Final Stand: Which is worse? Water pollution or water shortage?

Although nobody desires to drink foul, polluted water, having water available is much better than not having any water at all; methods used to purify originally polluted water make water safe to consume.
As we have learned, there are many ways to purify water to some extent: during our foul water lab, we learned about oil-water separation, sand filtration, and charcoal adsorption. Recently we learned that sand filtration, charcoal adsorption, and the distillation processes are extremely similar to natural water purification executed by the hydrologic cycle; evaporation of water vapor and condensation of water droplets in clouds removes nearly all dissolved substances, and filtration through sand and gravel removes nearly all suspended matter. The water cycle, the cycle of evaporation, condensation, and precipitation, produces some of the cleanest water on earth due to its natural purification process. Through our other labs, we learned how to test pH levels, the presence and absence of ions, and solubility of water. This knowledge resulted in our expansion of knowledge as to how to test, clean, and balance water. Just recently, we learned about municipal water treatments, or the treatments of local water that comes through our taps. Although we often feel as though bottled water is cleaner than tap water due to tap water's slight odor of chlorine, it is often not the case. Both tap and bottled water can begin extremely polluted, but through extensive cleaning processes, it is made safe to drink. Municipal water treatments include the flow of water through screens to prevent large objects from entering the water-treatment plant, prechlorination, flocculation, post-chlorination, aeration, the addition of calcium oxide (or lime) to the water to neutralize acidic water, and fluoridation to reduce tooth decay. This series of steps makes water safe for consumption, and may even make tap water more pure than bottled water.
These methods of purification of water are not the only methods, however, they are some of the most popular methods of water treatment. As I previously mentioned, before purification, water is not completely pure. It is important to recognize that due to the presence of atmospheric gases, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide, water is never completely purified, but through purification and filtration, can be made as pure as possible and safe to drink. This is why it is essential to have water, even if it is polluted, rather than not having any at all.

Water shortage:

Polluted water:

Water cycle: Natural water purification:

Municipal water treatment: in this picture, flocculation and sand filtration: