OUR GLOBAL
WATER
CRISIS
ABOUT WATER SCARCITY
Water scarcity is the lack of water physically or economically in a region. An example of physical water scarcity is a desert. An example of economic scarcity is a person who cannot afford to have access to water.
About 1.2 billion people (about one fifth of the world's population) live in areas with physical water scarcity. Another 1.6 billion people (about one quarter of the world's population) face economic water scarcity.
Water scarcity is a problem due to nature and humans. There is enough water in the world for our world's seven billion population, but humans do not distribute it evenly. Water can also be polluted or wasted.
http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/scarcity.shtml
THINK ABOUT YOUR WATER USAGE
Think about how much water you use per day. On average each person uses about 150 gallons per day. Some people around the world do not have access to just five gallons.
The water we use is used by doing daily activities such as drinking water, showering, brushing teeth, flushing the toilet, washing dishes/clothes etc.
Think about people who may exceed the 150 gallons, which many people do. Some people take 30- minute showers. A 30- minute shower uses about 210 gallons of water. Cutting a shower by half could save water, therefore helping the environment. The extra money cut from the water bill could be donated to a water organization to help someone receive access to water.
UN WATER SCARCITY FACTS
Around 700 million people in 43 countries suffer today from water scarcity
By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world's population could be living under water stressed conditions.
With existing climate change scenario, almost half the world's population will be living in areas of high water stress by 2030, inlcuding between 75 million and 250 million people in Africa. In addition, water scarcity in some arid and semi-arid places will dispace between 24 million and 700 million people.
Sub- Saharan Africa has the largest number of water-stressed countries of any region.
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WATER SCARCITY
FIGURE 1
Figure 1 is a map showing physical and economic scarcity. Africa, South America and South Asia face the most economic water scarcity. These countries are developing countries. The Middle East, North Africa and North Asia face physical water scarcity. The areas in dark blue and light blue are the areas who are dealing with the global water crisis everyday and are the areas that need the most help receiving access to water.
Source: World Water Development Report 4. World Assessment Programme (WWAP), March 2012