Dear President,

We live in a great country, the United States of America. We have many blessings that other people, like in third-world countries for example, may not be able to experience on a daily basis like us. Many of these blessings are taken for granted because we don’t realize how benefited we are for having some resources. One of these resources is our water. We use clean water for a variety of things. We get it instantly from the faucet whenever we want or need. We use water to bathe in, wash our clothes, dishes and many other things, and we even use it to flush away wastes. Water has so many useful purposes in our world today. In fact, we couldn’t live without it. However, we are ignoring an important question. What happens when there is no more clean water left for us?

Fresh water makes up only 2.5 percent of the total water available on Earth. This 2.5 percent is still taken for granted. Those who don’t have fresh water are at risk of getting diseases such as Hepatitis, Cholera, and Typhoid because of the consumption of polluted water. Several people are dying each day because of the consumption of polluted water. 15 million children that are under age five die each year because of polluted water. Drinking water, or fresh water, is a necessity for life, so without it being available to people they’re either forced to drink polluted water or die of thirst. Neither of these options are good choices, so we, as a country, should become more aware of the situation and find solutions.

Fresh water isn’t the only important water. Salt water is almost just as important, although we have more of it as a resource comparative to fresh water. Pollution in salt water doesn’t affect us as directly as pollution in fresh water, but it still affects us. This pollution takes away our entertainment that comes from spending time in the ocean. It doesn’t just affect us; it affects the many things living in the ocean. From a blue whale, to the different plankton in the ocean, and everything in between, it affects them all. The pollution in the water is causing a depletion of oxygen for the fish. This has led to a massive death count for fish. This takes away our dependence on fish for food.

Half of the world’s freshwater can be found in only six countries. This means we should cherish the freshwater that we have and try our best to stop pollution from happening. In the 70’s the restrictions on companies were very minimum, once the problem was recognized the government created the Clean Water Act. That’s a huge step, but we should take a step further to help rid our footprint from the pollution we’ve caused. Some ways we could stop pollution is enforce the laws we already have even more so, control the amount of pollution that is being put back into the ecosystem, and make people aware of their effect on the ecosystem around them. Albert Einstein once said, “A problem cannot be solved by the same consciousness in which it arose.” With this same concept, making people aware of the situation and problem will help us all change our ways for the better for us, the organisms around us, and the ecosystem in general.

Sincerely,

K.