Clean Water

Humans, like any other living animals, have essential needs to survive. One of the most important needs is drinking water. How clean must be drinking water be? How clean must water be in order to be consumed safely by human? There is no definite solution for "clean water". Therefore, the only way to define "clean water" is by defining "unclean water".

"Unclean water" or polluted water is water that contains contaminants, including chemicals, particles, and bacteria. Polluted water is not safe for cooking, drinking, cleaning, bathing, and other daily uses. Polluted is not just simply dirty, but it is deadly. Polluted water does not only affect humans, but also harm other organism. First, polluted water poisons aquatic animals and terrestrial ones, including human, that drink polluted water. Once the smaller species at the base of the food chain are affected, the whole food chain is disrupted. Disruption with food will lead diseases in human eventually. Sooner or later, humans will become victims of our own actions.

We, intentionally or unintentionally, cause  water pollution and scarcity of clean water through sewage, septic tanks, waste dumping, underground and on-water leakage, industrial production, etc.

As a result of global warming, the need of clean water is critical. For example, a serious drought has been in California since 2011. Area of clean water has been decreasing significantly. (Photo) Beside trying to save water as much as possible  with regulation and police force, people in California are finding another supplies. They use a desalination facility to turn seawater into drinking water (Source).

However, desalination alone is not the solution because it is so expensive. There must be other long-term acts:
- Educate to change consumption and lifestyle.
- Recycle waste water appropriately.
- Improve irrigation and agricultural practices.
- Address pollution.

Save water. Save future.