"Running Dry"

Mikhail Gorbachev once said of the global water crisis “The bell tolls for all of us.”  Clean water is the most precious and vital natural resource on our planet and is considered a universal human right. However as a result of overpopulation and overutilization many parts of the world are still not guaranteed this right and people are suffering and dying every day as a result of water scarcity and the water quality crisis.

I just watched the documentary “Running Dry” which was written, directed, and produced by Jim Thebaut in an effort to raise awareness regarding the global water quality crisis that plagues not only our country but our planet. The project was originally inspired by U.S. Senator Paul Simon’s book “Tapped Out” which described the future world crisis in water and possible suggestions about what we can do to fix it.

In this documentary Thebaut points out that water is the most precious natural resource on our planet as all life on Earth is dependent on it and needs it to survive. We need water to drink, cook, wash, to sustain and nourish our food, industry, energy, and for the transport of goods. As a result of the high demand for clean water on our planet along with the population and technological explosions of the 20^th century our water supply has been significantly depleted and more people lack drinking water today than they did two decades ago. Freshwater sources are increasingly being used up and contaminated. I was shocked to find out that an estimated 14,000 people die from diseases caused by water pollution or lack of water and about 9,500 of those deaths are children. The most devastating part of these facts is that all of these deaths are preventable. I was unaware that many countries today, in the 21^st century, including Africa, India, and China have widespread water contamination and consequently also have a high mortality rate as citizens are forced to consume drinking water with animal and human fecal matter because they lack proper sewage plants.

Americans use water more than everyone on the globe, and through this film we see that it is vitally important that we lead the citizens in our planet in making a conscious and concerted effort to become more frugal with how we use our water and begin to comprehend the significance of the issue and come up with ways to conserve our water usage and provide clean water to all. It was evident, throughout this film that without water our global social and economic security will be in severe jeopardy. Thebaut did a very good job at pointing out the role that policy failures and insufficient awareness among people of the severity of the issue plays in the global water crisis and in the process helps to increase awareness on sustainable water management. Thebaut seeks experts from all around the globe including former Prime Ministers and local activists, and by doing so he exposes his audience to the many aspects of this worldwide crisis.  Thebaut does not just describe the problem and address the root causes, but more importantly outlines an agenda of alternatives to helping to solve our current crisis.