WATER STRESS: THE UNSPOKEN GLOBAL CRISIS

Nations worldwide, both rich and poor, are struggling for safe drinking water.

3 min readMar 26, 2021

Written By Ken Walker of InChrist Communications

Water problems are often big news, whether it’s ongoing crises in American locales like Flint, Michigan or Newark, New Jersey; in 11 cities across the world forecasting as most likely to run out of drinking water; or the widespread concern that two-thirds of the world will face shortages by 2025.

Gospel for Asia — Global Water Crisis — KP Yohannan — Andrew Steer, President and CEO of the World Resources Institute
Photo by *World Resources Institute*

And yet, “water stress is the biggest crisis no one is talking about,” says Andrew Steer, President and CEO of the World Resources Institute. “Its consequences are in plain sight in the form of food insecurity, conflict and migration, and financial instability.”

One recent report from World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says that 785 million people lack a basic drinking-water service. Globally, at least 2 billion people use a source contaminated with feces. Contaminated water can transmit diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, and dysentery. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says an estimated 801,000 children younger than 5 perish from diarrhea annually, mostly in developing countries.

Not only is safe, readily available water important for public health, WHO says improved water supply, sanitation, and better management of resources “can boost countries’ economic growth and can contribute greatly to poverty reduction.”

Still, nearly 50 years after the U.S. adopted the Clean Water Act (regulating surface water quality standards and discharge of pollutants into water) and close to 30 years after the United Nations started observing World Water Day (Mar. 22), getting clean water to everyone remains a monumental challenge.

That’s true even in developed nations. More than 2 million Americans lack access to running water and indoor plumbing; another 30 million live in areas lacking access to safe drinking water. Last September, an investigation into a 6-year-old boy’s death led to detection of a brain-eating amoeba in the water supply of Lake Jackson, Texas, an hour south of Houston.

But it isn’t just the U.S. struggling to provide an adequate supply. Two years ago, BBC News chronicled 11 cities most likely to run out of drinking water. Topping the list was Cape Town, South Africa, which the BBC said was “in the unenviable situation of being the first major city in the modern era to face the threat of running out of drinking water.”

Cape Town has thus far avoided that fate by instituting usage restrictions, but that city and 10 others continue to face a water shortage:

40% of the population

in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s financial capital, faces extremely high water stress.

20 million inhabitants

in Beijing, China, have just 15 percent of the fresh water they need.

97% of Egypt’s water

in Cairo, the Nile River, is increasingly polluted.

20% of the population

in Mexico City, only get water from their taps a few hours a week.

Pushing close to capacity

the water usage in London.

Interestingly, only Mexico is listed by WHO and UNICEF among 10 countries with the worst drinking water. The other nine include Congo, Pakistan, Bhutan, Ghana, Nepal, Cambodia, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Uganda. Tales of woe in the report include 40 percent of Ugandans having to travel more than 30 minutes for safe drinking water.

Only One-third

of Bhutan’s drinking water is safe from contamination

15% of Nigerians

drinking from unimproved sources, even though it is one of the fastest-improving nations for water quality.

In two previous special reports for Gospel for Asia entitled “Dying of Thirst: The Global Water Crisis,” and “Solving the World Water Crisis … for Good,” we unpacked the global quest for access to safe, clean water, and how lasting solutions can defeat this age-old problem. This article highlights continuing water stress problems worldwide, and various solutions that are emerging to deal with a crisis issue that is too often underdiscussed.

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