Imagine all the water you use in a day: showering, washing, flushing the toilet, gardening... How responsible are we in using this most precious resource?In a World Water Day report by The Council of Canadians there is a focus on the Great Lakes watershed which holds more than 20 per cent of the world's fresh water. Increasingly there are pressures to use up this valuable resource. "About 850 billion gallons of water are pumped out each day... It is not a closed hydrological cycle like we were taught."
"Scientists say that the Great Lakes could be bone dry in 80 years." Reference is made to the Aral Sea in Russia which was once the fourth largest lake. Now it is only 10% of its former size due to diversion projects in the last 25 years.
The Council recommends that the United States and Canada declare the Great Lakes as a public trust and take greater steps to clean up and protect.
World Water Day encourages one to think about how precious water is for us all and the social justice issues arising out of its use.
Image and article about Aral Sea
