GLOBAL WATER SCARCITY CRISISBy Huseina Abbas

INTRODUCTION“Almost half of the world’s population [is]

exposed to some form of water scarcity….1.8 million children die every year because of

diseases associated with unclean water…[and] unclean water represents the world’s second

largest killer in the early 21st century” (Loftus, 2009).

(source: Huffington Post)

WHAT IS WATER SCARCITY? WHERE IS IT OCCURRING?

“The point at which the aggregate impact of all users impinges the supply or quality of water under prevailing institutional arrangements to the extent that the demand by all sectors…cannot be satisfied fully” (FAO, 2007)

(source: BBC news)

WHY IS IT OCCURRING?

(source: The Penn Spectrum)

1) Population Growth 2) Change in Diet

WHY IS IT OCCURRING?

3) Climate Change 4) Over Use

(source: CNN.com) (source: Cunningham, William P. et. al., McGraw Hill 2003)

WATER SCARCITY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Current status:

40% of the 783 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are without access to clean drinking water

Major Causes Population

growth Extreme

poverty Variable

precipitation

(source: The Borgen Project)

EFFECTS OF WATER SCARCITY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Economic livelihoods

Extreme disease “115 people in Africa die every hour from

diseases linked to … contaminated water” (UN, 2014)

Health and education of women “Research in sub-Saharan Africa suggests that

women and girls in low income countries spend 40 billion hours a year collecting water—theequivalent of a year’s worth of labor by the entire work force in France” (UN, 2014)

CONCLUSION“Around 700 million people in 43 countries [suffered

in 2009] from water scarcity…[and] by 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions

with absolute water scarcity, and 2/3 of the world’s population could be living under water stressed

conditions” (Hess, 2016).

(Source: WaterSan Perspective)