Water Shortage!
Courtesy of Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse
Ever since the beginning of this nation, Americans have always been able to take for granted that there would always be plenty of fresh water. But unfortunately that is rapidly changing. Due to pollution, corruption, inefficiency and the never ending greed of the global elite, the United States (and the entire world) is heading for a very serious water shortage.
Already, there are some areas of the United States where water is the number one local political issue. In fact, water is becoming so scarce in certain areas that some states are actually battling in court over it. Unfortunately, there is every indication that the worldwide water crisis is about to get a lot worse.
According to a new report released by the Natural Resources Defense Council, more than one-third of all counties in the lower 48 states will likely be facing very serious water shortages by 2050. That is just 40 years away. As water becomes more scarce and as big global corporations lock up available supplies, the price of water is almost certainly going to skyrocket. This will put even more economic pressure on average Americans.
And Americans certainly do use a lot of water. According to CBS News, the average American uses 150 gallons of water per day, while residents of the U.K. only use 40 gallons per day and residents of China use just 22 gallons per day.
In fact, a five minute shower by an American uses more water than a typical person living in poverty in a developing country uses in an entire day.
For hundreds of years, North America has been blessed with an overabundance of fresh water, but those supplies are quickly running dry.
In fact, there are some scientists who are now wondering if we might actually see a return of the "Dust Bowl" days. The Ogallala Aquifer, a massive underground lake that stretches from southern South Dakota to northern Texas, is being drained at a staggering pace, and that means that the Great Plains could soon turn into the Great American Desert.
If the breadbasket of America were to dry up, what would that mean for the future of this nation?
But it is not just the Great Plains that is on the verge of a major water crisis.
The following is an excerpt from an article that I authored recently for another website….
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*The number of states facing a water crisis is now far greater than the number of states without one. In fact, a total of 36 states face severe water shortages in the next three years.
*A federal judge recently ruled that Georgia has few legal rights to Lake Lanier – the main water supply for Atlanta. With 2 million more residents expected to move into Atlanta over the next couple of decades, officials there are scrambling to try to figure out how in the world everyone is going to be able to have enough water.
*In Texas, farmers and ranchers were absolutely devastated in 2009 as the ongoing drought cost the agricultural sector billions of dollars.
*Every single day Arizona and parts of New Mexico use 300 million gallons more water than they get in renewable supply.
*Lake Mead is the primary supply of water for the city of Las Vegas. But since 1998, Lake Mead’s capacity has plunged by more than 50 percent– down 5.6 trillion gallons. Nobody is quite sure how Las Vegas is going to continue to have enough water.
*The water crisis became so serious in California this past year that Barack Obama actually requested that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger call state lawmakers into a special session just to deal with the situation.
*Other states are so concerned about the national water crisis that they are determined to hold on to the supplies that they have. In fact, 8 states surrounding the Great Lakes have signed a pact banning the export of water to outsiders – even to other U.S. states.
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The truth is that fresh water is very rapidly becoming one of the most valuable commodities in the world. All over the globe, big global corporations are gobbling up water rights as fast as they can.
Why?
Well, the truth is that the world is on the verge of a water shortage of unprecedented magnitude….
*Worldwide demand for fresh water tripled during the last century, and is now doubling every 21 years.
*According to USAID, one-third of all humans will face severe or chronic water shortages by the year 2025.
*Of the 60 million people added to the world’s cities every year, the vast majority of them live in impoverished slums and shanty-towns with no sanitation facilities whatsoever.
*It is estimated that 75 percent of India’s surface water is now contaminated by human and agricultural waste.
*Not only that, but according to a UN study on sanitation, far more people in India have access to a mobile phone than to a toilet.
*In northern China, the water table is dropping one meter per year due to overpumping.
*But there are few places where the water shortage is as severe as it is in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia had been producing enough wheat to be self-sufficient for most of the past 30 years, but in 2008 authorities there realized that the non-replenishable aquifer they had been pumping for irrigation purposes was nearly depleted. So in response Saudi Arabia made the decision to reduce their wheat harvest by one-eighth every year thereafter. Wheat production in Saudi Arabia is scheduled to cease entirely in 2016.
The truth is that it would be very difficult to understate just how bad the world water crisis is becoming.
The following is a list of mind blowing facts about the world’s water crisis that respected water expert Maude Barlow shares during her presentations….
-Every eight seconds a child dies from drinking dirty water.
-A new desert the size of Rhode Island is created in China because of drought every single year.
-In the developing world, 90% of waste water is discharged completely untreated into local rivers.
-By the year 2050, 1.7 billion people will live in "dire water poverty" and will be forced to relocate.
-Half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by people who have contracted waterborne diseases.
-The World Health Organization says contaminated water is the cause of 80% of all sickness and disease worldwide.
-In China, 80% of the major rivers are so polluted they don’t support aquatic life at all.
-The women of South Africa collectively walk the equivalent distance to the moon and back 16 times a day for water.
Without fresh water we cannot live, and global supplies are rapidly being depleted.
Meanwhile, the global elite are running around and are gobbling up the rights to as much of the water around the world as they can.
When you put all the facts above together, it all adds up to one very troubling picture.
Right now it is more imperative than ever to make certain that you and your family have a reliable source of clean water for the times that are coming. Clean, fresh water is something that none of us can take for granted any longer.
So what do you think of the coming global water shortage? Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion….
