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Water Stress: A Global Problem That’s Getting Worse

• Water scarcity happens when communities can’t fulfill their water needs, either because supplies are insufficient or infrastructure is inadequate. Today, billions of people face some form of water stress.
• Countries have often cooperated on water management. Still, there are a handful of places where transboundary waters are driving tensions, such as the Nile Basin.
• Climate change will likely exacerbate water stress worldwide, as rising temperatures lead to more unpredictable weather and extreme weather events, including floods and droughts.

Introduction

Billions of people around the world lack adequate access to one of the essential elements of life: clean water. Although governments and aid groups have helped many living in water-stressed regions gain access in recent years, the problem is projected to get worse due to global warming and population growth. Meanwhile, a paucity of international coordination on water security has slowed the search for solutions.

Water stress can differ dramatically from one place to another, in some cases causing wide-reaching damage, including to public health, economic development, and global trade. It can also drive mass migrations and spark conflict. Now, pressure is mounting on countries to implement more sustainable and innovative practices and to improve international cooperation on water management.

What is water stress?

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Water stress or scarcity occurs when demand for safe, usable water in a given area exceeds the supply. On the demand side, the vast majority—roughly 70 percent—of the world’s freshwater is used for agriculture, while the rest is divided between industrial (19 percent) and domestic uses (11 percent), including for drinking. On the supply side, sources include surface waters, such as rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, as well as groundwater, accessed through aquifers.

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But scientists have different ways of defining and measuring water stress, taking into account a variety of factors including seasonal changes, water quality, and accessibility. Meanwhile, measurements of water stress can be imprecise, particularly in the case of groundwater. “Any numbers out there have to be taken with a grain of salt,” says Upmanu Lall , a Columbia University professor and water expert. “None of these definitions are typically accounting for groundwater usage, or groundwater stock.”

What causes water scarcity?

Water scarcity is often divided into two categories: physical scarcity, when there is a shortage of water because of local ecological conditions; and economic scarcity, when there is inadequate water infrastructure.

The two frequently come together to cause water stress. For instance, a stressed area can have both a shortage of rainfall as well as a lack of adequate water storage and sanitation facilities. Experts say that even when there are significant natural causes for a region’s water stress, human factors are often central to the problem, particularly with regard to access to clean water and safe sanitation. Most recently, for example, the war in Ukraine damaged critical infrastructure, leaving six million people with limited or no access to safe water in 2022.

“Almost always the drinking water problem has nothing to do with physical water scarcity,” says Georgetown University’s Mark Giordano , an expert on water management. “It has to do with the scarcity of financial and political wherewithal to put in the infrastructure to get people clean water. It’s separate.”

At the same time, some areas that suffer physical water scarcity have the infrastructure that has allowed life there to thrive, such as in Oman and the southwestern United States.

A variety of authorities, from the national level down to local jurisdictions, govern or otherwise influence the water supply. In the United States, more than half a dozen federal agencies deal with different aspects of water: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforces regulations on clean water, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) prepares for and responds to water disasters . Similar authorities exist at the state and local levels to protect and oversee the use of water resources, including through zoning and rehabilitation projects.

Which regions are most water-stressed?

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the worst off in terms of physical water stress, according to most experts. MENA receives less rainfall than other regions, and its countries tend to have fast-growing, densely populated urban centers that require more water. But many countries in these regions, especially wealthier ones, still meet their water needs. For example, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) imports nearly all of its food, alleviating the need to use water for agriculture. The UAE and other wealthy MENA countries also rely heavily on the desalination of abundant ocean water, albeit this process is an expensive, energy-intensive one.

Meanwhile, places experiencing significant economic scarcity include Central African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo , which receives a lot of rain but lacks proper infrastructure and suffers from high levels of mismanagement.

Even high-income countries experience water stress. Factors including outdated infrastructure and rapid population growth have put tremendous stress on some U.S. water systems , causing crises in cities including Flint, Michigan, and Newark, New Jersey.

How is climate change affecting water stress?

For every 1°C (1.8°F) increase in the global average temperature, UN experts project a 20 percent drop in renewable water resources. Global warming is expected to increase the number of water-stressed areas and heighten water stress in already affected regions. Subtropical areas, such as Australia, the southern United States, and North African countries, are expected to warm and suffer more frequent and longer droughts; however, when rainfall does occur in these regions, it is projected to be more intense. Weather in tropical regions will likewise become more variable, climate scientists say.

Agriculture could become a particular challenge. Farming suffers as rainfall becomes more unpredictable and rising temperatures accelerate the evaporation of water from soil. A more erratic climate is also expected to bring more floods, which can wipe out crops an overwhelm storage systems. Furthermore, rainfall runoff can sweep up sediment that can clog treatment facilities and contaminate other water sources.

In a 2018 report , a panel consisting of many of the world’s top climate researchers showed that limiting global warming to a maximum 1.5°C (2.7°F) above preindustrial levels—the aim of the Paris Agreement on climate—could substantially reduce the likelihood of water stress in some regions, such as the Mediterranean and southern Africa, compared to an unchecked increase in temperature. However, most experts say the Paris accord will not be enough to prevent the most devastating effects of climate change.

What are its impacts on public health and development?

Prolonged water stress can have devastating effects on public health and economic development. More than two billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water; and nearly double that number—more than half the world’s population—are without adequate sanitation services . These deprivations can spur the transmission of diseases such as cholera, typhoid, polio, hepatitis A, and diarrhea.

At the same time, because water scarcity makes agriculture much more difficult, it threatens a community’s access to food. Food-insecure communities can face both acute and chronic hunger, where children are more at risk of conditions stemming from malnutrition, such as stunting and wasting, and chronic illnesses due to poor diet, such as diabetes.

Even if a water-stressed community has stable access to potable water, people can travel great lengths or wait in long lines to get it—time that could otherwise be spent at work or at school. Economists note these all combine [PDF] to take a heavy toll on productivity and development.

Living in a Water-Stressed World

A housing development lies on the edge of Cathedral City, a desert resort town in southern California, in April 2015.

Eleven-year-old Chikuru carries water in a plastic jerrican, which weighs about forty pounds when full, to her home in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, in September 2019.

The water level at Camlidere Dam in the Turkish capital of Ankara is low due to seasonal drought and high water consumption amid the COVID-19 pandemic, November 2020.

A young boy washes a cooking pot in a pool of rainwater outside a slum where members of the Muhamasheen minority group live in Sanaa, Yemen, July 2020.

Abdel-Shaheed Gerges, a farmer, touches water flowing through a government-developed irrigation channel in Esna, Egypt, in October 2019.

Summer Weeks bathes her two-year-old daughter, Ravynn, outside their home in the Navajo Nation in Arizona, September 2020.

A worker waters turf at a sprawling horse-racing facility in Dubai in March 2021.

A woman collects water from a well dug in the Black Umfolozi Riverbed, which is dry due to drought, outside of Durban, South Africa, in January 2016.

The shadow of a girl who fled Raqqa is cast on the wall of a water spigot at a camp for internally displaced people in Syria, August 2017.

Kevin Dudley carries his daughter, Katelyn, and bottles of water to his apartment amid weeks-long water outages across Jackson, Mississippi, in March 2021.

A woman uses swamp water to wash clothes in northern Jakarta, Indonesia, in March 2018.

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened the need for safe water access. Handwashing is one of the most effective tools for combating the coronavirus, but health experts noted that three in ten individuals —2.3 billion people globally—could not wash their hands at home at the pandemic’s onset.

How has water factored into international relations?

Many freshwater sources transcend international borders, and, for the most part, national governments have been able to manage these resources cooperatively. Roughly three hundred international water agreements have been signed since 1948. Finland and Russia, for example, have long cooperated on water-management challenges, including floods, fisheries, and pollution. Water-sharing agreements have even persisted through cross-border conflicts about other issues, as has been the case with South Asia’s Indus River and the Jordan River in the Middle East.

However, there are a handful of hot spots where transboundary waters are a source of tension, either because there is no agreement in place or an existing water regime is disputed. One of these is the Nile Basin, where the White and Blue Nile Rivers flow from lakes in East Africa northward to the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt claims the rights to most of the Nile’s water based on several treaties, the first dating back to the colonial era; but other riparian states say they are not bound to the accords because they were never party to them. The dispute has flared in recent years after Ethiopia began construction of a massive hydroelectric dam that Egypt says drastically cuts its share of water.

Transboundary water disputes can also fuel intrastate conflict; some observers note this has increased in recent years , particularly in the hot spots where there are fears of cross-border conflict. For example, a new hydropower project could benefit elites but do little to improve the well-being of the communities who rely on those resources.

Moreover, water stress can affect global flows of goods and people. For instance, wildfires and drought in 2010 wiped out Russian crops, which resulted in a spike in commodities prices and food riots in Egypt and Tunisia at the start of the Arab uprisings. Climate stress is also pushing some to migrate across borders. The United Nations predicts that without interventions in climate change, water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions will displace hundreds of millions of people by 2030.

What are international organizations and governments doing to alleviate water stress?

There has been some international mobilization around water security. Ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) , a sweeping fifteen-year development agenda adopted by member states in 2015. Smart water management is also vital to many of the other SDGs, such as eliminating hunger and ensuring good health and well-being. And while the Paris Agreement on climate does not refer to water explicitly, the United Nations calls [PDF] water management an “essential component of nearly all the mitigation and adaptation strategies.” The organization warns of the increasing vulnerability of conventional water infrastructure, and points to many climate-focused alternatives, such as coastal reservoirs and solar-powered water systems.

However, there is no global framework for addressing water stress, like there is for fighting climate change or preserving biodiversity . The most recent UN summit on water, held in March 2023, was the first such conference since 1977 and didn’t aim to produce an international framework. It instead created a UN envoy on water and saw hundreds of governments, nonprofits, and businesses sign on to a voluntary Water Action Agenda, which analysts called an important but insufficient step compared to a binding agreement among world governments.

Some governments and partner organizations have made progress in increasing access to water services: Between 2000 and 2017, the number of people using safely managed drinking water and safely managed sanitation services rose by 10 percent and 17 percent, respectively. In 2022, the Joe Biden administration announced an action plan to elevate global water security as a critical component of its efforts to achieve U.S. foreign policy objectives. But the pace of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic have presented new challenges. Now, many countries say they are unlikely to implement integrated water management systems by 2030, the target date for fulfilling the SDGs. 

Still, some governments are taking ambitious and creative steps to improve their water security that could serve as models for others:

Green infrastructure . Peruvian law mandates that water utilities reinvest a portion of their profits into green infrastructure (the use of plant, soil, and other natural systems to manage stormwater), and Canada and the United States have provided tens of millions of dollars in recent years to support Peru’s efforts [PDF]. Vietnam has taken similar steps to integrate natural and more traditional built water infrastructure.

Wastewater recycling . More and more cities around the globe are recycling sewage water into drinking water, something Namibia’s desert capital has been doing for decades. Facilities in countries including China and the United States turn byproducts from wastewater treatment into fertilizer.

Smarter agriculture . Innovations in areas such as artificial intelligence and genome editing are also driving progress. China has become a world leader in bioengineering crops to make them more productive and resilient.

Recommended Resources

The Wilson Center’s Lauren Risi writes that water wars between countries have not come to pass, but subnational conflicts over the resource are already taking a toll.

CFR’s Why It Matters podcast talks to Georgetown University’s Mark Giordano and the Global Water Policy Project’s Sandra Postel about water scarcity .

The World Economic Forum describes the growing water crisis in the Horn of Africa, while National Geographic looks at how the prolonged drought is pushing wildlife closer to towns.

The World Resources Institute’s Aqueduct maps the areas facing extremely high water stress.

The United Nations shares facts about water and its role in all aspects of life.

BuzzFeed News interviews residents of Jackson, Mississippi , who lost access to safe water after freezing temperatures wreaked havoc on the city’s decaying infrastructure.

• Sustainable Development Goals (UN)

Emily Lieberman contributed to this Backgrounder. Michael Bricknell and Will Merrow helped create the graphics.

• What are its impacts on health and development?
• What is being done to alleviate water stress?

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Water Scarcity

Water can be scarce for many reasons: demand for water may be exceeding supply, water infrastructure may be inadequate, or institutions may be failing to balance everyone’s needs.

Water scarcity is an increasing problem on every continent, with poorer communities most badly affected. To build resilience against climate change and to serve a growing population, an integrated and inclusive approach must be taken to managing this finite resource.

The issue explained

Water scarcity is a relative concept. The amount of water that can be physically accessed varies as supply and demand changes. Water scarcity intensifies as demand increases and/or as water supply is affected by decreasing quantity or quality. 

Water is a finite resource in growing demand. As the global population increases, and resource-intensive economic development continues, many countries’ water resources and infrastructure are failing to meet accelerating demand.

Climate change is making water scarcity worse . The impacts of a changing climate are making water more unpredictable. Terrestrial water storage – the water held in soil, snow and ice – is diminishing. This results in increased water scarcity, which disrupts societal activity.

Women and girls are among the hardest hit. Poor and marginalized groups are on the frontline of any water scarcity crisis, impacting their ability to maintain good health, protect their families and earn a living. For many women and girls, water scarcity means more laborious, time-consuming water collection, putting them at increased risk of attack and often precluding them from education or work.

Lack of data means lack of integrated management. Many countries do not have well developed water monitoring systems, which prevents integrated water resource management that can balance the needs of communities and the wider economy, particularly in time of scarcity.

The way forward

Water has to be treated as a scarce resource . Integrated water resources management (IWRM) provides a broad framework for governments to align water use patterns with the needs and demands of different users, including the environment.

IWRM can control water stress. When a territory withdraws 25 per cent or more of its renewable freshwater resources it is said to be ‘water-stressed’. IWRM can control water stress by measures such as reducing losses from water distribution systems, safe wastewater reuse, desalination and appropriate water allocation.

Data, technology and communications have a critical role . IWRM depends on: good quality data on water resources; water-saving, green and hybrid technologies, particularly in industry and agriculture; and awareness campaigns to reduce the use of water in households and encourage sustainable diets and consumption.

Groundwater is part of the solution. Exploring, protecting and sustainably using groundwater will be central to surviving and adapting to climate change and meeting the needs of a growing population.

Facts and Figures

• Approximately 10% of the global population – around 720 million people – lived in countries with high and critical water stress levels in 2021. ( UN-Water, 2024 )  
• 3.2 billion people live in agricultural areas with high to very high water shortages or scarcity, of whom 1.2 billion people – roughly one-sixth of the world’s population – live in severely water-constrained agricultural areas. ( FAO, 2020 )  
• Today, 1.42 billion people – including 450 million children – live in areas of high or extremely high water vulnerability. ( UNICEF, 2021 )  
• About 4 billion people, representing nearly two-thirds of the global population, experience severe water scarcity during at least one month of the year. ( Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2016 )  
• 72% of all water withdrawals are used by agriculture, 16% by municipalities for households and services, and 12% by industries. ( UN-Water, 2021 )  
• When a territory withdraws 25% or more of its renewable freshwater resources it is said to be ‘water-stressed’. Five out of 11 regions have water stress values above 25%, including two regions with high water stress and one with extreme water stress. ( UN-Water, 2021 )

Progress on level of water stress

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• NEWS EXPLAINER
• 21 March 2023
• Correction 22 March 2023

The world faces a water crisis — 4 powerful charts show how

• Miryam Naddaf

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The United Nations water conference starts tomorrow. Co-hosted by the Netherlands and Tajikistan, the three-day event will take place at UN headquarters in New York and will be the first such event in nearly half a century. During that time, a rising number of people around the world have gained access to safe water and sanitation (see ‘A tale of two halves’) — except in sub-Saharan Africa (see ‘The neglect of Africa’), where the numbers without safe drinking-water services are greater than they were in 2000. Globally, around 500 million people are compelled to use open defecation, and millions more rely on contaminated water supplies. Can this conference make a difference?

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Nature 615 , 774-775 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00842-3

Updates & Corrections

Correction 22 March 2023 : An earlier version of the introduction to the graph ‘The neglect of Africa’ gave the wrong year for the comparison. This has now been corrected.

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What Is Water Scarcity?

Is there a global water crisis? In this free resource, learn how climate change is causing water scarcity to worsen worldwide.

Ethiopia diverted a section of the Blue Nile river in May 2013 in Guba in order to build part of its giant Grand Renaissance Dam project, risking unease from Egypt downstream.

Source: William Lloyd George/AFP via Getty Images

On June 1, 2020, Egyptian hackers infiltrated twelve Ethiopian government websites. As part of the group’s attack, the websites displayed a dire warning: “If the river’s level drops, let all the Pharaoh’s soldiers hurry.” 

The referenced river was the Nile, which Ethiopian leaders have for years worked to partially dam in order to generate hydroelectric energy. But why would hackers get so up in arms over an infrastructure project? 

The answer has to do with an ancient problem: water scarcity. Egyptians fear Ethiopia’s dam will diminish Egypt’s clean water supply, and they’re not alone in their concerns over access to this life-sustaining and increasingly limited resource. 

This resource explores the origins of water scarcity, the stakes of the problem, and possible solutions.

What is water scarcity?

Over one billion people worldwide experience year-round water scarcity—defined as a lack of sufficient clean water to meet daily demands—and almost three billion lack regular water access for at least one month of the year. Experts project that this problem will only worsen as the world’s population grows and climate change becomes more severe.

What is causing water scarcity?

It’s hard to think of water as scarce when you look at a world map dominated by blue. But most of that water—97 percent—is salt water and therefore not potable (drinkable). Of the remaining 3 percent fresh water, only about one-third is readily accessible. The rest is locked away in glaciers or ice caps. To paraphrase the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge: “Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink.” 

Even so, the world’s water supply is large enough to meet the needs of all the planet’s inhabitants. It’s just not evenly distributed. Some regions are wetter than others; think of how certain countries have rainforests while others have deserts. However, experts say that difficulty accessing drinking water usually boils down to a lack of infrastructure rather than a lack of rainfall or other water in the environment.

Take the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance. More than half of Africa’s water reserves sit within Congo’s borders, but infrastructure issues and resource mismanagement are common. As a result, more than thirty-three million people—over one-third of the country’s population—lack adequate access to water. 

How does climate change affect water scarcity?

Climate change is poised to make these matters worse. As the planet warms, the atmosphere expands, enabling the air to suck up and retain more moisture during the evaporation stage of the water cycle. The result: arid regions will get drier and drier over time.

Meanwhile, climate change has already decreased the global potable water supply. This has occurred at a time when demand for water has skyrocketed due to a growing global population.

Climate change affects water supply in many ways. It has led to longer droughts and resulted in more natural disasters , which threaten the infrastructures that deliver clean water. Meanwhile, global warming has dried up water sources and helped pathogens thrive in (and contaminate) fresh water. Rising sea levels, driven by climate change, also make fresh water salty (or salinated) and undrinkable.

The effects of climate change and water scarcity are evident in California. There, water scarcity has mostly taken the form of droughts. These protracted arid periods have increased the risks and severity of wildfires in recent years. In 2020 alone, wildfires displaced nearly two hundred thousand Californians. These disasters disproportionately affect low-income communities—people who can’t afford to leave their homes or hire private firefighters .

How does water scarcity affect people?

Water scarcity affects every aspect of life. For instance, people in water-scarce communities often have to spend extra money to buy bottled water to cook and shower or travel for hours to access clean water. This lost time has a cost; research suggests the global economy loses $260 billion every year due to inadequate access to clean water and sanitation.

In this way, the consequences of local water scarcity can quickly become global challenges. Let’s explore a few examples:

Heightens risk of illness: For millions of children around the globe, water scarcity means they cannot turn on the tap to access clean, safe, and drinkable water. And their exposure to unclean or unsafe water raises their risk of contracting diseases like diarrhea, which kills more than eighty-five thousand children per year . 

Threatens urban life: To access clean water, communities require basic infrastructure—especially in cities, where a growing share of the global population lives. However, in many cities around the globe, this infrastructure is crumbling or obsolete. The United States loses six billion gallons of clean drinking water every day due to decades-old leaky pipes.

Endangers rural economies: Farming needs a lot of water—it currently accounts for about 70 percent of all water humans use globally. (As this water helps grow the global food supply, humans actually “eat” much more water than they drink.) Climate change has already made crops less productive, and longer droughts have forced farmers to buy more water rather than rely on rain. This trend has increased farming costs and decreased the water supply for everyone else. It can also lead to higher food prices.

Water scarcity also threatens farmers’ livelihoods. For instance, in 2017 Cape Town, South Africa, almost entirely ran out of water . To avoid the crisis, city officials reallocated water from the agricultural sector, leaving farmers without the resources necessary to sustain their crops. Although the move helped save the city from running out of water, it also contributed to the loss of thirty thousand farming jobs.

Perpetuates conflict: For as long as history has been recorded , conflicts over water have occurred. For example, surviving records from 650 BCE tell the story of an Assyrian king who dried up an enemy’s wells to starve them of water. 

More recently, as access to water around the world deteriorates, water-related violence has escalated both between and within countries. Throughout Yemen’s seven-year civil war , for example, both government forces and rebel groups have targeted their enemies’ water infrastructure, including dams, reservoirs, and freshwater pipes. These attacks take place in what is already one of the world’s most water-scarce places. 

What are solutions to water scarcity?

Although the issue of water scarcity can be daunting, solutions exist. Let’s break down a few:

Desalination: Desalination removes salt and other minerals from seawater, evaporating salt components and leaving behind clean and drinkable fresh water. Sailors have used this technique for hundreds of years, but only recently have countries—including the United States, Australia, Israel, and Saudi Arabia—invested in large-scale desalination plants. For example, between 2009 and 2012, Australia spent $3.5 billion to build a desalination plant in Melbourne, which now provides about one-third of the city’s water supply. Although these plants are promising, they remain expensive to build and energy-intensive to operate. However, experts predict costs will decline in the future. 

Filtration: One reason water is scarce is because so many sources of it have become contaminated with harmful chemicals. That’s why water filtration, which removes unsafe bacteria from fresh water, can be an effective tool. Chicago provides safe tap water for the city’s residents through a treatment process that removes harmful pollutants from water in nearby Lake Michigan. Individuals can also filter concerning chemicals from their water supply with relatively inexpensive household filtration devices. 

Recycling wastewater: Some water-scarce communities have begun recycling their wastewater. This process involves treating municipal sewage to rid it of bacteria and then reusing wastewater for toilet flushing and irrigation systems, among other purposes. Orange County, California has mitigated its drought risk by recycling more than 250 billion gallons of water. 

Drip irrigation: Many farmers water their crops by entirely flooding a field or using far-reaching sprinklers. These methods, however, can waste substantial amounts of water. Drip irrigation, on the other hand, involves watering crops by targeting roots with small amounts of water—a process that saves water while maximizing crop yields. As of 2015, approximately 9 percent of the United States’ irrigated farmland was using drip irrigation.

So what's next for the global water crisis?

Clean water is a source of life, but shortages can be a source of conflict . And as our demand for clean water rises and the amount of clean water dwindles, our relationship with this precious resource will likely become more complex.

Various solutions can mitigate water scarcity—but to really address this problem, the world will have to tackle the challenge of climate change head on.  

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Water Scarcity, the Climate Crisis and Global Food Security: A Call for Collaborative Action

About the author.

Lifeng Li is Director, Land and Water Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

12 October 2023 W ater scarcity is one of the most pressing development challenges of our time. Today, 2.4 billion people live in water-stressed countries . Many are smallholder farmers who already struggle to meet their daily needs for drinking water, nutritious food and basic services such as hygiene and sanitation. Women, indigenous peoples, migrants and refugees are particularly affected.

Competition for this precious resource is on the rise, as water scarcity increasingly becomes a cause of conflict. Freshwater resources per person have dropped by 20 per cent over the past two decades, while water availability and quality are deteriorating quickly due to decades of misuse, lack of coordinated management, over-abstraction of groundwater, pollution and climate change.

To worsen the situation, increased and recurring extreme weather events, droughts and floods are stressing our ecosystems, with devastating consequences for global food security.

Agriculture, which accounts for 72 per cent of global freshwater withdrawals, the highest of all sectors, holds the solutions to this global crisis.

A comprehensive approach for a changing world

To address these multifaceted challenges, securing sufficient water resources for agriculture in an efficient manner is paramount. This becomes even more critical with the need to produce more food as the world population increases and urbanization accelerates, intensifying the competition among different economic sectors, all of which depend on water.

Ensuring effective governance is therefore essential for sustainable and equitable water allocation. This requires adopting an inclusive and integrated approach that involves all stakeholders, from policymakers to grass-roots communities. Water governance and tenure, and water accounting, are needed to catalyse transformative change and guarantee equitable access to water.

Targeted investments and incentives in innovative and efficient water management practices are key. This includes new technologies for irrigation and storage, advancing wastewater treatment and reuse, circular economy principles and ecosystem-based solutions to address water scarcity.

Integrated natural resources management through the coordinated development and management of water, soils and land at all levels will maximize human well-being while safeguarding the integrity and sustainability of vital ecosystems. Such efforts call for both national and regional strategies.

As water scarcity intensifies and climate change results in more frequent droughts and floods, the international community has to step up and adopt a holistic approach towards the climate agenda beyond water and food. More concrete and inclusive climate solutions must be accelerated and scaled up so as to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Working with countries to act on the ground

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), together with member countries and other partners, is working to make these changes happen.

The United Nations 2023 Water Conference undoubtedly represented a pivotal juncture, rallying global leaders, civil society organizations, the private sector and individuals to unite in purposeful action and pledge their commitment to achieving the water-related goals and targets outlined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Because nearly three quarters of freshwater withdrawals go to agriculture, FAO is in a unique position to offer solutions to address challenges related to water scarcity. The same goes for water-related disasters, including droughts and floods, many of which disproportionally affect family farmers.

Aligned with the Organization's "New Water Journey", which emphasizes Integrated Water Resources Management for agricultural and food security to advance numerous SDGs, FAO embraces the global Water Action Agenda as adopted during the 2023 Water Conference.

FAO works with governments and communities to build country-owned and country-led National Water Roadmaps, a tool aimed at strengthening the intersectoral coordination of water at the national level. FAO also builds the data sets and technology required by countries to make well‑informed decisions.

It works with countries to increase farmers’ access and rights to water as part of its efforts to improve water governance.

Globally, irrigated land produces 40 per cent of food from 20 per cent of arable land, yet it remains an untapped potential. To help deliver on this potential, FAO is developing a methodology for measuring global irrigation needs and their potential mapping, alongside the countries that will implement it.

FAO also promotes targeted investments and appropriate financing of water infrastructure and irrigation, and it works with governments to manage drought risks before they turn into crises.

Although floods caused global losses of around $20 billion in 2021, ecosystem-based solutions for flood management, agricultural land management, wetland storage and other soil and water conservation practices can attenuate these floods and limit their impacts.

Integrated land and water management can provide multiple benefits. In Sri Lanka and Zambia, for example, FAO is piloting multifunctional paddy fields for fish and shrimp farming, in addition to rice production. Such value added infrastructure generates benefits by recharging groundwater, controlling floods and providing ecosystem services while boosting livelihoods.

As the host of WASAG—the Global Framework on Water Scarcity in Agriculture —FAO is bringing together governments and other key players worldwide to share knowledge and design new polices, strategies and programmes to change water scarcity into an opportunity for food and nutrition security.

Collaborative solutions for water sustainability: A call to action for all stakeholders

We can and must do more, together, with all the various actors making their distinct but interrelated contributions:

Managing water more wisely starts with building partnerships. This means that governments need to collaborate with international organizations, research institutions and academia, the private sector and civil society to devise sustainable solutions for a water- and food-secure future.

Governments need to design science- and evidence-based policies that capitalize on data and innovation to improve water planning and management. Recognizing the water-food-energy nexus, policies need to prioritize intersectoral planning, managing often-competing but complementary interests, without compromising the health of our ecosystems.

Farmers need to become agents of sustainable water management, equipped with the right tools to do so effectively. Farmers, forest-dependent communities, fisherfolk, livestock producers and those working in the blue economy already deal with water on a daily basis. Empowering and enabling them to take the lead in finding and implementing water solutions corresponding to their needs is both the obvious and the smart thing to do. However, this is only achievable if they are provided with appropriate technologies, training and timely, accurate information. They should also be involved in all stages of the planning and decision-making process.

The private sector needs to become a water steward. That means making concrete commitments to improving water use efficiency and reducing pollution across the supply chain. Actors in the sector could exercise their corporate social responsibility in a more practical and innovative way. Prioritizing water governance can boost their reputation and profits and help them avoid risks that water scarcity, floods and pollution could pose to operations in the future.

Finally, each and every one of us needs to value water. We should no longer take it for granted. Making informed decisions about the products we buy, wasting less water and preventing pollution are simple ways for all of us to contribute to the positive actions for the future of food, people and the planet.

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Water Scarcity Facts and Statistics

Water scarcity results from insufficient available freshwater resources to meet the human and environmental demands of a given area.

Types of Water Scarcity

Types of water scarcity include economic and physical or absolute. Economic water scarcity is due to the lack of water infrastructure in general or to the poor management of water resources where infrastructure is in place; it is estimated that 1.6 billion people face an economic water shortage. Source: https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml

Physical, or absolute, water scarcity occurs when the use of water resources outpaces the supply: 1.2 billion people live in areas of physical scarcity. Source: https://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml

Water on Earth

Where is all the water? 97.4 percent of all water is salt water, with fresh water making up only 2.6 percent of all water on Earth. Of the 2.6 percent of fresh water, 72.5 percent is frozen, 28.15 percent is groundwater, and .30 percent is fresh surface water.

Vulnerable Cities

Several of the world’s great cities are among the most vulnerable places. The list of major cities most likely to run out of drinking water includes São Paulo, Bengaluru (India), Moscow, Jakarta, Beijing, Cairo, Tokyo, Miami, London, Istanbul, and Mexico City. Source: www.bbc.com/news/world-42982959 

Global Risks

Three of the most important global risks impacting humanity are weapons of mass destruction, extreme weather events, and water crises. Source: World Economic Forum,  The Global Risks Report 2017

WHO reports that 2.1 billion people lack access to a safe and reliable drinking water supply at home. Source: 2017 WHO report 

Major Challenges

The major challenges of water scarcity include profligate use, growing pollution , changes in weather patterns due to global warming , and population growth. Profligate use is shown in a pie chart of the global sum of all water withdrawals. Agricultural use makes up 70 percent, while industrial use makes up 19 percent, and municipal use is at 11 percent. Source: www.fao.org/aquastat/en/

Growing pollution comes from heavy metals and other chemicals, municipal sewage, and agrochemical runoff and livestock waste. Industry is responsible for dumping millions of tons of heavy metals, solvents, and toxic sludge into water bodies each year. More than 80 percent of the world’s wastewater flows back into the environment without being treated or reused. Farms discharge large quantities of pesticides, fertilizers, manure, drug residues, sediments, and saline drainage into water bodies. Source: www.fao.org/3/a-i7754e.pdf

A line chart displays the changes in weather patterns due to global warming. On the y-axis is given the probability of occurrence and on the x-axis the increase in average temperature. This chart shows the comparison of the current climate versus the new climate and how the new average is shifting warmer, which will lead to more extreme hot weather events. Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Population growth is shown in a bar graph that compares global population and water withdrawal over time. World population increased from about 1.6 billion in 1900 to nearly 7 billion people in 2010. Water withdrawal increased from about 500 million km 3  per year in 1900 to just over 4 billion km 3  per year in 2010. Source: www.fao.org/aquastat/en/

By 2025 half of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas. Source: www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water 

Some solutions to water scarcity include conserving and valuing water, protecting and restoring freshwater and wetland ecosystems, investing in water infrastructure and technology, and addressing global warming.

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• Water Scarcity Essay

Essay on Water Scarcity

Water is the basic necessity of every human being, but water scarcity is a major issue that is rising very rapidly in India nowadays. The problem has become so severe that in many states the groundwater has almost dried up and people have to depend on water supply from other sources. In addition, water is one of the most misused natural resources that we still waste. It is the central point of our lives but unfortunately, not our priority concern. 

Earlier, people understood the value of water and planned their lives around it. Moreover, many civilizations were born and lost around water, but today, in spite of having knowledge, we still fail to understand the value of water in our lives. 

Reasons for Water Scarcity

Mismanagement of water and the growing population in our country are the two main reasons for water scarcity. There are also a number of other man made disturbances that continue to rise. Besides this, some of the reasons for water scarcity are:  

Wasteful Use of Water for Agriculture  

India, an agricultural country, produces a huge quantity of food to feed its population. The surplus that is left, gets exported outside. 

It is not unknown that producing this much food requires a lot of water too. The traditional method of irrigation wastes a lot of water due to evaporation, water conveyance, drainage, percolation, and the overuse of groundwater. Besides, most of the areas in India use traditional irrigation techniques that stress the availability of water.

However, the technique of irrigation has changed during modern times and we provide water to plants using a sprinkler or drip irrigation.

Reduction in Water Recharges Systems  

Rapid construction that uses concrete and marbles may not let the rainwater get absorbed in the soil, but still, we install some mechanism in our houses so that we can hold the rainwater. Then we can recharge the groundwater.

Lack of Water Management and Distribution

There is a need for an efficient system to manage and distribute the water in urban areas. The Indian government also needs to enhance its technology and investment in water treatment. Besides, we should ensure optimization at the planning level.

Solutions to Overcome this Problem

Close the running tap.

 During dishwashing and hand washing people often let the tap run. These running taps waste thousands of liters of water per year. Therefore, closing the tap will reduce this problem.

Replace Dripping Taps  

In India, it is commonly seen that most of the houses have taps or faucets that go on dripping water even when they are closed. This running tap wastes up to 30,000 liters of water that nobody bothers to change. So, we should replace these taps immediately.

Brief on Water Scarcity  

Water is a basic necessity for every living being.  Life without water is impossible, not just for us humans, but for all plants and animals too. Water scarcity is an issue of grave concern these days as water scarcity has become very common. Water is one of the most wasted natural resources and corrective measures should be taken before the water scarcity situation becomes worse. In spite of being aware of the implications, not much is being done today. 

In India, and across the world, it has been recorded that about half a billion people face a shortage of water for about six months annually. Many well-known cities around the world are facing acute scarcity of water. Many facts and figures are available to know about the water scarcity problem, but what are the reasons for this scarcity? 

With the growing population, the use of water has increased manifold. The lack of more freshwater sources and the increase in population is a major reason for this scarcity. The lack of proper Water management systems and proper drainage systems in India, especially in the urban areas is a major cause too. Kitchen wastewater should be able to be recycled but due to a poor drainage system, this is not possible. An efficient water management system is required in order to distribute water in urban areas.

Another major issue is Deforestation. Areas with more greenery and plants are known to have good rainfall.  Industrialisation and urbanization are two major factors here. Due to Deforestation, and cutting down of trees, rainfall has become an issue too.

Rivers are a major source of fresh water in India. Today we see a lot of industries that have come up and all of them are mostly near the rivers and these rivers become highly polluted as a result of all the industrial waste.

Effect of Global Warming and Climate Change

Global Warming and Climate Change are also responsible for the scarcity of water. The melting of icebergs into the sea due to the rise in temperatures is a reason as to how salty water is increasing day by day instead of freshwater. The percentage of rainfall has decreased drastically these days. Climate change along with the decrease in rainfall percentage has greatly affected freshwater bodies. 

Water scarcity has become a major problem and an alarming issue these days, and we must consciously strive to work together to find some solution to this issue of water scarcity. The Indian government today has formulated and come up with many plans on how to tackle and solve this problem.

To conclude, water scarcity has become an alarming issue day by day. If we do not take the problem of water scarcity seriously now, our future generations are going to suffer severely and may even have to buy this necessity at a high cost.

FAQs on Water Scarcity Essay

1.  What are the reasons for Water Scarcity?

The lack of proper Water Management and proper Drainage system plays a major role. Many other factors and reasons can be held responsible for the scarcity of water. Some of the major reasons are Global Warming and Climate Change; Pollution of the rivers due to industrialization; Deforestation and the cutting down of trees is another reason; Reduced percentage of rainfall due to the climate change pattern; Increase in the population which leads to increase in the use of water.  Learn more about water scarcity on Vedantu website helpful for long-term.

2. What is meant by the scarcity of water?

The scarcity of water means a shortage of water and not being able to manage the demand and supply of water. Water scarcity refers to the lack of freshwater bodies to meet the standard quantity and demand of water. Unequal distribution of water due to factors like Climate Change and Global Warming. Water Scarcity is also due to pollution and lack of rainfall. Water scarcity means a scarcity due to some physical scarcity or scarcity due to the lack of regular supply.

3. What are the two types of water scarcity?

Physical water scarcity is the result of regions' demand outpacing the limited water resources found in that location. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, about 1.2 billion people live in areas of physical scarcity and many of these people live in arid or semi-arid regions. People who are affected by this Physical kind of water scarcity are expected to grow as the population increases and as the weather patterns keep changing as a result of climate change.

Economic water scarcity is due to the lack of proper water infrastructure and a proper water management system or also because of poor management of water resources. The FAO estimates that more than 1.6 billion people face economic water shortages today. Economic water scarcity can also take place because of the unregulated use of water for agriculture and industry.

4.  How can we solve the problem?

Conscious awareness is required to deal with and understand the problem of water scarcity. We can start off by consciously saving water in our homes and surroundings.  Small easy steps like taking care when washing hands, or when working in the kitchen, have to be taken. The running water taps are a major reason for losing hundreds of liters of water on a daily basis. And we should be careful not to waste this water. Conscious decision to save and the need to understand the problem of water scarcity is of utmost importance.

5. How do we waste water?

Water is wasted in ways we do not even realize, in our homes and in our workplaces. When we brush our teeth, when we shave or when we wash the dishes, one of the most common things we do is to keep the water running, especially when running water is available. As soon as we begin cleaning or washing, we do not think of the water that is being wasted. While washing hands, we leave the water tap on, which results in wasting water too. Small things like these should be kept in mind and this could be our small step towards preserving water.