Safe Drinking Water Is Essential

Did you know that half of the world's hospital beds are filled with people suffering from a water-related disease? In developing countries, about 80% of illnesses are linked to poor water and sanitation conditions. 1 out of every 5 deaths under the age of 5 worldwide is due to a water-related disease. Clean and safe water is essential to healthy living.

Tiny worms and bacteria live in water naturally. Most of the bacteria are pretty harmless. But some of them can cause devastating disease in humans. And since they can't be seen, they can't be avoided.  Every glass of dirty water is a potential killer.

Most of these waterborne diseases aren't found in developed countries because of the sophisticated water systems that filter and chlorinate water to eliminate all disease carrying organisms. But typhoid fever, cholera and many other diseases still run rampant in the developing parts of the world.

The Benefit of Staying Hydrated and Why Drinking Water Is Important

Up to 60 percent of the human body is composed of water. Your organs need it, your muscles need it, and even your bones need it.

You need water to survive.

Because of its unique chemical properties, water can help with all kinds of functions throughout your body, such as:

• Getting rid of waste

• Controlling perspiration

• Regulating bowel movements

• Maintaining appropriate body temperatur

• Lubricating joints

• Protecting tissues

If you don't drink enough water, you can become dehydrated. In turn, your body won't function as well as it should. Even if you only have mild dehydration, you may experience symptoms.

How Water Affects Energy Levels and Brain Function

If you don't drink enough water, your energy and brain function may suffer. Plenty of studies prove this.

One study on dehydration in womenfound that fluid loss causes unbalanced mood, ineffective concentration, and increased headaches. A study ondehydration in menfound that drinking water positively affected fatigue, attention, focus, reaction speed, and short-term memory.

Dehydration also affects physical performance. Even losing one percent of your water weight can harm muscle strength, power, and endurance.

How Water Affects Body Weight

One of the most popular methods for losing weight is drinking more water. People say that it fills you up faster and removes the toxic waste from your body. Plus, some claim that it even boosts metabolism.

Naturally, scientists began conducting studies to get to the bottom of this. And, some found that drinking more water is correlated with a decrease in body weight.

However, some experts believe that this is simply a correlation rather than a causation. It may be that those who drink more water also don't drink soda. Or, it could be that those who drink more water work out more.  Either one of these could greatly skew the results of the study.  Unfortunately, there isn't a definitive answer on how water affects body weight. But, experts do believe that replacing sodas and juices with water can have a positive effect on our weight and our health.

How Water Prevents Health Problems

As you know, drinking enough water helps our bodies function properly. It stands to reason, then, that proper hydration can have a positive impact on certain health problems.  By increasing water intake, you can prevent constipation, urinary tract infections, kidney stones, and more.  You can also reverse any skin dehydration that you may have, whether it's from a chronic illness or systemic dehydration. Drinking more water will help hydrate your skin.

Overall, water helps your body function better. You'll notice differences in all aspects of your health when you stay well hydrated. And, you may be able to ease symptoms of some conditions and illnesses by drinking up.

How Much Water Should I Drink?

The amount of water that you should drink depends on several factors. Many experts agree on the baseline amount of fluid that women and men should intake daily:

• 11.5 cups, 2.7 liters, or .71 gallon for women

• 15.5 cups, 3.7 liters, or nearly 1 gallon for men

However, this isn't the amount of plain water that you should drink. You may get up to 20 percent of your water intake from other fluids and foods.  There may also be other factors to consider when calculating your water intake. Click here for a more in depth look at how much water you should drink each day.

When Should I Drink More Water Than Usual?

Depending on your lifestyle, you may need to drink more water than the average person.

If you live in a hot or humid climate, you'll need more water. Likewise, those living at high altitudes need to take in more water. And, you should drink more water in the hotter months since you're likely perspiring more, and thus losing more water from your body. This is especially true if you spend a lot of time outside in the heat, or even in cooler months if you're in a heated room.

Your diet also affects water intake. You may need to drink more water if you eat a lot of spicy, sugary, or salty foods. You should also drink more water if you drink a lot of coffee or don't eat enough fruits and vegetables.

If you're extremely active, you need to drink more water. Whether you run, walk, lift weights, or stand, you lose more water than someone who is sedentary at a desk. The more active you are, the more fluids you need.  If you work out in the summer, you need to take extra precautions. Often, athletes don't account for the heat outside and suffer light-headedness due to dehydration.

These who have pre-existing health conditions may also need to take in more water. If you have diabetes or take diuretic medications, you should take in more water to help your body reach equilibrium.

If you're acutely ill with something like vomiting or diarrhea, you should also drink extra water. You're likely losing a lot of fluids to your symptoms, so you need to replenish your body to boost its functioning and help fight off the illness.

Lastly, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should drink more water. A woman loses water to her baby through the umbilical cord and through her breast ducts. She needs to drink enough to support both herself and the baby.

WHY FRESH WATER SHORTAGES WILL CAUSE THE NEXT GREAT GLOBAL CRISIS

The impacts of climate change and the global water crisis on people’s lives are increasingly obvious and well documented.

July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded. Portugal, Canada, Greece, Spain, Chile, the United States and many other countries are experiencing heatwaves, droughts and severe wildfires. Iraq is facing the worst water crisis in a century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report, published in March this year, highlighted that adverse climate impacts are already more far-reaching and extreme than anticipated. Climate change has reduced food and water security, with around half of the world’s population facing water scarcity for at least one month per year. Moreover, increasing temperatures and extreme weather events contribute to the increased spread of water, food and vector-borne diseases. Ocean warming and acidification have undermined fisheries and shellfish in many communities around the world. Climate and weather extremes are increasingly driving displacement, particularly in vulnerable communities. With every fraction of a degree of warming, these impacts will intensify. 

Policymakers have started putting water systems firmly on their agenda

The UN 2023 Water Conference, which took place in March in New York and followed the first “water COP” held in Egypt in late 2022, was the first UN conference on freshwater in nearly 50 years. Hundreds of water-related commitments and pledges from governments, businesses and NGOs form the Water Action Agenda aimed at addressing the global water crisis. Although these pledges alone are insufficient, they represent a first comprehensive effort to build the necessary cross-boundary and cross-sectoral co-ordination focused on water systems. The newly established Global Commission on the Economics of Water highlighted that addressing the urgent threat the world is facing—of a 40% shortfall in freshwater supply by 2030—requires fundamentally transforming the economics and governance of water. The commission aims to increase the momentum for this transformation, similar to what the Stern Review did for climate and the Dasgupta report for biodiversity economics. On a national level there has been an important breakthrough—albeit only a temporary one—on reducing withdrawals from the drought-strained Colorado River in the US. And in Brazil, deforestation of the Amazon—a crucial component of the global hydrological cycle—has finally started to slow.

However, greater international political and financial co-operation is crucial for tackling the global water crisis.

The Paris agreement’s Global Stocktake—which assesses the global response to the climate crisis every five years—will be completed for the first time ever at COP28. This is a crucial opportunity to create momentum at the highest political level for correcting the course and putting water at the heart of the global climate agenda. Funding necessary adaptation measures in developing countries, reforming water and food subsidy systems, and addressing loss and damage require deep collaboration across borders and sectors. It is vital that water and nature-based systems become a much more prominent part of the revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) and the global climate response.

Economist Impact with our vast experience in water through key initiatives such as the Blue Peace Index, the recently concluded World Ocean Summit, Back to Blue and the City Water Index—is well placed to make sense of these complexities and to catalyse progress on the road to the UN Water Conference, COP and beyond.