Our World of Water

Introduction

The dictionary defines "resource" as "an available supply that can be drawn upon when needed." Water is one of our great natural resources, but how available is it?

As the world's population increases, we need more food, industrial products, and water. Water is needed in the home for drinking, bathing, laundry, dishes, and lawn sprinkling. And more water than you might think is needed to help farmers and industry produce their products; for example:

• it takes nearly 200 gallons of water to produce one dollar's worth of paper.
• we use over 150 billion gallons of water each day in this country for irrigation.

We must seek new sources of water and, more importantly, recycle our current water resources. After all, water is a reusable resource like wood (we recycle newspapers to use fewer trees). When water is used it ends up with salts, minerals, and chemicals dissolved in it. This water must be cleaned before it can be used again, and the cost of purifying water is increasing every year.

As the demand for water increases, conflicts arise between neighbors and between nations concerning who has the right to use available water. Wise management of water resources can settle some of these disputes and will result in the best possible use of water.

This project is designed to help you appreciate the importance of water and the need for wise water management. If you are to understand water as a natural resource, you must also understand what it is, where it comes from, and where it goes after we use it. This project should help you see why the future of our water resources depends on how we use them today.

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Produced by Communication and Educational Technology Services, University of Minnesota Extension.

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