Our drinking water - Is the world drying up? | DW Documentary

Only 0.3 percent of the Earth's total water supply is suitable for human consumption. Ominously, this precious resource is beginning to shrink. Natural water reservoirs are drying up due to climate change.

Glaciologist Daniel Farinotti surveys melting glaciers in the Swiss Alps. If glaciers continue to melt at the current rate, he says, there will be no ice left by the end of the century. The disappearance of glacial meltwater would have fatal consequences.

From the heights of the Swiss Alpine glaciers, the documentary travels down to the seafloor, off the coast of Malta. Here, the crew of the German expedition ship "Sonne" wants to track down mysterious freshwater deposits in the Mediterranean. Next up is Peru where, in a bid to counteract the threat of water shortages, work is underway on projects that use ancient Incan methods.

#documentary #dwdocumentary #water
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[reneeleuther]

DW should push these informative docs into schools everywhere!

[bradmetcalf]

I can’t seem to get enough of these DW documentaries

[joelnunez]

This is why research on how to easily convert saltwater into drinking water is very important. Maybe even more important than reaching mars, or other meaningless voyages at this point of time in our history. We should focus on the sea, maybe even exploring and mapping our entire ocean.

[shinku]

Governments saying "we need to fight global warming NOW" has the same energy as "Thoughts and Prayers". Drastic (and necessary) changes won't be made until it's too late.

[skepticangel]

'We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.' (Thomas Fuller)

[nathanjarboe]

Earth is not loosing any water, its just stuck in the wrong places and we need to artificially put it in the right place.

[lim]

Watching this documentary was truly eye-opening. The urgency of preserving our planet's precious water resources couldn't be more evident. From the Swiss Alps to the depths of the Mediterranean, it's a stark reminder of our responsibility. Thank you for shedding light on this crucial issue.

[sachinrv]

DW documentaries are above the ordinary. Excellent research and informative. Good work..

[fluxcapacitor]

California doesn't have a water shortage. We have a corporate greed problem. 80% of California’s water is used by agriculture and many of the crops shouldn’t be grown in California.

It takes 1, 900 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of almonds. California supplies 80% of the world's supply.

It takes 1, 400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of pistachios. California supplies 99% of the nation's supply. Growers have added over 173, 540 acres of pistachio trees in the last 5 years.

Residents aren't the problem. It's corporate agriculture and they keep increasing consumption. They've figured out that annual crops are subjected to water restrictions but if they switch to perennial crops(nuts), they're guaranteed a continuous supply.

Corporations and shareholders are only motivated by profits. They don’t care if they drain our state dry in the process.

[qaifkhan]

Plant as many native trees as possible

[zayree]

Excellent coverage in the latest issue DW Documentary. Please continue on another pressing issue as well. Some issues need an overview of documentary method to further understand its implication.

[rf]

Nothing lasts forever...

This is true!

[wezy]

This incredibly important topic. Thank you for bringing it to light.

[croutardsparrow]

Good afternoon! Thank you sincerely for the video! I hope to see new videos coming out soon :)

[maximus]

Surprised when they talked about desalination part, that they didn’t mention the negatives of releasing the grime back into the sea, especially killing marine life, which in turn affects fishing, etc, etc

[thesilentone]

The brine try putting it in a evaporation pond you can collect the salt.
Or evaporation pond with a dome to collect water with it and increase the speed that it evaporates.
Try using thirsty cement for your parking lots and add trees to them.

[alkaiable]

l live in Montreal, certainly no drying up here it seems, I see people hosing the sidewalks in front of their houses very day.its completely ridiculous.

[EasyModeFishing]

For every drought there’s a flood somewhere. Climates have always changed. Florida was once under water.

[tiffanym]

At least half of household water usage can be recycled as greywater and diverted to the garden. From there, it can seep back into the ground, replenishing wells, rather than flow out to the ocean. There's a fellow in Tucson, Arizona, that encourages cutting curbs so that excess rainwater from the streets can flow into basins in yards to be used to water trees. Rooftop rain collection can be used for household purposes and even for drinking if filtered properly. We take water for granted. It's a shame the above techniques are illegal in many places.

[totoxclub]

Great documentary!
Very interesting would be an analysis of the systemic risk (chain impacts) of extracting the ground water of such a huge pockets 🤔.