Over the past two decades, the global economy has witnessed extraordinary technological advances and scientific feats that were previously unimaginable. Money changes hands electronically and complicated business propositions are sent and approved without the hindrance of the postal service. Medical science defies death and disease on a daily basis. The World Wide Web enables instant communication across oceans with the touch of a computer key. Despite these tremendous advancements in human life and technology, the greatest issue we currently face concerns something as primitive as water. I believe we are poised to solve the water shortage problem within this decade if we embrace one of the most abundant resources currently available: our nation’s students.

Fresh, clean water is a priceless commodity that many live without. According to UN-Water, an inter-agency organization established by the United Nations to respond to the worldwide water shortage, more than one sixth of the world’s population, 894 million people, currently have no fresh water. Incredibly, over 2.5 billion people do not have proper forms of water sanitation, a lack of which can lead to widespread disease and malnutrition. http://www.unwater.org/statistics_san.html. As a result of these dangerous and unhealthy conditions, 1.5 million children die every year from complications due to improper water sanitation. These fatalities are preventable, which adds a sense of urgency to this global issue.

Although an international water shortage has the potential for disastrous results, I believe that we are capable of handling the water supply and sanitation problems; however, we must be efficient and utilize all available resources to achieve success. Right now, an especially powerful population of students is being ignored. As a future undergraduate student, I view this demographic as an engaging, passionate and driven group of young adults whose willingness to donate time, effort and resources would be an invaluable addition to the struggle to reverse the global water shortage. It is absurd for this active population to be bypassed when relief organizations worldwide are struggling to find sufficient manpower to combat the water shortage.

Admittedly, many schools in the United States are already working to assuage the impact of the water shortage; however, there is still a lack of a collective, organized effort on behalf of the universities to encourage ongoing remediation. Princeton University’s Davis Projects for Peace recently sponsored two undergraduate students to travel to the small village of Jorit, Ethiopia where they spent their summer building a clean water system for the town. Endeavors like these are required in greater numbers to truly instigate change on an international level. Other institutions such as Georgetown University and Tufts University have sponsored lectures on the subject in an attempt to educate individuals on the severity of this threat as well as the importance of conservation efforts that will prevent water shortage from reoccurring or intensifying. These efforts are a solid starting point, but they are not enough to change the progression of the water shortage. Why can’t universities use their research capabilities to teach students methods of water sanitation that they can then spread to the areas in need across the globe? Student time abroad could count for college credits as compensation for their efforts. This idea is not so far-fetched; thousands of college students already participate in summer internships around the world. These young adults are eager to explore the world, so let’s exploit their curiosity and travel instincts in a productive manner that will not only provide aid for those suffering from a lack of clean water, but will also promote an ongoing commitment to service abroad at the university level.

Clearly there is much work to be done before this issue will be resolved; however, with the help of our nation’s youth, the process would be expedited. In the United States, there are approximately eighteen million college students and seventeen million high school students. These astounding figures add up to be over eleven percent of the nation’s population. This vast quantity of young adults provides the power to initiate real change in the regions that are affected most by the devastating water shortage. It is this kind of active, zealous participant that is required in order to truly improve, and eventually resolve, the water crisis. We can no longer ignore this dedicated, enthusiastic group of individuals when dealing with the international water shortage. I would like to see more colleges and universities implement scholastic options that would include hands-on work abroad by students, supervised by faculty, building water treatment plants and educating local residents on sanitation and conservation methods. The academic content is interdisciplinary, cutting across the humanities departments as well as the sciences. The potential the student population holds is critical to the success of the efforts to ameliorate this global issue.

Because water is the most vital resource to human life, the lack of water is the most significant malady currently afflicting the world. This problem is a critical issue today, but it will be a global crisis tomorrow. If nothing is done to stop this potential disaster, entire populations will be forced to survive without the most basic resource that all living things need and deserve: fresh, clean water.

Sara Clark is a senior at Council Rock High School North in Newtown, Pennsylvania, located twenty miles north of Philadelphia.  She has lived in Newtown for eleven years.  Next year, she plans to attend college in the United States, where she anticipates majoring in International Relations.  She feels very strongly about the global water shortage and plans to incorporate this international issue into her undergraduate education as well as her work and experiences beyond college.

Taking a break from complaining about how beautiful she is, actress and girlfriend to Justin Timberlake Jessica Biel will be scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro this January to help raise awareness for clean water.

The expedition, entitled Summit on the Summit, will also include Isabel Lucas and Lupe Fiasco.

Biel said, “This is a basic human necessity that needs to be addressed now. I’m proud to help any way I can in order to raise awareness toward the life-threatening clean water crisis happening not only in Africa but around the world.”

The United Nations, recently held a high-level symposium on water security organized by the World Water Organization, where they warned that two-thirds of the world’s population will face a lack of water in the next two decades if current trends in climate change, population growth, rural to urban migration and uncontrolled consumption continues they are now. Agriculture (in its currently practiced system) consumes around three quarters of the world’s fresh water supplies and in Africa the proportion is closer to ninety per cent.

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, leading the discussion, said that “if present trends continue, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with water scarcity by 2025, and two-thirds of the world population could be subject to water stress” Migro continued to warn against the severity of the problem saying “The lack of safe water and sanitation is inextricably linked with poverty and malnutrition, particularly among the world’s poor.”

The Deputy Secretary-General was adamant that achieving water security would have to include more effective and efficient water management, with initiatives like enhancing food security through more equitable allocation of water for agriculture and food production. Migro said that “it means ensuring the integrity of ecosystems, and it means promoting peaceful collaboration in the sharing of water resources, particularly in the case of boundary and trans-boundary water resources.”

The right to water is one of many other internationally recognized human rights, including the right to food, the right to health, and the right to adequate housing. The terrifying consequences of a global water shortage will hopefully spur nations to more start implementing more stringent water policies from a regulatory standpoint.