The world's water crisis

WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF A WATER CRISIS THAT HAS MANY FACES. Whether concerning issues of health or sanitation, environment or cities, food, industry or energy production, the twenty-first century is the century in which the overriding problem is one of water quality and management. Water management has evolved, but in 2003 some 25,000 people are still dying every day from malnutrition and 6,000 people, mostly children under the age of five, are dying from water-related diseases. It is a real-world crisis that numbers alone can dehumanize. The months of writing this text have seen headlines of millions facing malnutrition in southern Africa, millions affected by floods in Bangladesh, floods throughout central and eastern Europe, and hundreds killed by Nile fever. But the silent deaths of millions of others do not make daily headlines, nor does the plight of those poor and powerless people who are still deprived of a basic human right. Yet these terrible losses, with the waste and suffering they represent, are preventable.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Clean Water and Sanitation