Salvaging our water commons: Greatest threat to humanity Our
water commons are under direct attack. Humanity is
contaminating, redirecting, and extracting fresh water at rates
impossible to sustain. Over one billion humans do not have
access to water of acceptable quality - a child dies every few
seconds from contaminated water, largely from waterborne
diseases. Net human growth now exceeds 200,000 each day. In
spite of occasional gains in certain areas of Europe and North
America, surface waters globally are being damaged at
accelerating rates by toxic contamination from industrial and
urban pollution, infectious diseases, dam construction,
irrigation, factory farming, forest and wetland destruction.
Most ground waters are being exploited more rapidly than they
are being replenished. The demands of burgeoning humanity for
material goods contribute to the doubling of the per capita use
of fresh water every two decades at a rate twice that of human
population increase. Without question, the lack of available q