What are the issues?

Climate change

One billion people facing water scarcity

As our climate changes, so does our planet?s supply and flow of fresh water. Droughts and floods intensify and last longer. Crops die. Homes are destroyed. People must walk miles to access water. According to one estimate, as the Mediterranean region and southern Africa face reduced rainfall, 1 billion people who live in these already dry regions will face increased water scarcity.

Deforestation

> ?‎ of large cities get water from forests

Forests are nature?s ?water factories? — capturing, storing, purifying and gradually releasing clean water to towns and cities located downstream. More than one-third of the world?s largest cities obtain a significant portion of their drinking water directly from forested protected areas. But every single day, we lose 75,000 football fields? worth of forests. When they disappear, nature?s water factories stop humming.

Limits to water supplies

40% more demand than supply

As the global population continues to grow, so does our demand for fresh water. Many water systems around the world are currently overtaxed, and some have already collapsed. According to one estimate, by 2030 our planet?s need for water will outstrip its reliable supply by 40%. We must find ways to improve the ways we manage and use water — or we?re risking hunger, thirst and lost livelihoods.

Pollution

60% U.S. lakes too polluted for fishing

Pollution from human activities, especially agriculture, washes into streams, lakes, estuaries and oceans. There, it wreaks ecological havoc. The nitrogen and phosphorous used in agriculture, for example, promote the growth of algae that draw oxygen from the water and create ?dead zones? where nothing can live. Already, nearly 60% of U.S. lakes are too polluted for fishing and swimming — and lakes such as Lake Erie have massive dead zones that put commercial activity like fishing at risk.

Lack of understanding

$7 trillion in benefits from fresh water