Band 6+: Freshwater is a limited resource in certain regions of the world. Today, the escalating demand has transformed it into a global problem. What are the causes of increasing demand? What measures can governments and individuals take to respond to the problem?

Clean water is a crucial resource for mankind. The amount of it is limited and distributed unevenly around the globe. The water consumption has been increasing in several times over the last 100 years. Therefore, the lack of water resources is one of the main problems nowadays. There are numerous reasons for it, such as overpopulation, growing farming industry, and overconsumption. Several measures can be taken by people and governments to address this issue, for instance, reasonable consumption or strict regulation of usage and cleaning of water resources by manufacturers.

Different factors contribute to the lack of clean water. One of them is the increase of the farming sector. There is growing demand for food due to overpopulation, consequently more lands are deforested and cultivated as fields for crops or pastures for cattle. Because of these reasons water bodies drain or turn into swamps. For example, the water resources of Amazonia decreased 2 times over the last decade owing to deforestation. Another cause is overconsumption brough about by materialism. Today, the average person buys several times more goods than it is necessary for living. This leads to manufacturers build new factories and plants to satisfy this demand. All of this results in growing consumption or pollution of water. For instance, creation one pair of shoes needs about four liters of water.

Several steps can be taken in order to mitigate this problem. One clear solution is to impose more strict legislation about water consumption and cleaning by factories and plants. New technologies can save up to 50% of water resources, however, they are expensive, and manufacturers are typically reluctant to use them. For instance, the usage of modern technologies in boots dyeing in Japan has reduced water consumption by 40%. Another possible idea is the transition from animal meat to lab-grown meat. The government of New Zealand has recently imposed fines for farmers if the number of their cattle is more than 1000 heads. It is assumed, that this measure could help to preserve millions of liters of fresh water every year and ease the transition to artificial meat.

In conclusion, while I admit that the lack of clean water is a serious problem, I believe that fast and appropriate measures might solve it.