It is hard to imagine that drinkable fresh water may one day be in short supply. After all, water makes up around 71% of our planet’s surface. However, on further inspection, we find that the overwhelming majority of our water is unsafe for human consumption. In fact, as the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) points out, only around 3% of the Earth’s water is freshwater. Worse still, an estimated two-thirds of the planet’s fresh water is stored in frozen glaciers and/or inaccessible.

According to findings from the World Economic Forum back in 2015, the water crisis is quickly going to become one of the most significant threats to the planet over the next decade. The crisis is already proving devastating for some of the most productive farming nations in the world. In addition, hundreds of millions of people face being left without access to safe drinking water in addition to the 785 million people already without reliable access to drinking water. The WHO (World Health Organisation) estimates that by 2025 over half of the world’s population will be living in ‘water-stressed’ areas.

Already, almost two-thirds of the world’s population experience severe water scarcity for at least one month per year. As a result, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) called the crisis one of the leading challenges for sustainable development. The crisis is projected to worsen over the coming years as the Earth’s population is expected to reach 10 billion people by around 2025.

“Water is essential for agricultural production and food security,” wrote the FAO. “It is the lifeblood of ecosystems, including forests, lakes and wetlands, on which our present and future food and nutritional security depends. Yet, our freshwater resources are dwindling at an alarming rate.”

Many factors contributing to water scarcity are largely man-made or at the very least worsened by mankind. For instance, one of the leading causes of water scarcity is climate change. Due to the enhanced greenhouse effect, we have caused the planet to become drier and precipitation to become more erratic. Other leading causes of the crisis include increased water demand amid a rapidly-growing global population, insufficient water infrastructure, and water being wasted — especially in more affluent countries.

Notably, the World Resources Institute (WRI) believes that another contributing factor is water being severely undervalued from an economic perspective.

“[Water’s] price does not reflect the true, total cost of service, from its transport via infrastructure to its treatment and disposal,” wrote the WRI. “This has led to misallocation of water, and a lack of investments in infrastructure and new water technologies that use water more efficiently. After all, why would a company or government invest in expensive water-saving technologies, when water is cheaper than the technology in question?”

Water is taken so extremely for granted in developed countries and so undervalued, that when one day the supply runs dry; panic and crisis will undoubtedly ensue.

While research organizations such as the WRI highlight the catastrophic nature of this crisis, they also emphasize that it is not too late for us to fix the shortage.

Emerging solutions such as using wastewater as a source of energy, for instance, could prove promising. Other potential solutions, such as desalination, are able to turn the Earth’s abundance of saltwater into drinking water. However, the process is yet to become widespread due to its high energy usage and high price but these problems may eventually be overcome by future technological innovation.

As our demand for water increases and its availability continues to decrease, it is clear that lawmakers need to start thinking more seriously about the issue all over the world. If left unattended it will be hard to avoid the starting of hydro-political wars in the future as the global population starts to outgrow its potable water supply.

A study by the JRC (European Commission’s Joint Research Centre) reports that the five most vulnerable hotspots include the Nile, Ganges-Brahmaputra, Indus, Tigris-Euphrates, and Colorado rivers. The study was done by a JRC scientist, Fabio Farinosi, who used machine learning to model the factors that could cause conflict over water.

JRC Map of Potential Hydro-Political Conflicts

Water conflicts are nothing new. In fact, they have been happening since 3000BC. The difference is the scale at which a worldwide water shortage would damage the world in this day and age with such a fast-growing population. It is important to tackle this issue now before it blows out of proportion as such a vital element of human survival should never be taken for granted.

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