable according to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization posts precise data on the abatement achievable through industrially proven low-waste advanced methods, while noting that "even though the chrome pollution load can be decreased by 94% on introducing advanced technologies, the minimum residual load 0.15 kg/t raw hide can still cause difficulties when using landfills and composting sludge from wastewater treatment on account of the regulations currently in force in some countries."
In Kanpur, the self-proclaimed "Leather City of World" with 10,000 tanneries as of 2011 and a city of 3 million people on the banks of the river Ganges, pollution levels were so high that despite an industry crisis, the pollution control board has decided to seal 49 high-polluting tanneries out of 404 in July 2009.In 2003 for instance, the main tanneries' effluent disposal unit was dumping 22 tonnes of chromium-laden solid waste per day in the open. Scientists at the Central Leather Research Institute in India have developed biological methods for pretanning as well as better chromium management.
In the Hazaribagh neighborhood of Dhaka in Bangladesh, chemicals from tanneries end up in Dhaka's main river. Besides the environmental damage, the health of both local factory workers and the end consumer is also negatively affected. Besides local sales of products made with leather from the Hazaribagh neighborhood of Dhaka, the leather is also bought by huge Western companies and sold in the developed world.
The higher cost associated with the treatment of effluents than to untreated effluent discharging leads to illegal dumping to save on costs. For instance, in Croatia in 2001, proper pollution abatement costed 70-100 USD/t of raw hides processed against 43 USD/t for irresponsible behavior.
No general study seems to exist but the current news is rife with documented examples. In November 2009 for instance, it was discovered that one of Uganda's main leather producing companies directly dumped its waste water in a wetland adjacent to Lake Victoria.
n. Pesticides are also often added for hide conservation during transport.
On most factory farms, animals are crowded into relatively small areas; their manure and urine are funneled into massive waste lagoons. These cesspools often break, leak or overflow, sending dangerous microbes, nitrate pollution and drug-resistant bacteria into water supplies. Factory-farm lagoons also emit toxic gases such as ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and methane. What's more, the farms often spray the manure onto land, ostensibly as fertilizer -- these "sprayfields" bring still more of these harmful substances into our air and water.
Yet in spite of the huge amounts of animal wastes that factory farms produce, they have largely escaped pollution regulations; loopholes in the law and weak enforcement share the blame. NRDC has fought, and won, a number of courtroom battles over the years to force the federal government to deal with the problem of factory farms, but more protections are needed to adequately protect public health and the environment from CAFO pollution.
Threats to Human Health
People who live near or work at factory farms breathe in hundreds of gases, which are formed as manure decomposes. The stench can be unbearable, but worse still, the gases contain many harmful chemicals. For instance, one gas released by the lagoons, hydrogen sulfide, is dangerous even at low levels. Its effects -- which are irreversible -- range from sore throat to seizures, comas and even death. Other health effects associated with the gases from factory farms include headaches, shortness of breath, wheezing, excessive coughing and diarrhea.
Animal waste also contaminates drinking water supplies. For example, nitrates often seep from lagoons and sprayfields into groundwater. Drinking water contaminated with nitrates can increase the risk of blue baby syndrome, which can cause deaths in infants. High levels of nitrates in drinking water near hog factories have also been linked to spontaneous abortions. Several disease outbreaks related to drinking water have been traced to bacteria and viruses from waste.
On top of this, the widespread use of antibiotics also poses dangers. Large-scale animal factories often give animals antibiotics to promote growth, or to compensate for illness resulting from crowded conditions. These antibiotics are entering the environment and the food chain, contributing to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and making it harder to treat human diseases.
The natural environment also suffers in many ways from factory-farming practices. Sometimes the damage is sudden and catastrophic, as when a ruptured lagoon causes a massive fish kill. At other times, it is cumulative -- for example, when manure is repeatedly overapplied, it runs off the land and accumulates as nutrient pollution in waterways.
Either way, the effects are severe. For instance, water quality across the country is threatened by phosphorus and nitrogen, two nutrients present in animal wastes. In excessive amounts, nutrients often cause an explosion of algae that robs water of oxygen, killing aquatic life. One toxic microorganism, Pfiesteria piscicida, has been implicated in the death of more than one billion fish in coastal waters in North Carolina.
Manure can also contain traces of salt and heavy metals, which can end up in bodies of water and accumulate in the sediment, concentrating as they move up the food chain. And lagoons not only pollute groundwater; they also deplete it. Many factory farms use groundwater for cleaning, cooling and providing drinking water. - NRDC
Pollution from Livestock
Threats to the Natural Environment
Plastic pollution on ocean and rivers
leather Pollution
Plastic debris in the ocean is a global problem that continues to worsen. While as much as 1.6 billion pounds of plastic end up in the ocean every year, plastic does not biodegrade, meaning that the plastic that ends up in the ocean remains there indefinitely. This poses a threat to marine life in several ways.
For larger animals, colorful or shiny plastic items can be mistaken for prey, like fish and squid, and are eaten by seabirds, marine mammals, fish and sea turtles. Death can come quickly when the plastic damages the digestive system or animals may starve when they feel full but have stomachs full of man-made objects that don’t digest and have no nutritional value. Animals can also become entangled in plastic debris and become injured or drown.
Much of the plastic in the ocean is in the form of microdebris, or pieces of plastic that have been broken apart by sunlight and wave action to a size of 5mm or less. This microdebris outnumbers zooplankton in some areas of the globe by as much as 6 to 1. Since animals that feed on plankton do so unselectively, this plastic pollution has .
become a troubling part of the oceanic food chain. To make matters even worse, plastic tends to sop up dangerous toxic chemicals like PCBs and DDT and endocrine disruptors like Bisphenol A, fire retardants and phthalates—chemicals that bioaccumulate, or build up, in larger animals and that can end up in the seafood we eat.
In recent years researchers have discovered large expanses of the ocean known as gyres that have effectively become “garbage patches” as swirling sea currents accumulate astonishing volumes of trash from faraway coasts. Oceana supports our partners that are working to remedy this emergent threat to marine life everywhere - Oceana
Preposterous Facts about Plastic Pollution.
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In the Los Angeles area alone, 10 metric tons of plastic fragments—like grocery bags, straws and soda bottles—are carried into the Pacific Ocean every day.
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Over the last ten years we have produced more plastic than during the whole of the last century.
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50 percent of the plastic we use, we use just once and throw away.
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Enough plastic is thrown away each year to circle the earth four times.
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We currently recover only five percent of the plastics we produce.
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The average American throws away approximately 185 pounds of plastic per year.
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Plastic accounts for around 10 percent of the total waste we generate.
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The production of plastic uses around eight percent of the world’s oil production (bioplastics are not a good solution as they require food source crops).
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Americans throw away 35 billion plastic water bottles every year (source: Brita)
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Plastic in the ocean breaks down into such small segments that pieces of plastic from a one liter bottle could end up on every mile of beach throughout the world.
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Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide. More than one million bags are used every minute.
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46 percent of plastics float (EPA 2006) and it can drift for years before eventually concentrating in the ocean gyres.
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It takes 500-1,000 years for plastic to degrade.
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Billions of pounds of plastic can be found in swirling convergences in the oceans making up about 40 percent of the world’s ocean surfaces. 80 percent of pollution enters the ocean from the land.
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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is located in the North Pacific Gyre off the coast of California and is the largest ocean garbage site in the world. This floating mass of plastic is twice the size of Texas, with plastic pieces outnumbering sea life six to one.
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Plastic constitutes approximately 90 percent of all trash floating on the ocean’s surface, with 46,000 pieces of plastic per square mile.
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One million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals are killed annually from plastic in our oceans.
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44 percent of all seabird species, 22 percent of cetaceans, all sea turtle species and a growing list of fish species have been documented with plastic in or around their bodies.
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In samples collected in Lake Erie, 85 percent of the plastic particles were smaller than two-tenths of an inch, and much of that was microscopic. Researchers found 1,500 and 1.7 million of these particles per square mile.
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Virtually every piece of plastic that was ever made still exists in some shape or form (with the exception of the small amount that has been incinerated).
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Plastic chemicals can be absorbed by the body—93 percent of Americans age six or older test positive for BPA (a plastic chemical).
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Some of these compounds found in plastic have been found to alter hormones or have other potential human health effects. - Ecowatch
Other fact about water pollution
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According to UNICEF, more than 3000 children die everyday due to consumption of contaminated drinking water.
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The U.S. EPA estimates that about 1.2 trillion gallons of untreated sewage, industrial wastes, and large amounts of surface water due to heavy rain are dumped into the lakes every single year.
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According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, around 2.5 billion people do not have access to improved sanitation.
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The WHO reports that in developing nations, almost 3.2 million children under the age of five die each year from diarrhea-related diseases, as a result of unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation.
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According to a report by the Worldwatch Institute on nuclear waste, Lake Karachay in Russia is regarded as the most polluted spot on earth due to decades of dumping of nuclear waste. Spending an hour there can probably kill a person!
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A survey by Food & Water Watch cites that by 2025, two-thirds of the world's population will face scarcity of water and five times as much land is likely to be under drought.
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Food & Water Watch also mentions that the water quality in 40% of rivers and streams and 46% of lakes in the U.S. are too dangerous for fishing, swimming or drinking because of toxic waste produced from the massive use of industrial weeds killer, farms and livestock operations.
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A study by National Academy of Sciences (NAS) estimates that out of the 14 billion pounds of trash that is dumped into the oceans every year, plastic is the most common waste.
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According to the National Resources Defense Council, in 2005, around 2 million tons of water bottles were dumped in U.S. Landfills. Industry sources estimate that Americans purchase around 29 billion bottles every year, out of which only 13% are recycled.
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An estimate by the organization Worldcentric states that, in the United States alone, almost 40 billion plastic utensils are used each year, majority of which are thrown away after just one use. While an estimated 300,000,000 pounds of single-use plastic bags are disposed off in landfills annually.
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A study by the EPA found that approximately 1.2 billion pounds of pesticides are used by Americans alone which remain in the environment for very long and through runoffs contaminate the water resources.
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A dead zone nearly the size of New Jersey is created every summer in the Gulf of Mexico, when the Mississippi river channelizes approximately 1.5 million metric tons of nitrogen into it. This kills many forms of aquatic life and triggers allergies in humans who are sensitive, causing death in many cases.
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According to an EU study in 2011, nitrogen pollution costs Europe between 70 to 320 billion euros ($100bn-$460bn) per year. It is estimated that agriculture produces 70% of the nitrous oxide emissions in Europe.
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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), annually, around 3 million workers from agricultural fields in developing countries suffer from severe pesticide poisoning, and as a result about 18000 people die.
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In the US, Acid Mine Drainage and other toxins from abandoned mines have polluted 180,000 acres of reservoirs and lakes and 12,000 miles of streams and rivers. It has been estimated that cleaning up these polluted waterways will cost US taxpayers between $32 billion - $72 billion.
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Mining of gold causes mercury pollution. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), approximately 400 metric tons of elemental mercury is released in the atmosphere by small scale and artisanal gold mining annually. It then mixes with rainwater and through runoffs is sent to the water bodies and pollutes them.
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After years of mining and processing lead and cadmium in Kabwe, Zambia, the children here have been found with 10 times the permissible EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) level of lead in their blood.
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In Sukinda Valley, Orissa, India, about 70% of the surface water and 60% of groundwater contains hexavalent chromium. It is found to be double the international standards set by EPA and levels of up to 20 times above the standard have also been recorded. Approximately 85% of deaths in the mining areas and nearby industrial villages occur due to chromite mine-related diseases.
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A study undertaken by a volunteer organization Clean up the World found that one cigarette butt can contaminate 7.5 liters of water in one hour. It percolates nicotine, heavy metals, benzene and other carcinogens along-with plastic fibers from the cigarette in the water bodies. The world's waterways are clogged up by an estimated 1.7 billion pounds of cigarette butts annually.
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Dzerzhinsk in Russia is the most chemically polluted city in the world. Part's of the city's water contain dioxins and phenols that are found to be 17 million times above the safe limit. According to Mother Nature Network, in 2003, the death rate surpassed the birth rate in the city by 260%.
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According to an estimate, if every family in the United States bought a four-pack of 260 sheet recycled tissue paper, it would eradicate 60,600 pounds of chlorine pollution, preserve 356 million gallons (1.35 billion liters) of freshwater and save nearly 1 million trees.
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According to a report by the UN World Water Assessment Program (2003), 97% of groundwater samples in France did not meet the WHO standards for nitrate contamination.
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The heavy metals and other chemicals like lead, cadmium and mercury found in water due to activities like mining accumulate in the fat tissues of fish and their concentration increases as they move up the food chain. This is called biomagnification. It results in tumors and death for predatory animals such as lake trout, herring gulls, and even humans.
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The exposure to chemicals like dioxins, PCBs and furan show birth defects in terns at 31 times the normal levels. It also leads to large tumors in fish and three-legged frogs.
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The plastic and litter that is thrown away ends up in the water resource and is consumed by aquatic animals. It affects their metabolic processes and causes choking, eventually leading to their death.
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Eutrophication suffocates the aquatic organisms leading to their death. It increases the toxicity of the water, adversely affecting the flora and fauna and creates imbalance in the ecosystem. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service estimate that annually, between 6 and 14 million fish are killed by pesticides.
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Over 1 billion people worldwide lack proper access to safe and healthy drinking water. Most of the sources of drinking water today are found to be polluted and non-drinkable. The pollutants in the drinking water lead to acute symptoms like nausea, vomiting, dizziness, fever, sore throat, headache, muscle and joint pain. The pollutants can also trigger allergic reactions such as asthma, eye irritation, skin rashes, blisters around the mouth and nose, lung irritation, liver damage and sometimes even death.
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Drinking polluted water and prolonged exposure to chemicals in it causes major health issues like cancer, nervous system disorders, liver and kidney damage, hereditary and birth defects. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) rates of these diseases and defects are on the rise.
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According to the World Health Organization, contaminated water is the major source of over 80% of all sickness and diseases like diarrhea, gastroenteritis, hepatitis, cholera or typhoid infections.
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The cadmium found in the water kills human fetal sex organs. Mercury is a very harmful neurotoxin and exposure to it can cause adverse health effects and can even lead to permanent brain and neurological damage. Phosphorous run-off from industry and farms create harmful algal blooms in the water bodies. These blooms have been associated with higher occurrences of paralytic shellfish poisoning in humans, leading to death.
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Animal waste contains disease-causing pathogens, such as Salmonella, E. coli, Cryptosporidium, and fecal coliform, which can be 10 to 100 times more concentrated than in human waste. More than 140 fatal diseases can be transferred to humans through manure and plant which have been sprayed with liquid manure. - Buzzle
India Invironment Org
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
ON POLLUTION CAUSED BY LEATHER TANNING INDUSTRY
TO THE WATER BODIES / GROUND WATER IN UNNAO DISTRICT OF UTTAR PRADESH
Highlights of National Academies Reports
POLLUTION IN THE OCEAN
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
THE ENVIRONTMENTAL IMPACT OF LIVESTOCK
PRODUCTION
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HOW YOU CAN HELP
• Go on plant based food ! Stop eating animals and animal products and buying LEATHER.
• Educate others about the enivromental pollution.
• Spread the word! Click on the button to share this information with others via email or your favourite social networking service
• Report any pollution to police or local environment organization
• Find and sign petition on change.com forcechange.com or care2.com
• Buy nontoxic, ecofriendly household products, and low or non-phosphorous detergents.
• Use of natural fertilizers like compost for lawn maintenance or farming should be encouraged.
• Avoid litter and properly dispose wet and dry garbage in separate garbage bags.
• Conserve water. Do not keep the tap running while brushing your teeth, washing hands or shaving. Remember, each drop of water that we save is important in the long run.
• Avoid buying packaged drinking water as the plastic bottles will pollute the environment.
• Strict anti-pollution and mining laws need to be enforced. Changes in technologies and attitudes will ensure that we follow these laws and work towards a healthier future.
• Switch from plastic to glass or to starch based plastics
• Switch from plastic bags to hemp bags
• Switch from livestock farming to peaceful farming
• Buy and suport BIO or EKO food and farming
Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface. It is vital for all known forms of life. On Earth, 96.5% of the planet's water is found in seas and oceans, 1.7% in groundwater, 1.7% in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland, a small fraction in other large water bodies, and 0.001% in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of solid and liquid water particles suspended in air), and precipitation. Only 2.5% of the Earth's water is freshwater, and 98.8% of that water is in ice and groundwater. Less than 0.3% of all freshwater is in rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere, and an even smaller amount of the Earth's freshwater (0.003%) is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products.
Water on Earth moves continually through the water cycle of evaporation and transpiration (evapotranspiration), condensation, precipitation, and runoff, usually reaching the sea. Evaporation and transpiration contribute to the precipitation over land. Water used in the production of a good or service is known as virtual water.
WATER
Safe drinking water is essential to humans and other lifeforms even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients. Access to safe drinking water has improved over the last decades in almost every part of the world, but approximately one billion people still lack access to safe water and over 2.5 billion lack access to adequate sanitation. There is a clear correlation between access to safe water and gross domestic product per capita. However, some observers have estimated that by 2025 more than half of the world population will be facing water-based vulnerability. A report, issued in November 2009, suggests that by 2030, in some developing regions of the world, water demand will exceed supply by 50%. Water plays an important role in the world economy, as it functions as a solvent for a wide variety of chemical substances and facilitates industrial cooling and transportation. Approximately 70% of the fresh water used by humans goes to agriculture.
Say stop to holocaust against animals, environment and Earth