WATER AROUND THE WORLD_EASY-VERSION

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World Water Gap Despite the fact that there is obviously enough clean water in the US, Europe and most of the developed world, more than 20% of the Earth’s population lacks clean, safe drinking water.

Where does the fresh drinking water come from? Scientists estimate that less than 3% of Earth’s water is fresh water. This means that only these 3% are safe to consume. The rest, so 97%, consists of undrinkable salt water in the oceans. The water could be filtered, but this is a very difficult process. Of the fresh water, most is in ice caps* and glaciers*, and some is in ground water. This is why we drew holes deep into the ground to get to the clean water we use everyday. Less than 1% of drinkable water is more easily accessible surface water in lakes, swamps, rivers. etc. Task: Open the tab next to this one and create a pie chart on the heritage of our water on earth! * ice cap = Eiskappe glacier = Gletscher

What are the reasons for water scarcity? Water scarcity = there is not enough water in a certain area. Water scarcity have a lot of different reasons, and many of them we cannot change. Firstly, the geographical location and climate of a country can be a possible reason. Areas with a hot, dry climate and very little rain naturally have more deserts and savannas, and therefore less fresh water. People in these areas, for example our girl Aysha from the movie in the beginning, often have to walk many kilometres to get to a fresh water spring*. Many animals have adapted* to this and don´t need that much water, such as camels, that store it in their bumps*. Still, the situation for people in these areas is very difficult and many struggle to survive. Another factor is missing water systems and infrastructure. This is mainly the case in poor and developing countries, since they do not have the money and resources to build pipelines* and distribute drinking water throughout the whole country. Furthermore, countries without functioing infrastructure tend to have less fresh drinking water, because they cannot distribute it by car. Also, many developing countries do not have the hygiene necessary to produce clean drinking water. We, in Europe, are used to sewage plants*, but these countries do not have this opportunity. Task: Add to your mindmap the reasons for water scarcity. Take no more than 5 minutes to do this, it should only be a very short summary. * spring = Quelle to adapt to = sich anpassen an bump = Höcker pipeline = Wasserleitung sewage plant = Kläranlage

Impact of water scarcity Health Clean and fresh water is extremely important for our health. We need to drink sanitary water to stay healthy and not get any infections, and we need to wash ourselves with water to stay clean and not spread bacteria or illnesses. The WHO (World Health Organization) estimates that 80% of all sicknesses in the world are distributed because of unsafe water. Many children die because of illnesses connected to dirty water - roughly 5000 every day. Education As you saw in the video with Aysha, people in countries with water scarcity have to walk huge distances to get to fresh drinking water. The time they spend collecting water is time they cannot spend in a school learning something. This is why in many developing countries women do not have a good education and later don´t get a good paying job - or not one at all. Task: Add these factors to your mindmap!

Key facts about water scarcity

• Four billion people — almost two thirds of the world’s population — experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year.
• Over two billion people live in countries where water supply is inadequate.
• Half of the world’s population could be living in areas facing water scarcity by as early as 2025.
• Some 700 million people could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030.
• By 2040, roughly 1 in 4 children worldwide will be living in areas of extremely high water stress.

Task: Add some of the facts that seem important to you to the mindmap you already made!

Task: Start a mindmap about water scarcity in the world. Add the places you see on this map that are marked red. I´m sure you know some of the names of these countries! If not, feel free to look it up on maps.google.com !