As in New Delhi and Phoenix, policymakers worldwide wield great power over how water resources are managed

the worlds demand for freshwater is currently overtaking its ready supply in many places, and this situation shows no sign of abating today one out of six people, more than a billion, suffer inadequate access to safe freshwater By midcentury as much as three quarters of the earths population could face scarcities of freshwater lack of access to water can lead to starvation, disease, political instability and even armed conflict each person on the earth needs a minimum of 1,000 cubic meters (m3) of water per year Rivers such as the Nile, the Jordan, the Yangtze and the Ganges are not only overtaxed, they also now regularly peter out for long periods during the year Water and marsh plants, both macro and micro, for example, often do much to remove humanderived waste from the water that passes through the ecosystems in which they live Not only does demand rise with population size and growth rate, it also tends to go up with income level: richer groups generally consume more water In the past the cost of freshwater in the U.S. and other economic powers has been too low to encourage users to save water Higher water prices can, for instance, spur the adoption of measures such as the systematic reuse of used water (so-called gray water) for nonportable applications can also encourage water agencies to build recycling and reclamation systems even a modest 10 percent rise in irrigation efficiency would free up more water than is evaporated off by all other users

Water is quickly becoming increasingly more valuable as population rises and our usage does not. To sustain our rising population, the way we consume water needs to be changed. An average person in the U.S. uses around 100 gallons a day, and this could easily be reduced to conserve water for other uses. Our water use is causing many different water sources to be diverted and stored, and most of these structures have been causing destructive effects. In fact, many of the worlds largest rivers are dried out for portions of the year, when they used to be flowing year long. This overtaxing of water can also lead to climate change, resulting in desertification, where areas that had their water diverted are drying and heating up without the flowing water to cool the surrounding areas. These water sources have been used to the point where most areas have lack of water to the point that freshwater is only available for certain times, or not at all. For example, one out of 6 people in the world suffer from inadequate access to safe freshwater. These problems can be solved by increasing the price of water by use and location so that the conservation and reuse of things like grey water are encouraged. Water use is causing major controversy throughout the world. In developing countries, water can even lead to all-out conflict over the right to clean and safe drinking water. This water shortage is caused by the careless water use found in many of todays developed countries, where conservation is not seen as important. Within many of these countries, water supplying companies distribute the water based on a system, with set portions going to agricultural consumers, large companies, everyday consumer, and the organisms within ecosystems in their distributing areas. Although this system sounds appealing, the large companies take precedent over everyone else because thewy pay the most for large amounts and have the money to do this for long periods of time, making them a valued customer in the

eyes of the water distributor. These actions do not promote conservation, but steps can be taken to do so. For example, raising prices will encourage the conservation of water and reuse of reclaimed water. In agriculture, the conservation of water in irrigation can lead the freeing of water that accounts for the combined evaporated water of all other users, creating a much larger amount of water to be distributed to where it is direly needed. So What? This information gives the sense of how easy it could be to conserve more water to free up its usage in areas where it is truly needed What if? If this information was not brought to light, then our water supply would eventually get too low to the point that makes it unusable Says Who? This information was shown to the public by environmentalists and researchers who analyzed the increasing population and how it is affecting the water supply What Does This Remind Me of? This reminds me of the article that was about reducing carbon emissions and how beneficial it could be, and how it could impact the environment if they were not reduced