Is water a human right? In my opinion water should be a human right and made available to everyone. It should not be sold and traded like comidity. Water is essential for life and therefore whould be a right. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) however “…right to a standard of living adequate for the health… including food, clothing, housing, health care and necessary social services.” it is not. * By the UHDR standards then, water is a privilege. This has enabled large corporations and individuals to trade, export and sell water like it’s oil. Water is essential for all life, yet already people all over the world have to fight for something so simple, something everyone needs to survive.

Only 3% of earth’s water is fresh, and the majority of that 3% is polluted way beyond human use. How? The water cycle has been interrupted basically; the same water cycle that has been working for billions of years has been rendered obsolete by our “modern advances”. New agricultural methods are using chemicals that get absorbed into the ground water. The cars we drive everyday are giving off fumes into the atmosphere and clouds where it mixes with the precipitation. That now polluted precipitation falls into the oceans and rivers, which poisons the ground water. Probably the biggest polluters though are industries and our waste systems being drained into the oceans. All that waste is killing fish, birds and marine mammals. Not only are we polluting our only source of life but we are also depleting the supply of it. Draining the groundwater wouldn’t be a problem except we are using so much, and then not putting enough water back into the ground. Pumping so much water out is actually creating enormous sink holes in the ground.. That ground water is also being sold and traded in the form of bottled water, or in corn, neither one ever makes it’s way back to it’s original location.

Essentially, the aquafers will run out of water. When they do, only the rich will be able to afford to pay for it. Everyone else will have to do without. Since not everyone has the money to pay for water, wars will break out over water. The wars my friends will fight and die in will be the same ones that mark our generation, water wars. My grandchildren will grow up in a world where water is viewed differently, and they won’t even have the same amount that we do now. The way we live with, trade and use our resources have to drastically change. We have to take the necessary steps to undo the damage that has been done.

There are small steps we can all take towards making sure our water stays clean, and drinkable. We need to stop going into the ground for water and then mixing in chemicals, that might be a bigger step but it’s easier than stopping all car productions. Then there are things we can all do at home. Buy water efficient showerheads and toilets. Don’t let the water run while you are brushing your teeth or while you are doing dishes. Our world is running out of drinkable water. The human race is responsible for this, but it’s not too late. We can reverse the effects we have had on our home. Water is not a commodity like oil that should be traded and sold for someone else’s profit. It’s something we all need to survive.