One-third of the world’s population is currently suffering from a shortage of drinking water. Experts predict that the global demand for water will double by 2050, and even wealthy countries like the Netherlands will face water scarcity. Clean drinking water is already scarce in many regions of the world, and Frank Rijsberman of the International Water Management Institute in the Netherlands believes that the global demand for drinking water will continue to rise. Other organizations warn that even wealthy countries like Germany will be affected by water shortages. According to a recent study by the institute, the use of water has increased sixfold in the last 100 years, and about two billion people live in regions where water is either very scarce or the per capita consumption is too high.
The scarcity of water is most acutely felt in Asia, where rapidly growing standards of living in China and India are leading to higher demand for high-quality food, which in turn directly affects water consumption. Egypt is another example where half of all food is already imported due to a lack of water for irrigation. The demand for clean drinking water can also be seen in the Aral Sea in Central Asia, which was once the fourth-largest inland sea in the world but is now on the verge of drying up. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) warns that excessive water consumption, environmental pollution, and climate change will lead to droughts on the Atlantic coasts of wealthy industrialized countries. In the Mediterranean region, water waste from tourism is a major problem that is already affecting agriculture. In Eastern Europe, it is not water waste but pollution that will lead to water scarcity in the near future, according to Jamie Pittock of the WWF.
In the next 20 years, water will be the dominant social and political issue that the world must address, according to Rijsberman. “People and their governments face difficult decisions about how water should be distributed and managed.” However, saving water and using this resource sustainably is very easy. Every household can save many liters of drinking water every day through technical means such as a house water pump, which can save valuable drinking water, or by being more conscious, such as turning off the water while soaping up in the shower. On a per-household basis, millions of liters can be saved in just one day.
