To those living in the developed world, water seems to be a ubiquitous resource. Simply turn on the faucet, bath, or shower anytime and get a seemingly endless supply of hot or cold potable water. While luxurious (albeit taken for granted) for such residents, the idea of limitless fresh water constitutes an illusion.
First, fresh water only constitutes one percent of all water on earth. That is not very much in terms of total quantity. Second, the fresh water we do have is not wisely used. It tends to be wasted and polluted. Finally, a growing population combined with industry is creating increasing demand for fresh water.
Governments should take legal measures to stop the widespread pollution of water, particularly at the large business/industry level. They should strive to make it cost inefficient for companies to pollute, as profit is the bottom line in business. Measures should also be adopted to promote water conservation. Finally, the extant technology for filtering salt water should be developed. Presently, such technology is too slow and expensive to be of great benefit on the national and international level. However, as it advances, its prospects for use could be very promising. Such advancements would need to go hand-in-hand with research done on its ecological consequences.