While the Earth is covered in water, most of that water is not useful for human consumption. Globally, we are already suffering from fresh water shortages and water contamination issues.
Our oceans are vital for regulating global temperature, providing a food source for humans, and providing oxygen in the atmosphere. However, human activity has put the ocean’s food web at risk and increased other effects that can be harmful to our health, like harmful algae blooms. We are also responsible for pollution in the ocean, including plastics, and oil spills. Read more here – https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/materials/oceans_of_discovery_508.pdf
Some things we can do is try to reduce our plastic consumption and recycle everything that we can. The Zero Waste movement has been growing in recent years – https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dsny/site/our-work/zero-waste
While in the US we have not had to worry much about drinking water safety, globally thousands of people die every year from water-borne diseases – https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases-risks/en/
However, there are issues of water contamination in certain regions in the US, like in Flint, MI. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/flint-water-crisis-everything-you-need-know. Other problems include agricultural runoff and fracking.
