Characteristics of the Water Challenge

There has been much talk about a ‘world water crisis’ among water experts for several decades now and among policymakers and the public at large for the last five to ten years. What is this crisis? Is the world running out of water? Has there not been enough investment to make water available to people? In the twentieth century there has been massive investment in water resources development. The world population tripled in the last century, but water use grew sixfold. The governments of the United States and Australia, for example, constructed some 5,000 m3 of water storage infrastructure for each and every one of their citizens. Most of this infrastructure is meant to produce hydroelectricity and to irrigate farm land, while some is meant to control floods and store water for domestic water supply for urban areas. Even more money has been invested in water distribution infrastructure, treatment plants, sewerage and wastewater treatment. Water resources development has been a major part of the investments in developing countries – a key component of bilateral aid, World Bank lending, and domestic investment – and the subject of a water supply and sanitation investment drive called ‘the water decade’ in the 1980s. With all this investment, why is there still a crisis?