 |  Environmental Science: A Global Concern, 7/e William P. Cunningham,
University of Minnesota
Mary Ann Cunningham,
Vassar College
Barbara Woodworth Saigo,
St. Cloud State University
Water Use and Management
Chapter Overview
The demand for water grows as human numbers increase. Consumption per person also grows, along with development and increasing wealth. Over 40 percent of the world's people do not have access to safe water right now. Pollution and heavy use are rapidly depleting our supplies even as demand rises. Our supply is perpetually renewed by the endless turning of the hydrologic cycle. The average water molecule spends a bit more than a week in the atmosphere before it falls again to the earth.
Human use of water is growing exponentially; the quantities made available by the water cycle are limited, however. Because we have traditionally viewed water as a limitless resource, much of our water usage is inefficient, inappropriate, or both.
Since there is no economically feasible way of manufacturing massive amounts of additional water, water stands as a fundamental limiting factor for biological, industrial, and agricultural systems. As you will see in this chapter, attitudes toward water use are changing as we confront the reality of limits.
For what do we use it? Can we use less? How is it being polluted, and what can we do about it?
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2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education