Over the past few years, many things in our world have changed, resulting from increased carbon emissions. Some of the changes are more noticeable than others. The more talked about changes are increasing extinctions, melting ice caps, and many more. One of the more concerning things is water sources drying up, like rivers and aquifers. These events have caused large-scale problems in areas where water was already scarce. While this is terrible, it is worse when drinkable water becomes unsafe. It’s a prominent problem for many reasons, from pollution to flooding, to failed methods to collect clean water. This lack of clean water makes access to clean water limited.
Over the years, many prominent events occurred which directly connect to our clean water supply. These are anything from rising ocean levels, melting ice,the drying of rivers, aquifers, and even man made pollution. Now, we have a new problem that started appearing as early as 2019 and is becoming more prominent. It’s believed that this “rusting” of the rivers directly results from the melting permafrost. The “Rusting” has been observed from The Chukchi Sea on Alaska’s west coast to the Beaufort Sea near the Canadian border. There’s Seventy five rivers observed as turning orange or “rusting” in total.
Through extensive testing, scientists have obtained a better understanding of the cause. Through water testing, they have established that there is a higher iron concentration, less dissolved oxygen, and the water is more acidic. This can have detrimental effects on the surrounding environment. The low oxygen levels could lead to the suffocation of river life, even potentially killing any animals that drink the water. If this continues on the path that it is, it could lead to the water becoming acidic enough to burn through any organic life that comes in contact with it. It could even lead to larger bodies of water becoming so acidic and iron-rich that it becomes undrinkable, and leaking into the ocean ending the already extremely contaminated water. On top of the contamination this could further the problem with the loss of marine life.
Now it’s time to think about it. We have extremely high carbon levels and increasing temperatures across the globe. We also have low oxygen levels in the oceans and water temperatures are at an all time high. Rivers, lakes and aquifers are also drying up across the globe, and countless trees are being cut down or burning to the ground. Animals are becoming more aggressive towards humans, and there are 32 wars and domestic disputes going on currently. On top of all of this, and many other problems, there is highly toxic water flowing through some of our rivers. How far are we gonna let this all go before we do something to fix it? The longer we wait to fix what’s broken, the worse it will get, and if we don’t act soon there won’t be a world to save. Are you going to sit back and watch everything fall apart around you and watch your children live in a world of fire and uncertainty, or are you willing to do something to fix what’s been broken? If so, how far are you willing to go to fix the world to create a better life for your children and the ones who come after you?
