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Big Changes are Needed
Two billion people live without sustainable drinking water every day.
Water scarcity affects humans all over our world with over ¼ of the world’s people living in countries with high water stress. Due to population growth and climate change, this is a rapidly growing issue that is predicted to result in 2/3 of the world’s population living in water-stressed countries within a few short years by 2025. Even in the United States most of the West and parts of the Midwest and East are water-stressed where the use exceeds 40% of the available supply and groundwater sources are being depleted
To make matters work for the U.S. our water infrastructure is old and deteriorating. The Flint water crisis where tap water exposed residents to Legionnaires’ disease and lead poisoning that affected 100,000 people isn’t alone in affecting Americans. In 2019 over 30 million Americans lived in areas where water systems violated safety rules according to the EPA. A 2017 report card from the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s drinking water infrastructure a rating of “D”, and assessed that the U.S. needs to invest $1 trillion in the next 25 years for upgrades.
Added risks of deteriorating infrastructure.
Water.org - Water Charity For Safe Water & Sanitation. (2020). Water.Org. https://water.org/
Water Facts. (2019). UN-Water. https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/