Summary:

50% of the world’s population already live in water-stressed regions [3]. Freshwater reserves are scarce and agriculture uses the lion’s share[4].

The situation is expected to worsen due to climate change and growing population and adopting a plant-based diet can make a difference probably.

Water Scarcity Facts

Freshwater is a precious commodity and there is no life without it. But how much of it is readily available?

Total Water on Earth – Breakdown %

Source: Living Planet Report 2016, WWF

The yellow circle represents the share of freshwater fit for human consumption, less than 3% of the total water stocks on the planet[2].

However, most of the freshwater reserves are stuck in glaciers or in aquifers deep under the surface and the leftover is unevenly distributed.

And how much is received through precipitation every year? The answer is the little black dot (if you can spot one) in the above diagram.

Yes, that’s right, a mere 0.01% gets renewed every year through rainfall [2].


Water-Stressed Regions of the World

Due to the uneven distribution of the water stocks, it’s no wonder that more than 3.5 billion people or 50% of the world’s population are living in either water-stressed or water-scarce regions already [3].

Below graph highlights those areas.

Source: World Resources Institute

The situation is getting so worse in some areas that almost 40% of irrigated areas are now reliant on groundwater supplies and as a result, the underground freshwater reserves are depleting at an unprecedented level [4].

Experts believe that numbers are going to get even worse in the coming years and as per UN estimates, by 2025, 2/3rd of the world population would be living in water-stressed regions [5].

Agriculture’s Share of Water Consumption

Any guesses how much water would it takes to produce all the food we eat? A staggering 70% of the freshwater withdrawls for human use is used for agriculture purposes [4].

Sector-Wise Freshwater Withdrawals – %

Source: UN Millennium Development Goals Report -2015

A significant portion of freshwater water withdrawals for agriculture purpose goes in raising animals for livestock and dairy industry. However, animals do eat grass right?

Yes, that’s the case but with the gigantic livestock population, there’s just not enough food and hence they need to be fed crops, especially the animals breeding on industrialized farms.

UN estimates that almost 1/3rd of all the foods we produce goes to feeding the animals. In a nutshell, our food choices, to an extent, would define the water-related problems of the coming generations.

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