The Problem
- More than 1⁄5 of the world population relies on freshwater
that is either polluted or excessively withdrawn.
- More than 884,000,000
people throughout the world lack
access to safe drinking water.
- 2 of every 5 people in the world do
not have access to basic
sanitation services.
- The health consequences of unsafe drinking water and poor
sanitation are significant, accounting for nearly 10 percent of the
global
burden of disease and more than 2,000,000 deaths each year.
- The effects of climate change will
produce long-term droughts
and raise sea levels for the next 1,000 years, regardless of future
efforts to
combat climate change. These
effects are
expected to produce severe consequences for water availability and
resource
management in the future.
- 2,800,000,000 people in more than 48 countries are expected
to face severe and chronic water shortages by 2025.
- Rapid urbanization is expected, and
future population growth
will exacerbate already limited access to water, particularly in
agriculture-based economies.
