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The World Water Association (GWP) is an international network open to all organizations involved in the sustainable management of water resources. Gustaf Olsson, one of the world's leading experts in water use and management, works for this body and has published the study Water and energy. There are, according to the expert, serious contradictions in the use of water.
One piece of information shows the importance of water in our life: 60% of the human body of an adult is water. In a baby, the percentage is higher, up to 75%. On the planet, 97% of the water is in seas and oceans. Only 3% is, therefore, fresh water. Of this, 69% is frozen in polar caps and glaciers and another 30% underground. Thus, only 1% of fresh water is available on the surface. Keep reading this article by Ecologist Verde and we will talk to you about the importance of water for the planet and human beings.
Curiosities about the water
Gustaf Olsson points out some water data that you may not know:
- China is the country that wastes the most amount of water: some 600 cities waste water.
- Fresh water is used for agriculture 70%, 15% in industry and the other 15% is for domestic use.
- If the water is not treated, you have to keep looking inside the Earth: in India they don't treat the water and have to dig deeper wells, depleting the aquifers. Every year they descend ten meters more. To do this, logically, you have to use energy, which means, in many cases, also using oil. Doubly polluting, therefore.
- Norway is the country that makes the best use of water: almost 100% of its electrical energy is obtained from water.
- To obtain a liter of oil you need 40 liters of water. If it is extracted from tar sands (as in Canada), 150 liters of water are needed.
- Biofuels do not seem like the solution: to obtain a liter of bioethanol you need 1,000 liters of water.
- Producing 1 kg of veal means spending 15,000 liters of water. And a cup of coffee, 100 liters of water.
- On average, a European uses 3,000 liters of water a day: not only for drinking or cooking, but also for producing electricity, running trains or cars, smoking … There is water in almost any production cycle of a consumer product.
- Desalination plants require a lot of energy. The reservoirs in hot countries allow too much water to evaporate and impoverish the fertility of the banks and the deltas recede. What is the solution? Reuse water efficiently. The one in the shower must go to the cisterns. The one from the sea can be used to refrigerate. Nuclear cooling water can be used to heat cities.
Importance of water for the planet
Water is one of the most abundant elements on planet Earth, whether in liquid, solid or vaporous form, salt or fresh water, anywhere on our planet we find water, in greater or less abundance. And luckily it is, because water is a essential element for life, the element that is most related to the possibility of developing the different types of life on planet earth.
Water not only serves as a means of hydration, whether in humans, animals or vegetables, it also serves to clean and maintain good hygiene, provides energy, regulates the climate or houses life, that is, it fulfills key and essential functions for that our planet remains as it is.
Importance of water for humans
As you surely know, water is essential for humans. This element is one of those necessary for our body to function normally, in fact, it is absolutely essential for the cells of the human body to survive.
As it were not enough, the importance of water for humans is not limited to a total reason for survival, but also covers a multitude of aspects of life. Here are some of them:
- It is essential to keep livestock.
- Indispensable for agriculture.
- It helps us to maintain our hygiene.
- It has been an element for transport, whether river or sea.
- Power source.
In addition, water is one of the compounds that we find most abundantly in our body, in fact, it is estimated that about 60% of our mass is water, being present both in fluids and in tissues and cells.
The functions that water has in our body are diverse, on the one hand it acts as a solvent, on the other in the transport of vitamins and other nutrients. In addition, our body uses it to regulate body temperature and to get rid of toxins.
If you want to read more articles similar to Importance of water for the planet and human beingsWe recommend that you enter our Nature Curiosities category.
