as
a chemical soup not fit to drink from or swim in. Some concemed experts view them as loaded with
toxic chemicals, heavy metals, pesticides and sewage. Far too many rivers and streams in Canada
have
been badly contaminated by industrial activity.
Humans can live about a month without food, but only a few days without water. Because 70 percent
of
the human body is water, weight loss in some quick diets is dramatic due to water loss. Of all the
water in the world, only about 2.5 percent is fresh and two thirds of this is locked up in glaciers
and ice caps. Nobody knows how much water is underground or in permafrost. All life on earth is
sustained by a fraction of one percent of the world's water. If a five-liter jug [about 1 gallon]
represented
the world's water, the available fresh water would not quite fill a teaspoon.
Overall, in most parts of the planet there is enough water to supply human needs. The huge problem
however is the rapidly increasing populations in places that lack adequate water resources, as well
as mismanagement of available resources. Canada, with only 0.5 percent of the world's population,
has 5.6 percent of its usable fresh water supply. China, with 22 percent of the population on
earth
