Water covers 70% of our planet
Water covers 70% of our planet
Lack of Water
Water covers 70% of our planet, and it is easy to think that it will always be plentiful.
However, freshwater—the stuff we drink, bathe in, irrigate our farm fields with—is incredibly rare.
Only 3% of the world’s water is fresh water, and two-thirds of that is tucked away in frozen glaciers or otherwise unavailable for our use.
As a result, some 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to water, and a total of 2.7 billion find water scarce for at least one month of the year.
Inadequate sanitation is also a problem for 2.4 billion people—they are exposed to diseases,
such as cholera and typhoid fever, and other water-borne illnesses.
Two million people, mostly children, die each year from diarrheal diseases alone.
Many of the water systems that keep ecosystems thriving and feed a growing human population have become stressed.
Rivers, lakes and aquifers are drying up or becoming too polluted to use.
More than half the world’s wetlands have disappeared.
Agriculture consumes more water than any other source and wastes much of that through inefficiencies.
Climate change is altering patterns of weather and water around the world, causing shortages and droughts in some areas and floods in others.
At the current consumption rate, this situation will only get worse.
By 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population may face water shortages. And ecosystems around the world will suffer even more.
WWF
Lack of Water
Lack of Water
Water scarcity is the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands of water usage within a region.
It already affects every continent and around 2.8 billion people around the world at least one month out of every year.
More than 1.2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water.
Water scarcity involves water stress, water shortage or deficits, and water crisis.
