More than half of humanity will be thirsty within 50 years, according to a United Nations report. Citing waste and inadequate management as the culprits, the report finds:
"Severe water shortages affecting at least 400 million people today will affect 4 billion people by 2050. Southwestern states such as Arizona will face other severe freshwater shortages by 2025.
Adequate sanitation facilities are lacking for 2.4 billion people, about 40% of humankind. Half of all coastal regions, where 1 billion people live, have degraded through overdevelopment or pollution.
In developed nations such as Japan, the USA and in Europe, most water shortfalls arise from politically popular but inefficient subsidies and protections of agriculture, which accounts for 85% of freshwater consumption worldwide. "
This is old news to people living in the American southwest for some time as they battle often over the limited resources of the Colorado river. It may be that we have to give up watering our lawns before we give up our SUVs.
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