Freshwater accounts for only 2.5% of the Earth’s water, and most of it is frozen in glaciers and ice caps. The remaining unfrozen freshwater is mainly found as groundwater, with only a small fraction present above ground or in the air. Our water resources face a host of serious threats, all of which are caused primarily by human activity. They include sedimentation, pollution, climate change, deforestation, landscape changes, and urban growth.

Clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in. There is sufficient fresh water on the planet to achieve this. But due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, every year millions of people, most of them children, die from diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene.

Water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities for poor families across the world. Drought afflicts some of the world’s poorest countries, worsening hunger and malnutrition.

By 2050, at least one in four people is likely to live in a country affected by chronic or recurring shortages of fresh water. 

Water is a finite resource having to serve exponentially more people and usages, and so ensuring everyone has access to a reliable supply is crucial to human survival and sustainable progress. 

As water resources become more stretched, the energy and food sectors’ dependence on water, and the fact that all three underpin several of the Sustainable Development Goals, means that decision-makers in all three domains are now increasingly focusing on water resource management, ecosystem protection and water supply and sanitation as part of their policy and practice.

• Agriculture accounts for 70% of global water withdrawal. (FAO)
• Roughly 75% of all industrial water withdrawals are used for energy production. (UNESCO, 2014)
• The food production and supply chain accounts for about 30% of total global energy consumption. (UNESCO, 2012)
• 90% of global power generation is water-intensive. (UNESCO, 2014)
• Global water demand (in terms of water withdrawals) is projected to increase by 55% by 2050, mainly because of growing demands from manufacturing (400% increase). More than 40% of the global population is projected to be living in areas of severe water stress by 2050.
  (UNESCO, 2014)
• Power plant cooling is responsible for 43% of total freshwater withdrawals in Europe (more than 50% in several countries), nearly 50% in the United States of America, and more than 10% of the national water cap in China. (UNESCO, 2014)
• By 2035, water withdrawals for energy production could increase by 20% and consumption by 85%, driven via a shift towards higher efficiency power plants with more advanced cooling systems (that reduce water withdrawals but increase consumption) and increased production of bio-fuel. (UNESCO, 2014)
• There is clear evidence that groundwater supplies are diminishing, with an estimated 20% of the world’s aquifers being over-exploited, some critically so. Deterioration of wetlands worldwide is reducing the capacity of ecosystems to purify water. (UNESCO, 2014)
• It typically takes 3,000 – 5,000 liters of water to produce 1Kg of rice, 2,000 liters for 1Kg of soya, 900 litres for 1Kg of wheat and 500 liters for 1Kg of potatoes. (WWF)

Sources: 

http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/water-and-sanitation/ 

http://www.unwater.org/water-facts/water-food-and-energy/

Source: Nature Magazine

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