Aug. 16 (UPI) — More than two dozen countries worldwide annually experience high water stress, in which a region’s water supply is insufficient to meet human demand — a problem that affects at least half the global population, according to new research by the World Resources Institute.
The Aqueduct Risk Atlas, released Wednesday by the Washington-based research group, shows about 4 billion people were living under elevated water-stressed conditions during any given month as populations regularly used up most of the available water supply.
“Living with this level of water stress jeopardizes people’s lives, jobs, food and energy security,” researchers said in the report’s findings. “Water is central to growing crops and raising livestock, producing electricity, maintaining human health, fostering equitable societies and meeting the world’s climate goals.”
Scientists said they anticipate the problem will get worse, with an additional 1 billion people exposed to extremely high water stress around the world by 2050, even if international climate goals were achieved.
“Global water demand is projected to increase by 20% to 25% by 2050, while the number of watersheds facing high year-to-year variability, or less predictable water supplies, is expected to increase by 19%,” the report said.
The study blames population growth, economic development, industrial and agricultural expansion, poor water management, and climate change for exacerbating water stress around the world. The report suggests governments should be investing more to build renewable water infrastructures and establishing better conservation efforts to mitigate the emerging crisis.
Drought conditions were also serving to gut the water supply for irrigation, livestock, industry and domestic needs, with many regions in danger of running out of water altogether.
The study takes a deeper dive into the causes of increasing water stress and includes a map showing the varying severity of ongoing water shortages around the world.
The global demand for water has more than doubled since 1960 and was now exceeding the amount of water available for human consumption, the study said.
The study listed Bahrain, Cyprus, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman and Qatar as the five most water-stressed countries.
At least half a dozen nations were currently experiencing “extreme water stress” — meaning at least 80% of the available supply was being used, while countries under “high water stress” were siphoning off at least 40% of supply.
The most water-stressed regions are located in the Middle East and North Africa, where 83% of the population is exposed to extremely high water stress, while 74% were exposed in South Asia, the study said.
Sub-Saharan Africa was poised to become one of the hardest-hit regions of the world as populations were expected to soar by 163% over the next 25 years.
