Green Daily

As with most things other than power, the United States isn't anywhere near the best or most when it comes to water quality. Pollution is a big problem in our country.

In fact, we rank right in the middle of a ranking of 69 countries based on water pollution. Mozambique and Burma have no pollution, according to the ranking. India, Ireland, Russia and Mexico were among the countries who boast cleaner freshwater, while Greece, France, Spain and Japan had dirtier water than the U.S. Israel reportedly has the most polluted freshwater.

As is pointed out in The United Nations World Water Development Report, published a few years ago, the issue of water quality affects all of us, but particularly the poor and our natural environment, "which is groaning under the
mountain of wastes dumped onto it daily, and from overuse and misuse, with seemingly little care for the future consequences and future generations. The report also states that the problem of water quality is preventable and one for which we know the solution: "This crisis is one of water governance, essentially caused by the ways in which we mismanage water." Let's start living up to the hype of being the wonderful world leader we too often get credit for being despite serious failings. Putting pressure on our elected officials and ourselves to make changes would be a good way to start.

There is some movement. Last month, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, stated that unless scarcities in water resources are addressed in the near future, the amount of conflicts in the world could rise. As a result, the United Nations will take action to confront water shortages through reaching anti-poverty targets set out in the Millennium Development Goals. You can read more about it here.

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