The Most Pressing Water Problem

Margaret Catley-Carlson who has been working in the area of water for 20 years, most recently as Chair of the Global Water Partnership and member of the World Water Commission, responded to the question of what is the most pressing water-related problem we are facing today with the following answer:

People are quite perplexed by the water problem. Has it stopped raining? Why do we suddenly have a water problem?

The major issue is that global populations have tripled since 1950, and water demand has gone up seven-fold. As we develop, we all use more water. When we buy a car, for instance—the industrial processes to put that car together have required a great deal of water. When we eat chicken—chicken requires about three times as much water as cereal or beans because, of course, the chicken eats cereal, which itself requires water to grow. So while it takes about a tonne of water to grow a kilo of cereal, it takes about five tonnes of water to grow a kilo of chicken. All these things have an exponential impact, and so the pressure on water goes up with development, with population growth.

The demand on water keeps increasing, and the amount of water that’s available is always the same. And so, particularly in areas where water supply was always under stress, or in areas where a lot of groundwater is being pulled out, increasing population is causing acute pressure on water.

Read the rest of the interview from Canada's International Development Research Centre. So, what is the most pressing water-related problem?