The growth rate of drinking water consumption over the past hundred years is almost double that of the population of the Earth. This led to a serious threat to 1.7 billion people.
17 countries of the world today are experiencing an acute shortage of drinking water. Such data was published by experts from the World Resources Institute. This means that almost a quarter of the world’s population lives in regions that are provided with water for less than 20% of their needs.
And this problem is becoming more acute year by year. “Water scarcity is the biggest crisis that no one talks about,” complains Andrew Steer, director of the World Resources Institute. “Subsequently, this will lead to a violation of the global food safety system, ethnic conflicts, global migration and the financial crisis.”
Using the new hydrological model, the Institute employees determined that the selection of drinking water from the bowels of the earth and water bodies more than doubled over the past 60 years. Such an ever-growing need has led to the fact that 44 countries are already experiencing “high levels of water stress.” This means that their needs for drinking water are provided by no more than 60%.
List of countries of excessive and high risk groups for water availability. Photo: Science Alert
The list of countries in the category of excessive risk for water resources includes mainly overpopulated countries in the arid regions of Africa and Asia. But in the high-risk group were relatively prosperous Italy, Spain, Belgium, Greece and Portugal.
