Addressing the global water challenge
According to the United Nations, around 2.2 billion people globally use contaminated sources of drinking water and around 4.2 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services, such as toilets or latrines. Severe water scarcity affects more than two thirds of the global population at least one month every year, and this is projected to rise (further).
These conditions are major hurdles for the development of people and their nations and they violate the basic human right to water and sanitation. This issue has therefore been identified as one of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
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Over 5,000 children die each day due to dirty water or poor hygiene
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Half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering water-borne diseases
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Water-related diseases kill one child every 15 seconds
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1 Dollar invested in water or sanitation returns 8 Dollars of economic growth
Water is essential to health and socio-economic development
Floods and other water-related disasters account for 74% of all deaths related to natural disasters.
- UN Sustainable Development Goals
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More than 70% of the world's water resources are needed for food production
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Producing food for the growing world population will require 50% more freshwater
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Increasing competition for water and inefficient irrigation practices could constrain future food production
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In many developing nations, irrigation accounts for over 90% of the water withdrawn. More water-efficient irrigation technologies therefore need to be applied
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The cup of coffee you may drink while reading this page required 140 litres of water. 15,500 litres of water are needed to produce one kilogramme of beef
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Since 2000, the number of water-related disasters has increased by 130%
Water is essential to feed the world
Each day, nearly 1,000 children die due to preventable water and sanitation-related diarrhoeal diseases
- UN Sustainable Development Goals
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Water is used to make every product on Earth. Therefore, all businesses and all business sectors depend on it in some way.
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After agriculture, industry is the second largest user of water. However, the amount of water used varies widely from one type of industry to another
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Water, energy and food are intrinsically linked: water is needed to produce energy, energy is needed to deliver the water needed for food production.
Water is essential for agriculture and industry
WBCSD's water trends and facts
UN water fact sheets "Climate Change" and "Water Quality"
(1) Kyle Onda, Joe LoBuglio and Jamie Bartram, Global Access to Safe Water: Accounting for Water Quality and the Resulting Impact on MDG Progress, Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2012
Approximately 70 per cent of all water abstracted from rivers, lakes and aquifers is used for irrigation
- UN Sustainable Development Goals