Water Abuse

Water is a vital to all human life, but people don’t know how they should limit their use of it, how their actions affect the purity of it, or how restricted water actually is. They do not know how to take care of water, or their environment. They need to realize that water should not be carelessly used for leisure. Also, recognize that they pollute their own water supply with chemicals and trash, and they do not seem to understand that there is a limited supply of water. Americans do not comprehend the actual meaning of water abuse, and how it applies to them. The abuse of water is going to revolve around how much American over use and waste it. People aren’t concerned or aware of the scarcity of water because they don’t see how it affects them directly. According to Karen Bouwer, in her essay “Women and Water”, the average “…use in the United States is 176 gallons per person per day.” (Bouwer 319) More than half of that percentage only includes bathing and flushing the toilet. While on the contrary, African nations “…average 10 gallons” per person per day if they are lucky. Americans probably would not be able to function without being able to use water whenever they may please. Although this may seem like something that can be fixed, the water pollution human’s cause put even more restrictions on water. Most people are aware that their trash ends up in the middle of the ocean, while some others are clueless. Some may not see how where “the trash man” drops their trash is of importance. But the reality is that most of the things that people put into their trash cans never decompose, or can take over 10 years to do so. The one thing that all Americans use everyday at some point of the day never decomposes is plastic. Over fifteen percent of all plastic made, ends up in the ocean. A majority of that fifteen percent ends up on the ocean floor. (Reuse It) For example, in San Antonio, “…park personnel haul off more than 600,000 pounds of trash” (Harte 164) Plastic

Cited: “Water Facts.” The Water Information Program. 5 September 2012. Online Bouwer, Karen. “Women and Water.” The Water and Culture Reader. Southlake: Fountainhead, 2011. 319-322. Print “Use and Toss Plastic Bottle Facts”. ReUseIt. 6 September 2012. Online Harte, Alexis. “San Antonio: A City Guided By Its River.” The Water and Culture Reader. Southlake: Fountainhead, 2011. 161-163. Print