Johannesburg: According to a report (Report in PDF format) to the World Summit on Sustainable Development now being held in Johannesburg, about 1.2 billion people have no access to safe drinking water and 2.4 billion do not have adequate sanitation services. 6,000 children every day die because of lack of drinkable water, inadequate sanitation and bad hygiene.
Thanks to rapid population growth in the poorest countries, as well as laissez faire industrialisation, industrial as well as agricultural pollution threatens the drinkwater supply of millions of people. At the same time, water is rapidly becoming scarce in many places, partly due to growing use by industry and agriculture. As of now there's little check on wasteful use of water anywhere and in fact wasteful uses may even be subsidised (as I understand has been a problem in California).
Beyond this, the growing pressure on water resources (not just grondwater, but also rivers etc) by growing populations, industry and agriculture also threatens or harms entire ecosystems. Need I point out how the rich farming grounds of ancient Sumeria were ultimately destroyed by careless use of water?
Please read this report. Far more then oil, water is going to be the resource over which wars in the 21st century will be fought, if action isn't undertaken soon.
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