What ancient sailors expressed in frustration when they found themselves becalmed in the middle of the ocean, as I understand it, short of drinking water. But in this poem what he said almost two centuries ago certainly has relevance in real life today. One of the most serious threats to humanity in the coming decades is the shortage of fresh, clean water. Nowadays the earth is still rich in sea water, but not in fresh water. The global situation is that less than 3% of the world's water is fresh, the rest is seawater and non-drinkable. Therefore, the world's 7 billion inhabitants must rely on this 0.5% of fresh water for all human and ecosystem needs, because the remaining 2.5% is frozen. Source: Water Business Council for Sustainable Development (Fry, 2006). According to World Bank forecasts, which is expected to increase by approximately 9 billion by 2050, two-thirds of the world's population will be short of drinking water by 2025. (Network, 2012). This means that water use is growing at more than double the rate of global population growth. Shortage of drinking ...