Water Facts

Global

Restricted Access to Water

• 1.4 billion people live without clean drinking water
• Two-fifths of the world’s population lack access to proper sanitation
• More than one-third of Africa‚ population lacks access to safe drinking water
• More than 130 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean lack access to safe drinking water
• Between 15 and 20 percent of the water used worldwide is not for domestic consumption, but rather for export

Water and Disease

• Every eight seconds a child dies from drinking dirty water
• Half of the world‚ hospital beds are occupied by people with an easily preventable waterborne disease
• 80 percent of all sickness and disease worldwide is related to contaminated water, according to the World Health Organization
• Diarrhea killed more children in the last decade, nearly 2 million a year in developing countries , than all armed conflicts since the Second World War.
• Dirty water kills more children than war, malaria, HIV/AIDS and traffic accidents combined
• 75 percent of the people in Latin America and the Caribbean suffer from chronic dehydration because of poor water quality

Water Quality

• 90 percent of wastewater produced in underdeveloped countries is discharged untreated into local waters
• 80 of China‚ major rivers are so degraded that they no longer support aquatic life
• 90 percent of all groundwater systems under major cities in China are contaminated
• 75 percent of India‚ rivers and lakes are so polluted that they should not be used for drinking or bathing
• 60 percent of rural Russians drink water from contaminated wells
• 20 percent of all surface water in Europe is seriously threatened

Water Scarcity

• One-third of the world‚ population lives in water stressed countries now
• Unless we change our ways, two-thirds of the world‚ population will face water scarcity by 2025
• Compared today, five times as much land is likely to be under ‚extreme” drought by 2025
• The percentage of the Earth‚ land area stricken by serious drought more than doubled between the 1970s and 2005
• Rapid melting will reduce the Tibetan glaciers by 50 percent every decade, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences
• More than two-thirds of Chinese cities face water shortages
• 90 percent of the Europe‚ alpine glaciers are in retreat

United States

Water Scarcity

• Water managers in 36 states expect water shortages by 2013, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office
• One-third of all U.S. water withdrawals are for export
• California has a 20-year supply of freshwater left
• New Mexico has only a ten-year supply of freshwater left
• Florida‚ rapid use of groundwater has created thousands of sinkholes that devour anything , houses, cars and shopping malls , unfortunate enough to be built on top of them
• The U.S. interior west is probably the driest it has been in 500 years, according to the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Geological Survey
• In 2007, Lake Superior, the world‚ largest freshwater lake, dropped to its lowest levels in 80 years and the water has receded more than 15 meters from the shoreline
• Lake Mead, the vast reservoir of the Colorado River, has a 50 percent chance of running dry by 2021

Water Quality

• 40 percent of U.S. rivers and streams are too dangerous for fishing, swimming or drinking
• 46 percent of U.S. lakes are too dangerous for fishing, swimming or drinking because of massive toxic runoff from industrial farms, intensive livestock operations and the more than 1 billion pounds of industrial weed killer used through the country each year
• Two-thirds of U.S. estuaries and bays are moderately or severely degraded
• One quarter of U.S. beaches are under advisories or closed due to water pollution
• 1.5 million metric tons of nitrogen pollution are carried by the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico every year