Water

Water has been recognized by the international community as a basic right. Despite this, the United Nations states that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could be under stress conditions. Access to clean water is necessary for human production and for maintaining a healthy populace. Without clean water, a nation's productivity drops dramatically.

There are many ways to define access to water. Physical water scarcity is where there is not enough water to meet all demands including that needed for ecosystem function. Arid regions suffer from physical water scarcity, but so do wet regions whose water resources are over-extended. Economic water scarcity is caused by a lack of investment in water or insufficient human capacity to satisfy demand for water. This is manifested in people having to fetch water from rivers or streams, or not being able to pay for publicly provided water. Some 2.8 billion people currently live in water-scarce areas as defined by economic water scarcity.

On this page, you can engage in discussions about physical, and economic water scarcity. View the resources below, to learn more about water and water scarcity, then ask and answer questions like, where does your water come from? What goes into making your water safe to drink? What role has water played in shaping your community, your family, or your life?