W3:"A Day Without Water"

A Day Without Water

 Every living organism on earth requires water to survive, whether it's humans, animals, or plants. This means that everyone in the earth can't live without water and a person can only survive without water for a few days (Ld, 2023). So, what if there is no access to clean water for a day in a town? People have no water to brush their teeth, wash their faces, take a bath and most important, drink water. For animals, they will become dehydrated and may overheat due to the hot temperature. But for plants, they will lose moisture and causing leaves to turn yellow and fall off. The price of bottled mineral water will increase rapidly and if a fire breaks out, the fire hydrants might stop working. 

The changes will be on people's action, for example their emotion changes, their thinking and their physical reactions. People will become more anxious, feel the fear about the water shortage and experience anger. It is inconvenience and people feel the uncertainty of how long the shortage will last. The physical reaction will be dry mouth if they can't drink any water and people will discomfort with weak energy from not having enough water to stay hydrated in that day. People and restaurants won't be able to cook on that day, which might cause people to go hungry, and the restaurant might not profit. Farmers might face economic loss because the plants can't grow properly. Schools might be closed for one day, and students won't be able to use the toilets or wash their hands. Hospital will face problems cleaning medical equipment and shortage of water can affect the patients' recovery. 

The challenges are limited access of drinking clean water, economic losses and conflicts between people. Agriculture is known as one of the biggest users of water worldwide, using about 70% of the planet's freshwater to irrigate nearly a quarter of all farmlands (Shemer et al., 2023). The water might come out polluted with dirt or bacteria, it will have probability of unusual smell. If that country's economic relies on tourism, shortage of water will negatively affect to tourism. The tourists will avoid going to that country and hotels may face cancellations or shorten their stays. People may compete for access of water, and this can cause the arguments and even violence. The trust between people may breakdown, if others use more time to collect water or blaming others for taking more than their share.

The innovations are people will have awareness of saving water in their house or government will have water-saving technologies. People will also be more cherish their water resources and avoid wasting water. They can take actions with buying mineral water to avoid shortage of water, collecting rainwater and closing water after finish using it. Government may develop better solutions to solve the water shortage. 

The creative solutions communities try to have rain harvesting and have water-sharing activities or device. The rain harvesting collects and stores rainwater for people to use. Rainwater harvesting systems can be as simple as rain barrels or as complex as systems with pumps, large tanks, and filters to clean the water (Ogale & Swati, 2025).  This can let people use to watering plants or finish other cleaning. Water-sharing device can allow residents to share and use the storage when there's shortage of water. This device can distribute the water fairly to avoid conflict and can let management to control water use.

Dear Diary,

Today, the school was closed for one day because the water shortage. At first, I felt so happy with that. But mom was upset, she told me that we can't cook food and drink clean water for one day. I feel worried and scared because I don't know when we can get the clean water back. My body feels sticky and uncomfortable, but I can't take a bath. I feel very thirsty, but I don't dare to finish the water. When will the water get back? I hope we can get back the water tomorrow morning. I never realized how important the water was before. 

Diana

My reflection is people often realize the true value of something only after they lose it. That’s why we must cherish our water resources and never waste them. We should also treasure everything we have right now. 

Reference

Ld, L. D. R. (2023, September 15). Why Is Water So Important? Here’s What You Need to Know. Verywell Health. https://www.verywellhealth.com/why-is-water-so-important-7642982 

Ogale, & Swati. (2025, June 28). Rainwater harvesting system | Description, Uses, Quality, & Configurations. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/technology/rainwater-harvesting-system 

Shemer, H., Wald, S., & Semiat, R. (2023). Challenges and solutions for global water scarcity. Membranes, 13(6), 612. https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes13060612