The Water Crisis
Santa Cruz Long-Toed
This salamander is an
endangered species due to
habitat damage by humans for
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     The United Nations use the term "water crisis" to describe a
situation observed since the 1970's. It concerns the worldwide supply
of drinking water, and water pollution.

     The available drinking water on Earth is not infinite. It's estimated
that there are 1.1 billion people without access to drinking water and
the United Nations acknowledges that there are 2.6 billion people
without sufficient water for sanitation - washing your hands, etc.
Potentially, that makes 3.7 billion people without enough water. That's
over half of the worlds' population!

     Some countries/regions particularly affected by the water crisis  
include Sudan, Iran and Venezuela with an estimated 22.9 million
people without access to a sufficient supply of drinking water. There
are many more regions affected too.

     As you can learn
here, water is a necessity to all known forms of
life. Some species are at risk of extinction because of humans building
on and using water resources in life-supporting areas such as bogs,
marshes, wetlands, etc.

     It's been predicted that by 2025, two thirds of the world will be
without safe drinking water or water for cleaning with. If the predicted
world population by then is accurate, then that's about 5.23 billion
people! However, solutions are being approached. Technologies are
being developed to make desalination more efficient - the process of
removing salt from saltwater.

Please visit the Links page for a list of websites where you can learn
more about the water crisis, and many other topics related to water.
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