ASK yourself this question, what if suddenly there is no available water? It would be a calamity. Man can live without food for days but without water, he would not live long enough.
We are all familiar with the cycle of fresh water in nature. Water evaporates into the air and then accumultates in the atmosphere to form clouds. When the clouds are heavy with vapor, it precipitates and return to the different bodies of water in the form of rain.
The early humans used to be nomads but it was eventually water that made them settle in one place. They needed water not only for themselves but for the crops they planted and the animals they raised.
However, humans evenutally realized that water is something that they cannot substitute. Of the water available on earth, 97.4% is salt water, 2% is locked away in ice caps and glaciers, and 0.6% are stored underground.
These days water is increasingly becoming a serious issue. When water sources become dry, disease and death rates rise; this leads to unrests.
We are thankful that our country is not yet a water stressed nation where annual water supplies drops below 2,740 liters per citizen. Countries that are water-stressed are the sub Saharan nations like Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
However, major urban centers in the Philippines -- Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao -- face an impending water crisis. Our supply is being rationed and we are given warnings on time. The editorial of our issue last week dove-tailed the warnings and we shall heed this. We cannot talk of providing sustainable water unless we protect the sources of the commodity -- the watersheds.
Massive destruction of once productive forested watersheds by loggers, both legal and illegal and uncontrolled land use from mining, overgrazing, agricultural expansion, and industrialization have contributed to water depletion.
River pollution also contributes to the current problems of our sufficient fresh water supply.
The exposition I had mentioned about the preservation of our safe water supply should be enough incentive to make each citizen to do his part. We are responsible for our county's progress, remember that.