[Music]
[Applause]
we've talked a lot about water you know
a lot about water and that's a good
thing because without it none of us
would be here earth has a certain amount
of water that's been circling the globe
for millions of years remember that
you're drinking the exact same water
that the dinosaurs used to drink you
also know that the vast majority of the
world's water is in the ocean that's
great for whales and clownfish and
octopuses but it's too salty for us to
drink so instead we let nature do the
work through the process of evaporation
condensation and precipitation does this
sound familiar the water cycle
evaporation takes water from the surface
of the ocean and turns it into water
vapor leaving the salt behind the water
comes back down to earth in the form of
precipitation rain sleet and snow this
fresh water is all the water we'll ever
have it's a limited resource in a closed
system now we've also talked about how
people sometimes change the level of
fresh water they have access to by
polluting damning and over using water
and we saw what happens to animals like
the vaquita and freshwater fish in the
elwha river in washington state when we
mess up the water supply but what
happens to people when there's less
fresh water
the short answer is when access to water
goes away it can get pretty scary of
course we need water to drink that's a
biggie but we also need water to grow
crops keep toilets running and make
things and we use water for a bunch of
other stuff like washing our cars and
keeping our lawns green so to see how
people are affected when there's less
fresh water available let's take a look
at some places that don't have quite
enough
hmm our investigation starts in sunny
california maybe too sunny california as
of today california is in the middle of
a drought a big one it's not raining as
much or as often as it needs to on top
of that southern california is at the
end of the colorado river for millions
of years this river flowed from the
colorado mountains all the way to the
sea where california meets mexico but
today the river often dries up before it
reaches the ocean so less water gets to
california than before so what goes on
when california doesn't have enough
water well you know what can happen when
there's one really cool toy in a room
full of kids
the kids fight and california produces
nearly half of the fruits nuts and
vegetables grown in the united states so
how much water that california has
access to has big effects on lots of
people as a result water scarcity is
creating conflict do i get to flush my
toilet or do you farmer joe in
california get to water your crops to
work out disputes like this the fight
for water is taking place mostly in
courtrooms for example some people in
california are pushing for new laws to
regulate who gets how much water and
many other states are experiencing
drought too so the conflict isn't just
confined to california among all the
states along the colorado river
arguments are breaking out about who
gets how much water from the river and
these arguments are raising big
questions like do we keep sending water
to cities in the desert far away from
the river even though those cities close
to the river are low on water too and do
we like farmers use the water so that
they can keep working and growing food
or do we send it to homes so that people
can take showers and cook dinner
[Music]
these are tough questions and the fact
is the problems in california aren't new
water has been a major source of
conflict among people in different parts
of the world for thousands of years next
time we'll take a look at different ways
people are responding to the scarcity of
fresh water and maybe it'll spark ideas
from you to help find a solution to our
water problems
you