Water and its importance
On March 22, we celebrate World Water Day, proclaimed through a resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, on December 22, 1992. The purpose of this day is to raise awereness with political leaders and society to the conservation of this asset.
Given the growing concern with the phenomenon of climate change and its impact on the quality of human life, the commemorations of the Day of Water are increasingly relevant.
The theme of Water Day 2022 is Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible, shinning attention to a resource that supplies half of the world's drinking water, as well as 40% of what is needed for agricultural irrigation and 1/3 of all water for the industry.
Para melhor compreensão do que realmente é um Lençol Freático e como está inserido no Ciclo Natural da Água, vamos relembrar como este ciclo se inicia e desenvolve:
– Evaporation: by the action of the sun, the surface waters of rivers, lakes and ocean begin to evaporate, passing from the liquid state to the gaseous state and rising to the atmosphere;
– Precipitation: condensation of these water particles occurs in the atmosphere, that is, they pass from the gaseous state to the liquid, which results in precipitation/rain;
– Infiltration: when it rains, this water will seep into the earth, creating groundwater or groundwater or accumulating in rivers, lakes and oceans.
The water cycle plays a pivotal role in life on Earth as we know it, as well as in the maintenance of various climatic processes.
By changing this cycle, everything that depends on it is affected, from forests and pastures to the availability of our tap water.
A warmer world has more evaporation, disrupting the beginning of this very precious cycle. Pollution and urban growth contaminate water, preventing its use by all beings, while the gradual rise in sea level also impacts the availability of fresh water. It is therefore unfortunatte to be expected that the drought that is already being felt in 2/3 of the country will only increase, following the current and unfortunate planetary trajectory.
In the rest of the world, around 2.2 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and 4.2 million live without sanitation. Once again, these are numbers that tend to increase in the coming years and decades.
Water is fundamental for socio-economic development, for the production of energy and food, for building healthy ecosystems and for the survival of the human species. Our entire existence, sustainability and culture depend on fresh water and its availability.
Urgent measures need to be taken: improve the efficiency of our water consumption, create infrastructure for water collection and invest in innovative concepts such as desalination. But, above all, to make the population and legislators aware of the importance of something that we take for granted and that, however, is becoming increasingly scarce!
References:
https://www.epal.pt/EPAL/menu/epal/comunica%C3%A7%C3%A3o-ambiental/ciclo-da-%C3%A1gua
