Freshwater Scarcity
Globally, 70% of the freshwater resources are consumed by agriculture, 20% by industries and 10% by private households.
In 2000, 1.1 billion people did not have improved water supply and 2.4 billion had no improved sanitation. In 1995, 627 million lived under "water stress" (< 1,700 m3 per capita and year); projections for 2025 talk about 3 billion people under "water stress".
"There is a water crisis today. But the crisis is not about having too little water to satisfy our needs. It is a crisis of managing water so badly that billions of people - and the environment - suffer badly." Investments need to be increased on a global level, in order to tackle these challenges (see graph, World Water Vision, 2000):
LINKS:
World Water Vision
World Water Council (WWC)
World Health Organisation (WHO)