Running Motivation

California is one of the most heavily populated regions in the United States, and requires a tremendous amount of water. Unfortunately, most of California is arid, with little in the way of local water resources. Los Angeles and the farms of the Inland Empire are sustained with water that is imported, whether it is from distant snow packs or the Colorado River. Unfortunately, the California water crisis has demonstrated that the demand for clean water is rapidly out pacing available supplies.

The Rise of Demand in California As California has continued to grow, the demand for potable water has radically increased. This is not simply for drinking, as industry, farming, and recreation all require vast amounts of H2O. Lush and green golf courses, gardens and landscapes all demand extensive watering, especially when they use plants that are not native to California's arid conditions.

While the world's population tripled in the 20th century, the use of renewable water resources has grown six-fold. Within the next fifty years, the world population will increase by another 40 to 50 %. This population growth, coupled with industrialization and urbanization, will result in an increasing demand for water and will have serious consequences on the environment. Thus, the water crisis would continue to heighten.

People Lacking Water More than one out of six people lack access to safe drinking water, namely 1.1 billion people, and more than two out of six lack adequate sanitation, namely 2.6 billion people 3900 children die every day from water borne diseases. One must know that these figures represent only people with very poor conditions. In reality, these figures should be much higher. As the resource is becoming scarce, tensions among different users may intensify, both at the national and international level. Over 260 river basins are shared by two or more countries. In the absence of strong institutions and agreements, changes within a basin can lead to trans-boundary tensions. When major projects proceed without regional collaboration, they can become a point of conflicts, heightening regional instability. The Parana La Plata, the Aral Sea, the Jordan and the Danube may serve as examples. Due to the pressure on the Aral Sea, a good proportion of the water has disappeared

Smart Water Use and Beating the Crisis With the inability to increase supply, California must reduce its demand, especially in the face of a growing urban and rural population. The most effective way this can be achieved is by the use of various water conservation strategies in order to meet the California water crisis head-on.

These techniques can include the following: a) Using native Californian plants to reduce H2O usage for landscaping. b) Replacing older plumbing systems with modern efficient toilets, showers and washing machines. c) Watering lawns at dusk and nighttime rather than watering them during the day. d) Minimizing the use of H2O for unnecessary purposes such as washing cars or driveways.

Okay so, what's the point of this article you ask? Well, it's to bring awareness, and to get you to think about how much water you use both inside and outside your home, and to be more careful and conserve as much as feasibly possible. Indeed I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.