Water is essential to our life and our prosperity
- “Only 0.8% of global water reserves are available as drinking water.”
- “Water consumption has increased six-fold over the last century and will double again by 2050.”
- “The supply of fresh water will become a critical factor for the global economy.”
- “Water crises, long regarded as a problem for the poorest of the poor,
now affect even the richest countries.”
- “Innovative small water treatment systems will become the norm.”
Source: World Business Council for Sustainable Development, August 2006 |
Drinking water is in short supply.
There are approximately 1.38 billion cubic kilometers of water on our planet, 97.5 % of which is in the form of saline seawater, lakes and ground water. Approximately 1.7% of water worldwide is frozen as polar ice and glaciers. Therefore, only around 0.8% of this is available as drinking water reserves in the form of surface waters such as rivers and lakes as well as groundwater.
The extent of human water requirements today becomes clear from the key figure of the “freshwater stress” which compares water consumption with naturally occurring freshwater volumes. On the basis of this, the situation during the period 1995 to 2025 is likely to further escalate and become an even stronger limiting factor for growth and prosperity.
Freshwater-Stress:
The following map projects how much water will be withdrawn with respect to the amount that is naturally available.
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1995 |
2025 |
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Source: Adapted from “Vital Water Graphics,” UNEP, 2002 |