The water crisis just started.
Inefficient water use, urbanisation, water pollution & climate change
threaten freshwater supply in more and more areas around the globe.
Water stress is a global problem
Facts and figures show that the water crisis is a global problem. First for sure people need water to live (food & sanitation), but pollution, climate change and the absence of water also impacts economic development and the safe supply and demand of goods and food - impacting the world globally. Some facts and figures :
About 4 billion people (nearly two-thirds of the world population)
Over 2 billion people live in countries experiencing high water stress.
Globally, 844 million people lack access to clean water. Without clean, easily accessible water, families and communities are locked in poverty for generations. Children drop out of school and parents struggle to make a living.
experience severe water scarcity during at least 1 month of the year.
By 2030 the world will need 40% more freshwater that it does today.
There has been a drop in globally available fresh water per capita since 1960 by 55% !
Unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene cause approximately 3.5 million deaths worldwide; the latter estimate represents 25 per cent of the deaths of children younger than 14
The water crisis is more and more impacting the dense populated areas and cities, including some western ones - take for example the top 11 cities under heavy water stress : Sao Paolo, Bangalore, Bejing, Cairo Jakarta, Moscow, Istanbul, Mexico City, London, Tokyo, Miami.
A recent example :
The Cape Town Water Crisis
Droughts in the Cape Town area caused a massive stress on the drinking and fresh water supply from 2015 to 2018. As Capetonians approached Day Zero, new regulations, restrictions and recommendations all targeting water saving were put in place. In the end Day Zero was avoided, with a positive change on water use habits, but already more than doubling the price of drinking water in the past 2 years.
Another Example :
The dormant water crisis in Belgium
According to the WRI Aqueduct study, Belgium is in the top 25 countries in the world suffering from water stress. (picture source Aqueduct). The Flanders region has freshwater reserves of about 1.500 m3 per capita per year, neighbouring country the Netherlands has 5.000 m3. One of the reasons is the dense population leading to concrete and other materials covering around 14,5% of the country’s surface. Climate change is bringing more dry periods, with higher temperatures depleting the top water layers - as shown in the past years.