It might be hard to believe that water scarcity is a worldwide issue. After all, most of us in the United States can just turn on a tap and there it is: a flowing, steady stream of water. But globally, water scarcity affects more than 40% of the population and this impact is expected to rise. We have water presently but it’s becoming more understood that we’re going to be facing water troubles shortly. Over the next decade, it’s expected that 40 out of 50 states will face water shortages under average conditions, according to a 2014 Government Accountability Report.

Water is important to humans for several different reasons. Humans are made primarily of water (60% of our body is water!), but we also require water with regard to producing our clothing and electronics, in diverting our waste, and in the creation of flourishing agricultural systems.

Water Scarcity’s Reach

Worldwide, 3 out of every 10 people lack access to safe drinking water. There was a study released in 2016 by the journal Science Advances highlighting that about 4 billion people already live in areas where they deal with severe water stress. In these areas, there’s water stress for at least one month out of the year.

Water scarcity affects more than just drinking water! Without water, we lack basic tools that assist us when it comes to sanitizing. The United Nations has noted that 1 out of every 4 healthcare facilities lacks basic water services. Almost 900 million people continue to practice open defecation as a result of water scarcity. Over 2 billion people don’t have access to basic sanitation services, like toilets! All of these issues combined create some pretty dire circumstances; nearly 1 thousand children die a day due to preventable water and sanitation-related diseases and more than 80% of the wastewater resulting from human activities is discharged into rivers/seas without any form of pollution removal.

Where is the Water Going?

As with so many other global environmental issues, there’s not one broad answer. Instead, we can attribute a bunch of tiny things to the increasingly troublesome issue of water scarcity.

Population Growth

Our freshwater amounts of water stay pretty consistent because the water is recycled through the water system. The population, however, has grown substantially. The UN has estimated that water usage has grown at more than twice the rate of population increase over the last 100 years. Not to mention that the amount of freshwater we have is pretty limited! The Earth is about 70% water, yet only 2.5% of that is freshwater. All of the remaining water is saline or ocean-based. What’s even wilder is that we can’t even access all of the freshwaters! So much freshwater is trapped in glaciers and snowfields that we only get access to about 1%. The amount of freshwater we have in relation to all water available is demonstrated by the tiny blue dot next to the still small blue dot in the picture below.

Climate Change

The earth has a hydrological cycle (AKA water cycle) and climate change has created a massive disruption in the way that cycle functions. Climate change causes the air to warm as the result of burning fossil fuels. Warm air has an easier time holding onto more moisture and it can also release the precipitation in greater amounts, creating changes in the place, the time, and the amount of water precipitation. However, the water cycle is also impacted by changes in sea level (another component impacted by climate change). These rising sea levels impact water levels so dramatically, the end result can be flooding during high tides and storms. In fact, sea levels are rising so much, people are going to be displaced. By 2100, it’s expected that more than 13 million Americans will have to leave their home on the coast. A study released in 2017 by Matthew Hauer from the University of Georgia estimated that 2.3 million people will move from areas that include Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, New Orleans will lose ~500 thousand people, and the New York City area will be down about 50k. The rising sea levels don’t just affect those moving away from the coast. After all, people fleeing their previous home have to move somewhere, thus creating a potential hardship for landlocked states both in terms of space and economics.

Even if we were able to totally curb the use of fossil fuels right now, we would still be in a rough spot when it comes to water and flooding. If we totally halted our emissions, 10% of Americans would still be at risk of being displaced over the next two decades – and that’s without additional fossil fuel burning and climate warming! Experts warn that if we don’t get our emissions under control, we’re at risk of flooding that we won’t be able to adapt to.

Flooding

We’re already seeing increased flooding. In 2019, we had what some refer to as “The Great Flooding.” Below is a photo taken in March of 2019 showing the extent of flooding in Hamburg, Iowa but conditions were similar across much of the Midwest and even portions of the Southern United States.

The United Nations compiled disaster data that shows worsening floods at a higher frequency. Between the years of 1995 and 2015, we’ve seen a lot of major disasters. According to the UN, 90% of those were weather-related events, such as droughts or hurricanes. Flooding, however, made-up more than half of all of the weather-related events! The impact was equally as large, impacting more than 2.3 billion people and killing 157k just in that 20-year timespan.

Droughts

In a sort of ironic twist, some regions are facing serious droughts while others are plagued with intense flooding. Across the globe, 14 megacities have already begun experiencing water scarcity coupled with drought conditions. Even in areas where droughts aren’t an immediate concern, droughts still find a way to be impactful. This is because we live with a global economy and are constantly importing and exporting different materials and items. So even if a country has an abundance of water, they might be importing material from a region struggling with droughts. For example, the European Union is mightily reliant on water availability in other countries because they import products like soybeans and cotton.

What can I do to help at home?

Unfortunately, the answer to this one isn’t as simple as turning off the faucet when we brush our teeth (though that does make a difference!). Water usage in the home typically only makes up about 3% of the total water consumption globally. We see the largest amounts of water consumption in industry and agriculture, at 70% and 22% respectively. A step in the right direction would be to create better agricultural and industrial practices – like growing water-intensive crops in water-heavy regions!

But we can make some changes at home. Some helpful statistics pulled from the EPA website to demonstrate how much water we potentially waste every day and areas for improvement!

Each American uses an average of 88 gallons of water a day at home.
The average family spends more than $1,000 per year in water costs but can save more than $380/year from retrofitting with WaterSense labeled fixtures and EnergyStar certified appliances.
The average family can waste 180 gallons per week (or 9,400 gallons annually) due to household leaks – you can wash more than 300 loads of laundry with this much water!
Turning off the tap while brushing your teeth can save 8 gallons of water per day.
Letting your faucet run for 5 minutes while you do the dishes can waste 10 gallons of water and it uses enough energy to power a 60-watt lightbulb for 18 hours!

Diving into Water Scarcity