Why is there so little drinking water?
As we know, our planet is made up of three quarters of water. But nevertheless, in the so-called Blue Planet the lack of water it is an increasingly pressing problem.
It is estimated that of the total of the 1.4 million cubic kilometers of water that cover the surface, only 2.5% is fresh. Of that percentage, only 0.007% is actually available for direct human consumption.
We all understand that sea water (97.5% of the planet’s water) is salty, and therefore not drinkable. But, what happens to the rest? How can it be that almost all the fresh water on the planet is not in a condition to be ingested by people? That is to say,why is there so little drinking water?
Next, we give you a few data that will clarify it for you.
Table of Contents
Composition of water on the planet
According diverse studies Of the total fresh water on the planet, 69.7% is found in the form of ice at the poles and on the highest mountain peaks.
On the other hand, 30% of the world’s fresh water is contained in soil moisture and deep aquifers, and only the remaining 0.3% circulates through hydrographic basins in the form of rivers or streams, and is temporarily deposited in lakes, lagoons, aquifers, etc., ending most of this water in the sea.
The replacement of the sweet water it is guaranteed because the sun evaporates most of the sea water, which returns to the earth in the form of rain or snow, in what constitutes the continuous water cycle.
But then, if 0.3% of the sweet water is in rivers, lakes and aquifers, why only 0.007% is actually drinkable ?
Surface water pollution
Most of the planet’s waters have physical-chemical and bacteriological pollutants that prevent their direct intake. Surface and underground water sources that were reliable yesterday are now heavily polluted. The main causes of water pollution are related to human activity, such as:
- Abundance of fertilizers used in agriculture, which permeate up to the water table, contaminating large aquifers.
- Over-exploitation livestock, which causes pollution through slurry, and other organic waste.
- Mining irregular , which uncontrollably uses heavy metals (mercury, lead, etc.) and chemical substances (cyanide, etc.), for the purification of minerals such as gold or silver, and that in many cases end up being discharged uncontrollably.
- Industrial spills various, such as oils, hydrocarbons or other liquids used, which should be recycled by authorized managers.
- Lack of debugging of urban wastewater, that is, wastewater that ends up in rivers and aquifers without being properly recycled.
- Solid urban waste that are abandoned in nature, like plastics that end up in rivers and seas, where they decompose in the form of microplastics and end up being ingested by fish, which is why they end up being ingested by humans.
- Etc.
Water pollutants
In this way, the main pollutants that we can find in water can be classified into several groups:
- Microorganisms , such as bacteria, viruses or protozoa, and that cause diseases such as cholera, typhus, hepatitis, etc.
- Inorganic , such as sulfates, sulfites, nitrates, phosphates, etc.
- Organic , such as hydrocarbons, phenols, cyanide, etc.
- Metals : such as chromium, nickel, iron, aluminum, lead, cadmium, mercury, etc.
- Emerging such as drugs, steroids, etc. that many times end up in the water due to the lack of urban wastewater treatment.
The great variety of possible pollutants in surface and groundwater is what makes its purification so complicated and expensive, which will be the subject of future blog entries.
The great advantage of Rain of Life atmospheric water generators is that they condense the humidity of the air, that it does not have none of the contaminants listed above. Therefore, after a purification process (in which, for example, mineral salts that are beneficial for the body are added) it becomes a water of superior quality to most of the bottled waters on the market.
