c, there is essentially no more fresh water on the planet today than there was 2,000 years ago when the earth's human population was less than three percent its current size. The trend of population growth is quite obvious.According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, International Data Base, the population of the world in 1955 was 2.8 billion; in the year 1990, the worlds population increased to 5.3 billion. According to World Watch, the population is expected to reach between 7.9 and 9.1 billion people by the year 2025. As population increases exponential, so does demand, but changes in social attitudes and behaviors could redirect our present course and possibly curb the global population growth. Social and economic trends in population growth appear to be changing. Our past can provide substantial insight into our future. Family planning services have had great success and produced dramatic results in reducing global population, thus reducing fresh water consumption. According the John Bongaarts, population has been reduced by an estimated 400 million people through the use of family planning programs. In many parts of the world, water problems are today more manageable than they otherwise would be because demand for, and access to, family planning began rising so dramatically 30 years ago. Economic and social developments, especially improved opportunities for women, also have made a significant contribution to reductions in population growth. Policies that extend and accelerate these trends today could have an even more dramatic impact on fresh water availability in the future and beyond. Success in family planning and education may seem far from the concerns of hydrologists and engineers, but they may matter just as much, and over the long term even more, to the future availability of fresh water to support mankind.Examples of the current water shortage can be found through the world. According to a report by Newsletter of Environm...
