The Water We Use Answers

The defining characteristic of potable water is that it can be consumed without risk of harm. Potable water is of a sufficiently high quality and purity that it lacks pathogens or contaminants that might otherwise pose a hazard to humans.

Around the world the most significant restriction on access to potable water is money. While access to raw water sources, clean or otherwise, is important, the purification process itself is expensive. Once water has been rendered potable, it is important that it be delivered without reintroducing contamination. The most convenient way to deliver potable water is through underground pipes, which requires expensive infrastructure.

The amount of water needed to sustain a person is highly variable because it depends upon not only the temperature and humidity of the environment where they live but the level of physical activity they engage in as well. People engaging in low levels of activity in cool temperate climates will need less water to survive than people engaged in highly strenuous activity in hot, dry climates.

As human populations grow they consume more water, not just by drinking, but through all of the other human activities that require freshwater such as agriculture, bathing, cleaning, etc. Overpopulation, therefore, can lead to overconsumption as populations use more water than an area can support and replenish sustainably.

Not only is water necessary for the physical survival of humans, but many, if not most, human activities also make use of it. Agriculture is critically dependent upon continual supplies of freshwater. Human households also use freshwater daily for cleaning and laundry as well as for transporting sewage to waste treatment plants.