Does Climate Change Impact Clean Water?

Written By Teacher: Teresa Pettitt-Kenney

Hi there! My name is Teresa and I just finished my Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science and am excited to pursue environmental education in the future! I am extremely passionate about climate change, equitable climate action, and how education can work to address these issues. 

In today’s climate, some states across the U.S. aren’t getting enough water, while others are getting too much. How do you explore this sensitive topic with your students when water is such an important element of our survival? Instead of focusing on what is going wrong, teachers can guide students to what has worked in the past or what we hope to accomplish in the future. Highlight holistic relationships with types of water in your community using this Indigenous Peoples and Waterways Lesson which showcases how Indigenous Peoples have lived and continue to live in reciprocity with rivers. Inspire hope and a drive for change in your students with this article showing recent accomplishments in legislation surrounding clean water: New York Voters Pass the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Bond Act.

Written By: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

The MIT Climate Change Engagement Program, a part of MIT Climate HQ, provides the public with nonpartisan, easy-to-understand, and scientifically-grounded information on climate change and its solutions.

We need water to survive. But although water covers almost three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, less than 1% of that water is available for our use—the rest is in the ocean or frozen. The water we use for drinking, bathing, cooking, and cleaning comes from rivers and lakes, groundwater, and, to a much lesser extent, rainwater collection, desalinated seawater and recycled water.

Globally, more than two billion people don’t have access to safe, readily available drinking water. And due to pollution or populations using more water than their water sources can naturally replenish, we’re damaging our freshwater supplies. For example, 21 of the Earth’s 37 largest aquifers, areas where water collects underground, are shrinking. As populations develop and urbanize, they consume more water. High consumption of freshwater for agricultural irrigation, industry, and domestic uses, together with our planet’s population growth, means that demand for water continues to grow.

Climate change, which worsens droughts and floods, threatens our stressed freshwater supplies. Human activity has already warmed our planet by about 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit), and climate scientists say that 2 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) of warming will dramatically increase risks of global water shortages.