Travel Mania

The course of world society in the twenty-first century is likely to be substantially influenced by a single resource: drinking water. The first and most obvious fact is that water is an absolute necessity. Without water, life—animal, plant, or human—cannot exist. Water comprises approximately 75 percent of the human body. Without adequate water, the body ceases to function. Depending on one's exertion level and weather conditions, the average adult should consume a minimum of eight 8-ounce glasses (or about 2 liters) of water daily. One might think that drinking water should not be a problem in the twenty-first century, but it can be. Several related factors define the challenges. First, quantities of water on planet Earth suitable for drinking are extremely limited. Less than 1 percent of all water on Earth is available as groundwater and surface water suitable for human uses such as drinking and cooking. The remainder is either salt water (97 percent) or is locked up in ice (just over 2 percent). Second, precipitation, which replenishes groundwater and surfacewater resources, does not fall evenly over the face of the Earth. Additionally, some times of the year are rainy, other times dry. Thus, water resources are bountiful at some times and in some places, but extremely sparse in others. Third, for more than a billion people in developing countries, water is scarce and frequently contaminated, thereby posing a health risk. In these parts of the world, contaminated drinking water along with primitive (or nonexistent) sanitation systems annually result in widespread illness and millions of deaths annually. The majority of the victims are children.