Activity Books Watershed Defenders Comic Book | Page 7

1.9 Billion — Number of people worldwide
who do not have access to clean water.
freshwater is locked up in the polar ice
caps. Some water is too polluted for
us to drink. When you do all the math,
it turns out that only about 1 percent of
the earth’s water is fit to drink.
You can do this experiment for a
comparison: Fill a one-gallon milk jug
with water. The jug represents all the
water on the planet. Now measure out
how much is
safe to
drink: one tablespoon.
Remember how we said this might
get scary? In the year 2000, the United
Nations said 1.9 billion people lacked
access to a reliable source of safe drink-
ing water. That’s almost one third of the
world population. Dirty water can cause
disease, and across the globe, on aver-
age, one child dies every 15 seconds
from waterborne disease.
With no medicine oth-
er than safe drinking
water, estimates
show we could
save 2 million
lives a year.
Besides disease, the lack of clean
water causes other problems. In parts
of Africa and India, it’s common for
people to have to walk more than
three miles to simply collect water.
Then they have to carry that water
back home. Five gallons of water
weighs almost 42 pounds.
By one estimate, 40 billion hours are
spent each year in Africa hauling water.
That’s time taken away from other pur-
suits that could help fight poverty.
According to Colorado State Uni-
versity Extension, many Colorado
residents use more than 200 gallons
per day, most of it outside the home.
For survival, the average person
requires approximately two quarts
per day.
T he N umber O ne T hreat
6.1
Billion
Year 2000
The earth’s
surface is nearly
2/3rds water,
but less than
1 percent of it
is fit to drink!!
4
The number one threat to clean
water in the United States is runoff
pollution—the Contaminator.
Turn the page to see how everyday
activities and events need to be man-
aged to protect our source water.
The Great Lakes—
Huron, Michigan,
Erie, Ontario, and
Superior—hold
nearly 20% of
earth’s total supply
of freshwater.
4
Billion
Year 1975
3
2.55
Billion
Year 1950
2
1.2
Billion
Year 1850
1
450
Million
Year 1500
275
Million
Year 1000
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
500
Million
Year 1650
1600
700
Million
Year 1750
1700
1800
1900
2000
Year

Watershed Defenders produced by Colorado Foundation for Agriculture
7