solve water scarcity problem

Here are 8 ways the world can tackle water scarcity

Conventional water sources are not enough to meet growing freshwater demand in water-scarce areas. Image:  Unsplash/da_sikka_x

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Vladimir smakhtin.

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• Around 25% of people on Earth face shortages of water for drinking, sanitation, agriculture and economic development.
• But there are many unconventional water resources we are not making full use of, say the authors of a book on the subject.
• We could be doing more with micro-scale capture of rainwater, and in several other areas, they say.
• While water scarcity is a cause of conflict and migration, water can also be an instrument for international cooperation to achieve sustainable development, they add.

As climate change worsens, and with populations rising worldwide, water shortages are a top threat to human development and security.

One in four people on Earth face shortages of water for drinking, sanitation, agriculture and economic development. Water scarcity is expected to intensify in regions like the Middle East and North Africa region, which has 6% of the global population but only 1% of the world’s freshwater resources.

Conventional water sources – which rely on snowfall, rainfall and rivers – are not enough to meet growing freshwater demand in water-scarce areas.

Fortunately Earth has other sources of water: millions of cubic kilometres of water in aquifers, in fog and icebergs, in the ballast holds of thousands of ships, and elsewhere.

Our book, Unconventional Water Resources , based on the most up to date information, identifies eight broad categories of unconventional water sources.

Unconventional water sources

Cloud seeding and fog collectors

The atmosphere contains an estimated 13,000 km³ of water vapour. Annual global freshwater demand today is roughly 4,600 km³ .

Some of the atmosphere’s water vapour can be captured through cloud seeding – sowing clouds with small particles of commonly used silver iodide to make them rain or snow – and the collection of water from fog and mist.

Cloud seeding can enhance rainfall by up to 15% under the right conditions. Direct delivery of seeding material to the clouds using aircraft and rockets gets the highest yield.

Fog harvesting is already happening in parts of the world. Remote communities in Chile, Morocco and South Africa have used vertical mesh nets to harvest fog for over 100 years. Viable sites are typically open locations with a fairly high elevation, exposed to wind flow.

Advancements in materials and local knowledge have helped develop designs that are efficient in water collection. At times more than 20 litres can be collected on a dense fog day for every square metre of mesh. Average cost per litre can be less than one US cent.

Desalination

Desalination – removing salt from seawater – contributes over 100 million cubic metres of water a day, supporting about 5% of the world’s population. Almost half (48%) of the global desalination capacity is located in the Middle East and North Africa region.

New developments in desalination will likely make it the lowest-cost unconventional water supply resource worldwide. Innovative technologies are reducing energy inputs by 20% to 35%.

Desalination produces enormous quantities of brine, a pollutant of concern. But extracting salts from brine to yield commercially viable products could offset the cost of desalinated water production in the next decade.

Reusing water

Advanced treatment systems can convert wastewater into potable water. Treated wastewater provides 25% of the potable water supply of Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, for example.

Today around 70% of municipal wastewater in high-income countries is treated, but only 8% in low-income countries. The annual volume of untreated municipal wastewater in low-income countries globally is estimated at just 171 km³. This is because water use per capita in the municipal sector is low. Sub-Saharan Africa produces the lowest annual amounts of wastewater per capita (46m³); North America produces almost five times more.

Acceptance of reused wastewater by people and policymakers remains a challenge.

Water security – both sustainable supply and clean quality – is a critical aspect in ensuring healthy communities. Yet, our world’s water resources are being compromised.

Today, 80% of our wastewater flows untreated back into the environment, while 780 million people still do not have access to an improved water source. By 2030, we may face a 40% global gap between water supply and demand.

The World Economic Forum’s Water Possible Platform is supporting innovative ideas to address the global water challenge.

The Forum supports innovative multi-stakeholder partnerships including the 2030 Water Resources Group , which helps close the gap between global water demand and supply by 2030 and has since helped facilitate $1Billion of investments into water.

Other emerging partnerships include the 50L Home Coalition , which aims to solve the urban water crisis , tackling both water security and climate change; and the Mobilizing Hand Hygiene for All Initiative , formed in response to close the 40% gap of the global population not having access to handwashing services during COVID-19.

Want to join our mission to address the global water challenge? Read more in our impact story .

Agricultural drainage water

Irrigation generally results in two types of drainage water: water on the surface, and water that seeps into the earth. Surface runoff can be collected and used again to grow food. Salinity of drainage water is higher, but salt-tolerant crops and new varieties can meet this challenge.

Brackish groundwater offshore

There are vast quantities of water (an estimated 300,000-500,000 km³) in aquifers off the shores of continents around the world. These aquifers (bodies of permeable rocks that hold groundwater) were created millions of years ago when sea levels were much lower. They are at shallow depths and less than 100km from shore.

Today new marine electromagnetic exploration methods provide detailed images of offshore freshwater. Horizontal drilling technologies make it possible to pump the water to shore.

To date, no offshore freshwater resources have been developed. The technology is still quite new and exploiting the resource would be expensive. It would also need to be combined with desalination.

Inland brackish groundwater

Deep inland aquifers with brackish or salty water exist in volumes estimated to total millions of cubic kilometres. Some countries, like Israel and Spain, already tap into them. It’s expensive, but there are ways to reduce high costs, such as reusing the salt recovered. And farmers can benefit from desalination technologies by switching to high value crops.

Micro-scale capture of rainwater

In dry environments over 90% of rainwater is typically lost to evaporation and surface runoff. Micro-catchment rainwater harvesting is an ancient practice designed to trap and collect water from a relatively small catchment area, usually 10-500m². It employs a wide range of techniques, from rooftop and cistern collection to farm and landscape systems including contour ridges, bunds, small runoff basins and strips.

Move water physically to water-scarce areas

Ships transport around 90% of the goods traded worldwide and discharge some 10 billion tons of ballast water (10km³) every year. Ballast water is fresh or saltwater held in the ship to provide stability and manoeuvrability during a voyage.

Under international convention , all ships of 400 gross tonnage and above must have onboard treatment options to desalinate ballast water, remove invasive aquatic organisms and unhealthy chemical compounds, and make it usable for other economic activities such as irrigation.

This water could be sold to port cities in arid regions.

Another water source that can be physically moved to water-scarce areas is ice. The more than 100,000 Arctic and Antarctic icebergs that melt into the ocean each year contain more freshwater than the world consumes.

A financial feasibility analysis of towing icebergs to Cape Town, South Africa suggests it is an economically attractive option if the icebergs to be towed are big enough: at least 125 million tons. Wrapping icebergs in a net and then a mega-bag would likely prevent breakup and reduce melting, studies suggest.

Increasing water scarcity is a major cause of conflict , social unrest and migration. Water is also being seen as an instrument for international cooperation to achieve sustainable development. It’s vital to tap into every available option.

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Exploring the Most Efficient Solutions to Water Scarcity

70% of the planet is covered in water, a key resource for almost every aspect of life and a major factor in health, peace, and security across the world. SDG 6 looks to ‘ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’ by 2030; a quite ambitious task considering that 2.3 billion people – or one-quarter of the world’s population – live in water-stressed countries. Physical water scarcity refers to the lack of sufficient water in an area, whereas economic water scarcity occurs when people cannot afford access to water. The consequences are disproportionately felt by the poorest and most vulnerable. Although there is no international mandate, governments around the world have implemented policies and strategies to help tackle the issue. In this article, we explore some of the most common solutions to water scarcity.

What Are the Causes of Water Scarcity?

Only 3% of the world’s freshwater is accessible, with the rest frozen in glaciers or otherwise unavailable to us. Pressure from water scarcity is distributed as unequally as water distribution. One-third of those living in water-stressed countries are under critical threat – that’s nearly ten percent of the global population.

Contamination is responsible for the death of millions of people every year. Water laden with sewage and waste from agriculture and industry flows through most rivers and streams without treatment, allowing pesticides and toxic chemicals to leach into the groundwater and freshwater systems, critically lowering the availability of water resources .

Population growth and urbanisation drive an increase in demand for freshwater. Several countries around the world, from China and South Africa to some European nations and several US states have experienced water crises and droughts in recent years. 

Climate change expresses itself through water . In altering the global temperature and precipitation patterns, global warming vastly impacts the quality and spatial distribution of global resources. Drought and wildfires occur more frequently thanks to faster water evaporation from the soil and increasingly arid conditions. Of course, climate change also contributes to rising sea levels and mass flooding.  

You might also like: Water Shortage: Causes and Effects

What Are the Consequences of Water Scarcity?

The effects of water scarcity are glaring but are not confined to the obvious health, poverty, and disease-causing issues. According to water.org , nearly one million people die every year from water, sanitation, and hygiene-related diseases, all of which could be reduced by securing access to safe water and sanitation.

Water is a lifeline, not only for human survival but also for food production. According to the World Bank, agriculture accounts for 70% of all freshwater withdrawals globally and this is only expected to grow as the world population continues to grow .   

It is estimated that over 140 million people will be forced to migrate within their countries by 2050 due to climate change. It is estimated that around 500 million women do not have access to menstrual products or safe, hygienic spaces to use them, and 446,000 children under 5 die due to diarrhoea which is linked to inadequate WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) – equating to 9% of the 5.8 million deaths of children globally.

Inequality in access to water can also be a catalyst to conflict. In 2013, 27 conflicts around the world were related to water, rising to 71 in 2017. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated water-related tensions by targeting civilian infrastructure. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that 1.4 million Ukrainians now have no access to safe water, with a further 4.6 million experiencing limited access. 

In Egypt, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam could reduce the water flowing downstream. Ethiopia is keen to fill it in just six years, causing Egypt to lose 36% of its water supply.  

“Many of the wars of the 20th century were about oil but wars of the 21st century will be about water unless we change the way in which we manage it,” said Ismail Serageldin, the former vice president of the World Bank.

Nine out of ten natural disasters, like storms, floods, droughts, etc., are water-related. Wetlands are an integral part of biodiversity, supporting living things, the cultivation of rice, and water filtration, alongside flood control and storm protection. More than half the world’s wetlands have dried up.

Water Scarcity Around the World

Niger is a region experiencing continual water scarcity thanks to drought and degraded soils. In 2017, only 50% of the Nigerian population had proper access to drinking water. A large proportion of forested areas has been lost to demand for firewood and wood products by a quick-growing population that led to rapid deforestation , exacerbating water scarcity. The World Bank is investing in helping Niger harness its scarce water resources via The Integrated Water Security Platform , which aims to use disruptive technologies to promote proper management of Niger’s water, improve water supply, sanitation, and irrigation service delivery, and increase long-term sustainability. It is projected that 3 million people will benefit from this project. 

Further attempts by the government to replace fallen trees have been thwarted by ill-defined rights, but they have since managed to implement agroforestry . Following the reintroduction of trees, access to water in the country is finally improving. 

Chile is projected to be one of the most vulnerable countries in the face of worsening global warming. Each year for more than a decade, rainfall has been below average in the central areas of the country. Record high temperatures and more frequent heatwaves have further exacerbated the situation, leading to what experts refer to as a megadrought. But the water crisis in Chile is nothing new. In fact, it began over a decade ago and scientists attribute around 25% of its severity to human-induced climate change.

Former Chilean Agricultural Minister Maria Undurraga, said that the drought is “no longer an emergency [but] it turned into structural change.” 

The key to solving the Chilean water struggles lies in better governance, committing to net-zero infrastructure, and implementing a new constitution. However, following the 2022 referendum to determine public opinion on a New Political Constitution and its subsequent overwhelming rejection, the government’s ability to implement significant change has been challenging.

You might also like: ​​ Chile Water Crisis: 13 Years and Counting

The Water Project in Kenya is funding pioneering sand dam construction to help unlock potential through sustainable and community-constructed solutions. Only requiring a seasonal river, the approach has seen 130 sand dams built across the country.

Aquifers provide water and time for productive farming and allow for progression in techniques such as inter-cropping, zero-grazing, and seed banks, securing food supply even in drought. They provide a lifeline for people with clean and reliable water within 30-90 minutes of people’s homes .

4. South Africa

South Africa’s population has increased exponentially in recent years, but the infrastructure is vastly underprepared . Since the 2018 water shortage in Cape Town, official mandates regarding significant reductions in water usage have proved ineffective and have led to overcrowded communal taps, dangerous bore-holing, and the dangerous acceptance of contaminated groundwater sources to combat the drought.

The government sanctioned the drilling of boreholes near hospitals and schools for access to water underground but this is considered by many just a short-term solution. Saline water intrusions will render the water undrinkable in as little as six months , according to professor Phumelele Gama of Nelson Mandela University, so a different approach is required to solve South Africa’s water crisis. 

You might also like: Water Crisis in South Africa: Causes, Effects, And Solutions

A number of European nations are dealing with water scarcity. 

Last year, the longest river in Italy, the River Po, almost entirely dried out . The river stretches 405 miles (652 km), meandering through some of the country’s major cities, and has suffered massively at the hands of soaring temperatures and lack of precipitation. The direct impact on crops and feed production for livestock has resulted in major crop loss. Besides agriculture, the drought also critically affected hydropower energy generation.

Similarly, River Rhine, Germany’s main economic artery and Europe’s most important river, dried out completely in some areas amid last year’s drought, which experts dubbed the worst the continent has experienced in 500 years . With water levels dropping to a critical depth of 40 centimetres (just under 16 inches) or even below, most large ships transporting goods, including coal to diesel, were effectively unable to transit for days, with major repercussion on trade across the entire continent. 

Elsewhere in Europe, Barcelona was forced to import water supply from France after experiencing water shortages in its reservoirs over the arid summer of 2008, while demand for water in London is predicted to exceed what can be supplied within the next decade. 

2.3 billion people – or one-quarter of the world’s population – live in water-stressed countries.

Short-Term Solutions to Water Scarcity

Although water scarcity must be viewed as an ongoing problem, there are a few short term approaches that can help relieve pressure.

Concern USA , a global humanitarian organisation, highlights the efficacy of water trucking. By providing water to refugee areas during infrastructure improvement, drought or displacement, individuals can have access to clean water, while installing pumps in refugee camps can also help.

Water traded as a commodity is a moral conundrum: it puts basic human rights in the hands of financial institutions. But there is evidence to suggest that a water market , which allows resources to be allocated in accordance with the highest need, is beneficial. Underlying economic incentive renders the market effective as it promotes conservation and discourages overuse of water for monetary reward. Nations where water trading is utilised include the UK, Chile, and the US.

While short-term solutions are vital in ensuring the health and wellbeing of people dramatically affected by water scarcity, long-term approaches must be at the forefront of the international and local agendas.  

Long-Term Solutions to Water Scarcity

1. infrastructure.

Lacking infrastructure has devastating effects on human health and the economy, and fragile pipework and lack of supply to major regions not only waste resources but also impact everyone’s quality of life.

For this reason, smart investments in clean water and sanitation prevent needless deaths and transform lives. According to the United Nations, 100-200bn cubic metres of water could be saved globally by 2030 in urban areas simply by reducing leaks. 

It is up to cities to ensure the infrastructure is in place to deal with water scarcity in the face of warming global temperatures. A good example of an infrastructure-based solution to water scarcity is the smart-water management system utilised in South Korea, an innovative system that helps improve the reliability, soundness and efficiency of water management.

In China, the ‘sponge city’ initiative seeks to reuse 70% of rainwater and introduce wetlands by using the landscape to retain water, slow down the flow and clean it. In encouraging the reabsorption of water back into the groundwater system, China is taking steps to tackle water scarcity and prevent flooding.

Aqueducts move water to areas where it is required the most. However, they are not always efficient in tackling water shortages. The Owens Lake and Mono Lake in California, for example, started to disappear after the water supply was diverted to the Los Angeles aqueduct, aggravating drought conditions. Aqueducts therefore may not be the best solution to water scarcity. 

2. Irrigation and Agriculture 

According to a World Economic Forum report , sustainable and efficient agricultural management techniques “are needed to grow more food on less land and with less water.”

Reservoirs have their advantages. They collect water during wetter times and store it to use during the dry season. They are also used to generate electricity and can be a crucial instrument in the prevention of floods. While effective in helping water-stress nations, reservoirs are also sometimes associated with downstream river erosion and can have a detrimental impact on ecosystems as well, changing a river to a lake habitat and interfering with migration and spawning of fish.

Desalination removes dissolved salt and minerals from plentiful seawater, freeing up water for consumption. However, these processes are expensive and require large amounts of energy to perform. Saudi Arabia is utilising solar-powered plants for desalination, while the UK is opting for small-scale facilities for agriculture.

Individual households can also consider reusing water by rerouting sink water to flush the toilet. On a larger scale, sewage wastewater can be purified and turned into drinking water, or used for agriculture, municipal water supply, industrial processes, and environmental restoration.

3. Conservation

We waste an incomprehensible amount of water each year, mostly indirectly through agricultural processes, the automotive industry, and mining . According to the World Water Council , water usage via irrigation and agriculture accounts for 70% of water withdrawals, while industry accounts for 20% .

A UK statement to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe ( OSCE ) stressed the importance of “sustainable management of natural resources to mitigate impacts of climate and biodiversity crises”, including water. By eliminating pollution and continuing to measure and manage pollution and water quality, we can work toward human health and biodiversity protection.

4. Community

Building communities around local water systems and resources can help raise awareness and educate people on consumption and a sustainable lifestyle. The World Wildlife Fund ( WWF ) supports organisations to become responsible water stewards at both the global and local levels, including the Alliance for Water Stewardship , a globally accepted framework for major water users which promotes the sustainable use of water and other local projects. The Alliance offers solutions for reducing the impact of water scarcity by tracking and controlling water use.

Educating people on changing or improving their behaviour for the better could hold the key to greatly reducing water crises in the future. This, however, will require a major overhaul of all forms of consumption including individual use and supply chains of major corporations .

5. International Cooperation

Transboundary cooperation is needed to guarantee equal access to this vital resource worldwide and for economic well-being. Binding international frameworks for natural resources is hard to achieve, as evidenced by the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which attempted to solidify emission pledges from all major economies. Unfortunately, it resulted in no clear path toward a treaty with binding commitments.

Transboundary agreements are equally hard to manage but international bodies must keep trying. Securing quality drinking water at the local level is essential to building international bridges and finding long-term solutions.

Policy Suggestions

The need for effective policy founded in evidence-based decisions means recognising water value in different societies and implementing integrated approaches to water resource management.

Political commitment and leadership, technological innovations as well as breakthroughs in service delivery and financing models are all needed to support governments in delivering on their commitment to SDG 6.2. Building strong institutions and facilitating dialogue and information systems that can support resource management will allow cooperative agreements to be reached. 

In the European Union, for example, the Water Framework Directive (2000) provides guidelines to address water scarcity and drought, while water scarcity and droughts are recognised as a priority in the 2021 European Green Deal and are reflected in strategies such as the Adaptation to Climate Change, the 2020 Circular Economy Action Plan and the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 . 

Legislation must be rolled out on an international scale to ensure the taming of water crises across the world.

Final Thoughts

The success of the rest of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) lies on the shoulders of a functioning water cycle, as water, as the UN states , drives “economic growth, supports healthy ecosystems and is essential and fundamental for life itself.”

Despite the success of some nations in combating complications related to water scarcity, the world still has a long way to go to secure safe and accessible water for everyone. Not only does infrastructure need to be improved to cope with water scarcity, but human approaches to water must undergo a dramatic shift. Innovation and technology require economic capital in order to fully invest in these procedures – unfortunately a luxury only the developed world has access to. Policy and legislation must also be upheld.

If you want to learn more about solutions to water scarcity, check out this article next: Water Trading Market: A Solution to Water Scarcity?

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9 Viable Water Scarcity Solutions for the 21st Century

In Water Crisis by Jeremiah Castelo Updated: February 21st, 2021 Published: June 23, 2018 1 Comment

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T he World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) reports that over 1 billion people lack access to safe and clean water.

Over 2.7 billion people suffer from at least 1 month of water scarcity in a year.

Read our related article: 10 Critical Water Scarcity Facts We Must Not Ignore

These facts can be hard to grasp, especially since only 3% of the water in the world (which accounts for over 70% of the earth’s surface) is freshwater deemed fit for human consumption (Rinkesh, 2016) .

However, when we factor in the fact that 2/3 of the freshwater in the world is locked up in frozen glaciers, we can understand how much of a problem water scarcity really is. Perspectively, while over a billion people spend days searching for clean and safe drinking water, some of us with access to plenty of water often take it for granted.

Major factors of water scarcity include pollution and overuse of water, conflicts , travel distance to water sources, drought, and governmental control. With water scarcity comes hunger, disease and other health complications, poor sanitation, lack of education, and ultimately, poverty.

The good news is that the problem of water scarcity can be solved, but it requires a collective effort with each and every one of us playing our own part to solve this global crisis. Here are some proposed solutions to the water scarcity crisis.

In this article, we'll discuss the most viable water scarcity solutions for the 21st century.

Page Contents

Improved Infrastructure

Groundwater recharge / aquifer storage and recovery, pollution and contamination control, water conservation / drought mitigation, rainwater harvesting / water catchment, water credit / water equity, research and technology, support clean water initiatives, increase awareness and education.

Water infrastructure is a very important element of water management and control. It includes all the infrastructure used to build, pump, transport, divert, store, treat, and deliver safe drinking water, as well as the tools and equipment used to build them. These structures include groundwater wells, dams, storage tanks, surface-water intakes, pipes, drinking-water facilities, and aqueducts. With poor water infrastructure inevitably comes water scarcity. This is why it is important for us to improve the quality of our water infrastructure be it natural or artificial.

Infrastructure also encompasses natural infrastructure which makes use of landscape management techniques such as conservation, restoration, and sustainable management. These techniques provide basic water services such as flood control, aquifer storage and recharge, and providing a clean and abundant supply of water. Improved infrastructure will not only reduce the amount of clean water being wasted but will also help reduce the number of persons constantly searching for clean water on a daily basis (EPA, 2018) .

Another solution to the water scarcity crisis is to improve our attempts to recharge our groundwater. Artificial groundwater recharging has been in existence for decades and has proven to be one of the most successful methods of solving water scarcity in many areas. The process of recharge can either be a human-induced process or a natural process as part of the hydrological cycle. Groundwater recharge can be done directly via injection wells or spreading basins or as a result of human activities including waste disposal and irrigation. Reclaimed wastewater and human-induced recharge are gaining ground in many regions, gradually making it a key component of the hydrological cycle.

Aquifer recovery and storage is another water scarcity solution. Here, the recharge is done via surface infiltration into unconfined, shallow aquifers. In recent years, this process has evolved to accommodate direct injection into deeper aquifer systems, including those containing poor quality groundwater, making freshwater storage available in areas where none formerly existed. A major constraint to recharging by injection and infiltration is the clogging of pores from particulates, chemical precipitation, and biofilm formation. This can have adverse effects on the quality of groundwater such as the formation of dissolved sulfides and iron solubilization (EPA, 2017) . That notwithstanding, if done and controlled properly, these two methods can greatly reduce the level of water scarcity in some areas stricken by this phenomenon.

Read our related article: How Artificial Groundwater Recharge Can Combat the World’s Water Depletion Problem

Pollution is a major contributor to water scarcity in the world today. Water pollution, which is the dumping of harmful substances into clean water systems, is playing a major part in reducing the amount of water available for consumption. Individuals, as well as industries, keep polluting the water supply with chemicals and other forms of waste. With pollution comes a lot of adverse effects, especially health-related effects and eventually high mortality rates.

Pollution also plays a major role in global warming which is one of the major threats to our planet today. It is true that global warming leads to the melting of our frozen freshwater, but this water seeps into the ocean and causes the ocean levels to rise, leading to floods and other disasters which in turn reduce the amount of water in shortage  (Kinhal) . Air pollution leads to the contamination of rainwater which is a major source of water for many. It is up to us to reduce the insurmountable level of pollution plaguing our planet.

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Water conservation is another solution to the current water crisis plaguing the globe. As was mentioned earlier, while many spend days searching for water, some of us have it in abundance but waste it, either intentionally or unintentionally. Here are some ways through which we can conserve water:

• Filling a sink basin with water when washing dishes instead of letting the water run
• Using a bucket to catch the water while waiting for the shower to warm up
• Avoid letting the water run when brushing teeth or applying soap on our skins when taking a bath.
• Installing water-saving fixtures and appliances.
• Replacing your high-flowing showerhead with low-flowing ones.
• Use a broom to clean sidewalks instead of water hoses.
• Eliminating leakages in bathtubs, faucets, and toilets.
• Flush your toilets only when necessary.

In the fight against water scarcity, every drop of water counts. As the poem by Julia Abigail Fletcher Carney goes,

"Little drops of water,  Little grains of sand,  Make the mighty ocean  And the pleasant land. "

Drought mitigation is yet another technique to curtail the level of water scarcity in the world. Drought is a slow and gradual process which can be mitigated with proper preparation and with the right techniques. Drought mitigation techniques such as soil and water conservation and efficient irrigation can greatly reduce the effects of water scarcity (Three Issues) .

Rainwater harvesting is one of the main sources of water for a lot of people, especially in Africa. This is generally done via the use of a water catchment and collection basin. Water collected using a water catchment can be used to water our vegetable gardens, livestock, perform daily chores, cook, and even for drinking. Water collected directly from the atmosphere can be used for drinking, even without boiling. In many parts of Africa, water catchment and rainwater harvesting have proven to be very important sources of water to many. People build different catchment systems from roofs and gutters. Websites exist which help people with designs and different means of building great water catchment systems for harvesting rainwater.

A major advantage of this method is that it allows for the conservation of safe drinking water while the harvested rainwater is used to take care of daily chores. This method is also useful in areas where the natural landscape acts as a natural water catchment and favors the collection of rainwater. This makes it possible for rainwater to be harvested in large quantities. This harvested water can then be treated and supplied to the population such as in the case of the Greater Sydney area, Australia (Maxwell-Gaines, 2018) .

Read our related article: What Percentage of Earth's Water is Drinkable?

Mostly practiced in developing countries, this method of credit entails the provision of loans to households and small enterprises in an effort to increase access to a safe and improved water source as well as sanitation. Most water credit investments are financed by governments and other public-sector organizations, but due to the fact that their current investment levels aren’t enough to reach everyone, private organizations and Micro Credit institutions have come in to complement the effort. Microcredits usually target the poor and less fortunate and help them to gain access to clean and improved water sources, safe water, and sanitation.

In the water sector, three major types of water credit schemes exist. These are water credit schemes aimed at improving household access to water supply, schemes aimed at improving water access to small and medium-sized enterprises, and schemes aimed at upgrading water services in urban and shared facilities. Regardless, the aim of water credit is to help improve access to clean and safe water, and to reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity by financing household water and connections, toilets, latrines, bathrooms, pit latrines, water purifiers, rainwater harvesting tanks, and other systems (Water.org) .

Recent breakthroughs in research and technology have come up with techniques that have made it possible for water considered unfit for consumption, to be made clean and safe for consumption. Some of the most frequently used techniques include Reverse Osmosis, Electrodialysis Reversal (EDR), Desalinization, Nanofiltration, and Solar and UV Filtration.

• Reverse osmosis uses semi-permeable membranes to remove molecules, ions, and other larger particles from water, making it consumable. This method can be used to remove all types of suspended or dissolved species from water, including bacteria, thereby purifying water and making it potable. It has also been adapted and used in making household filters and other filtration devices.
• Unlike Reverse Osmosis which uses pressure, Electro-Dialysis Reversal (EDR) uses direct current. During the process, ions flow to electrodes of opposite charge through ion-selective membranes. The polarity of electrodes used in EDR systems is periodically reversed. This method is used principally used when purifying waters with low total suspending solids (TSS) or high silica (Suez Water Technologies) .
• Desalination is a process of water purification used to make salty water pure and clean by separating dissolved salts and other minerals. Desalination can also be used to purify brackish water, water from wells, and other forms of running water such as water from rivers and streams. This process which can be used to produce enough water capable of supporting large coastal populations is continually under evolving and under research to improve efficiency (American Membrane Technology Association) .
• Another method of water purification is Nanofiltration which seeks to remove two-valued ions, as well as other mono-valued ions such as heavy metals from water to make it pure and safe for consumption. This method is mainly used for softening water and removing specific heavy metals from water as well as in the reduction of salt contents in slightly brackish water. Because the method uses fewer fine membranes when compared to other techniques, its fouling rate and feed pressure are usually lower when compared to reverse osmosis systems (Lenntech) .
• Solar and UV Filtration is a purification technique that uses a blend of solar energy and solar ultraviolet (UV) light to make water contaminated by biological organisms such as viruses, bacteria, worms, and protozoa, safe to drink (Yeoh, 2017) .

Using these techniques can help us fight water scarcity and make sure that more people have access to clean and safe water.

Read our related article: 12 Clean Water Charities the World is Counting On

As has been previously mentioned, over a billion people lack access to clean and safe water. And while some of us, especially those in developed countries, are predisposed to clean and safe water, there are a lot of people who spend a whole day searching for water to drink. It is up to us to implement any of the aforementioned viable solutions in order to redress the issue of water scarcity and make the world a better place for many. After all, water is life and by contributing in our own little way to this fight, we are literally adding drops of water into the ocean!

Thank you for taking the time to read our article on water scarcity solutions for the 21st century. We'd love to hear your feedback in the comments section below. If you've found this article to be useful and are interested in learning more, be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

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American Membrane Technology Association. (n.d.). Water Desalination Processes. Retrieved from https://www.amtaorg.com/Water_Desalination_Processes.html

EPA. (2017, November 17). Aquifer Recharge and Aquifer Storage and Recovery. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/uic/aquifer-recharge-and-aquifer-storage-and-recovery

EPA. (2018, January 23). Water Efficiency for Water Suppliers. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/sustainable-water-infrastructure/water-efficiency-water-suppliers#stormwater

Kinhal, V. (n.d.). Ways to Stop Pollution. Retrieved from https://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/ways-stop-pollution

Lenntech. (n.d.). Nanofiltration and Reverse Osmosis. Retrieved from https://www.lenntech.com/nanofiltration-and-rosmosis.htm

Maxwell-Gaines, C. (2018, May 5). Rainwater Harvesting 101. Retrieved from https://www.watercache.com/education/rainwater-harvesting-101

Porta Potty. (n.d.). Water Conservation - The Best Ways to Save Water. Retrieved from http://www.portapotty.net/water-conservation/

Rinkesh. (2016, December 25). Causes, Effects and Solutions of Water Scarcity. Retrieved from https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-of-water-scarcity.php

Suez Water Technologies. (n.d.). Electrodialysis Reversal (EDR) Water Treatment. Retrieved from https://www.suezwatertechnologies.com/products/electrodialysis-reversal-water-treatment

Three Issues. (n.d.). Drought mitigation. Retrieved from http://threeissues.sdsu.edu/three_issues_droughtfacts04.html

Water.org. (n.d.). WaterCredit - A Microfinance Solution. Retrieved from https://water.org/about-us/our-work/watercredit/

World Wildlife Fund. (n.d.). Water Scarcity. Retrieved from https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/water-scarcity

Yeoh, N. (2017, December 2). The Surprising Solution To The Global Water Crisis: Solar Power. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/neilyeoh/2017/12/02/the-surprising-solution-to-the-global-water-crisis-solar-power/#6135407f340b

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in my view there are many methods of water conservation & combating pollution as under 1. there are billions of bore wells around the world, if each was attached to a recharging pit when the motor is switched off the water in the recharge pit will flow into the bore through a fine mesh covered with cloth. further more during the rainy season rain falling on the recharge pit will refill the aquefiers below to some extent 2. cross linking rivers having lots of water to those which are dry through narrow canals even up to 100 kms long would help the parched areas 3. bringing water from the snowy rivers in the north to the dry rivers in the south by canals financed by the world bank 4. manufacturing all cloth for clothing of a off white color instead of pure white will reduce the bleaching chemicals in washing machines & reduce chemical pollution of water bodies like rivers & seas 5. all washing maching machines to be fitted with a removable filter to prevent cloth fibers entering the rivers & oceans 5. rain water harvesting as being done more extensively on all agricultural land & compulsary by a strict law in all cities 6. bathing with a bucket instead of a shower saves 80 liters in areas of water scarcity

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Nine water scarcity solutions — and why they work

Mar 22, 2024

From what Concern is doing in some of the world’s most water-stressed countries, to what you can do to help, here are nine solutions to the global water crisis.

Last year, UN Water reported on progress towards Sustainable Development Goal No. 6 — clean water and sanitation for all. The prognosis isn’t good for meeting this goal by 2030. 2.3 billion people live in water-stressed countries, of whom 733 million live in highly- and critically-stressed countries. However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t progress being made. To give you a sense of how that progress happens, here are nine water scarcity solutions, and how each of them works in moving us towards clean water for all.

Learn more about Concern's work to make water accessible to all

1. provide clean, safe water to those who need it most.

The simplest solution to water scarcity: Give people water. (Mind-blowing, we know.) Water trucking is one of the quickest short-term solutions to a shortage, whether it’s bringing in water to a refugee camp while infrastructure in the area is improved, or delivering it to communities during a drought. This is an expensive solution and not a long-term fix for a crisis; but it can be a life-saving stop-gap.

While water trucking helps, building and rehabilitating water points in communities is like teaching a person to fish rather than giving them a fish. Sometimes we need to drill for a new water point, analyzing groundwater distribution and soil and rock structure. Sometimes, communities have already dug these wells, and Concern only needs to help with fitting in hand pumps that seal and protect the well — this makes collection easier and water safer. 

In areas where grid power is unreliable (or nonexistent), solutions like solar water pumps are an economically- and ecologically-friendly solution that makes use of the most reliable resource: sunlight. 

2. Protect (or improve) the quality of available water in an area

Often the best-case scenario is that there’s a natural spring in a community. If that’s true, we work with the community to protect the source so it can continue to provide water. Protective structures can keep the land above and around the water source free from human and animal interference and contamination. 

If there’s a source of non-potable water, however, there are still options to improve the quality. Seawater can be desalinated , both at a mass-scale level and individually through portable devices. Likewise, water purification tablets and other methods can be used to kill the microorganisms and pathogens that cause typhoid, cholera , and other waterborne illnesses. 

3. Collect and store rainwater to use later on

One of the lowest-tech and lowest-cost solutions to water scarcity in regions that get enough rainfall is to collect and save that rainwater. A Rainwater Harvesting System does exactly what the name implies: Using a catchment surface when it rains (a specially-prepared and designated area to collect water), we can then collect water for storage and future use. 

The benefits of this, if it’s an area that experiences adequate and reliable rains, are many. Rainwater harvesting generally doesn’t require too much technology to maintain, and is easy for communities to manage. If it’s collected in the right way, rainwater usually needs less processing to make it potable. This may not be the ideal choice for drinking water needs, but it is an excellent backup for agriculture (which takes up a lot of water usage in water-stressed countries), livestock, in schools, and hospitals. 

4. Understand that the impacts of climate change are not going to go away, and build resilience against climate disasters

Climate change is here to stay and will continue to accelerate. Its impacts include water scarcity: For every 1 °C rise, 500 million extra people will face a 20% dip in renewable water resources.

At this point, we cannot undo many of the effects of climate change . However, we can build climate resilience within communities on the frontline of the climate crisis, including strategies that protect their water resources in the face of emergencies. Our work in this area includes watershed management, planting trees and reforesting areas that have been deforested, soil and water conservation, and land rehabilitation.

What we talk about when we talk about resilience

At Concern, “resilience” has a much more specific definition. It’s not something we call people we work with in order to downplay their suffering. It’s something we help them cultivate at a community level.

5. Find more effective ways of using the water we need in our day-to-day lives

Solutions one through five on this list are all examples of the work Concern does with communities that face extreme water scarcity. However, water stewardship is a global responsibility, and we need every community in the world to help. Many of the countries where Concern works are water-stressed, but reports show that future risks for water shortages are not confined to low-income countries or areas around the Equator. 

In Concern’s work with Climate Smart Agriculture , for instance, we use soil coverings to help keep water in the ground longer and protect it from evaporation. But we can all find more effective ways to use the water that fuels our daily routines, whether it’s taking shorter showers, fixing that leak in your kitchen faucet, or investing in a smart sprinkler for your lawn. Changing food habits can impact the amount of water used in agriculture. You can also contact your local and state representatives about larger water issues that affect your community and the world — we will, after all, only solve the water crisis when we adequately value how much water affects our lives.

6. Eliminate water dumping and reduce other pollutive activities and find safe and sustainable ways to recycle wastewater

But we can’t solve the water crisis on our own as individuals. The NRDC estimates that 80% of the world’s wastewater is dumped back into the ecosystem, untreated. Governments and corporations must work together to prioritize ending water dumping and other pollutive activities that contaminate drinking water. This includes corporations based in high-income countries but that outsource production to lower-income countries. Approximately 1 billion people die each year due to water contamination—actions that ban and enforce restrictions on wastewater dumping literally save lives. 

7. Build community focus and ownership around local water systems and resources…

The worst solutions to water stress are those that can’t be taken on by community members after an organization like Concern leaves. No amount of hand pumps or infrastructural improvement are a success if they fall into disrepair after a short time. 

To avoid this problem, Concern invests heavily in working with the community to promote ownership and enhance skills for future management of all programs, including our water, sanitation, and hygiene projects. Establishing Water Management Committees (WMCs) helps to build local representation through elected community members who manage and oversee their local water resources. We also provide training to both WMC members and other community representatives so that they can manage their resources (resources built initially with their input).

8. …while also building local and national capacities to effectively manage water systems…

In fragile states, it’s often the case that there isn’t enough government infrastructure or capacity to deliver WASH services. This is an explanation, but it isn’t an excuse. We can — and must — work with local authorities and national governments to strengthen the capacity they have to ensure their citizens have clean water and access to other hygiene and sanitation necessities. Part of this relies on changing attitudes towards the value of water and the true cost of pollution. 

In 2021, UN Water identified 107 countries not on track to have sustainably managed water resources by 2030. The current rate of progress needs to be doubled in order to meet this goal.

9. …and fostering international cooperation around shared water resources

It doesn’t stop at the national level. Establishing a common language around and prioritization of water quality has to happen at an international level, as many rivers, lakes, and aquifers cross international borders and are shared between nations. 

In the same 2021 UN Water report, only 24 countries reported that all rivers, lakes, and aquifers shared with neighboring countries are covered by operational arrangements for cooperation. That's less than 1/5 of the way towards the Sustainable Development Goal target.

Can we solve the global water crisis?

As of 2022, none of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals are on track to be met by 2030. However, that doesn’t mean that the cause is hopeless. The UN reports that, since 2015, over 600 million people have gained access to safely-managed drinking water. Globally, three out of four people had safe drinking water in 2020. In that time, water-use efficiency has increased 10% globally. 

These are great steps, but at our current rate, progress is still behind. You can help take a stand by understanding how much water you use at home and finding ways of reducing it where possible. You can also learn more about the issues both within your own community and in other communities around the world — if your hometown has a sister city, that’s a good place to start — and advocate your local representatives to take greater and bolder action towards ending water scarcity around the world. 

You can also support organizations like Concern to ensure that water, sanitation and hygiene services reach those who need it most. All of these actions may seem like drops in the bucket, but those drops add up.

The global water crisis: Concern’s response

Ensuring access to clean water and sanitation and providing hygiene information and training are key aspects of Concern’s work, with active water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programmes in 18 countries. We have dug, drilled, and bored thousands of wells in remote and vulnerable communities across dozens of countries, and built countless latrines in their schools and health centres. The hours saved and the illnesses prevented make it one of the most effective things we do. 

When drought or displacement prevent access to clean water supplies, we do what it takes to connect communities, including trucking water to temporary tanks and installing pumps in camps. We work hand-in-hand with communities to help them assess the longstanding challenges they face, change behaviours, and ensure water and sanitation infrastructure will be maintained for the long term. And we foster a sense of ownership, build sustainable maintenance practices, and create transparent financial management systems that benefit the community.

One example of our approach can be seen in the Democratic Republic of Congo , where Concern has been the lead partner in a consortium that has already achieved some extraordinary results. Over the course of six years, our teams worked closely with 600 of the country’s most isolated communities to help them achieve sustainable water, sanitation, and hygiene solutions. The program reached over 650,000 people. 

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• 01 August 2023

Water crisis: how local technologies can help solve a global problem

You have full access to this article via your institution.

Fog-catching nets (seen here in Lima) can collect enough water for daily use. This technology has the potential to be used on larger scales. Credit: Klebher Vasquez/Anadolu Agency/Getty

This year’s United Nations water conference — the first in nearly 50 years — did not lead to a binding agreement . But the event, held in March in New York City, provided a wake-up call: water crises are worsening and need our urgent attention.

As of last year, some 2.2 billion people still lacked access to safe drinking water, according to a July report from the World Health Organization and the UN children’s agency UNICEF (see go.nature.com/3djb6tb ). And some 653 million people did not have hand-washing facilities at home.

Fixing these problems is among the targets of the sixth of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” by 2030. This editorial is part of Nature ’s series looking at each of the SDGs , set in 2015, at their halfway stage. We are focusing on questions and gaps that researchers can help to address.

Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals

When the SDGs launched, there was optimism that the water goal could be reached, and progress has been made on some of its targets. Since 2000, an extra 2 billion people have gained access to safe drinking water, and by 2020, some 56% of all households had their waste water treated.

But overall progress has not been fast enough, and, as early as 2018, UN-Water, which coordinates the UN’s work on water and sanitation, warned that the world was not on track. Countries are not prioritizing this goal, either at the national or the global level. By the UN’s own estimates, to achieve SDG 6, the world will need to spend US$260 billion per year by 2030 — mostly in Asia and Africa, where the numbers of people without safe drinking water are highest. International development assistance for water-related projects is currently around $9 billion annually, and has been falling since 2017. When there’s no policy strategy, it becomes hard to demonstrate research or pilot projects on large scales. Yet that is what needs to happen if clean water and sanitation are to become universal.

Generations of water-stressed communities have applied the results of knowledge and innovation to get water. But there has been, at best, partial success for attempts to systematically share techniques that are known to work on local scales , such as condensing water from clouds with giant nets, used in Chile and Peru, or storing snow for use in dry periods, as practised in parts of China.

It’s the same for newer technologies. For example, membrane distillation is a low-temperature method of desalinating water. It’s greener than existing methods because it uses less electricity, as chemical engineer Mohammed Rasool Qtaishat at the University of Jordan and his colleagues reported last year 1 . However, it is struggling to break out of the research and pilot phases and be deployed at larger scales. In a study 2 published in March, Patricia Gorgojo, a chemical engineer at the University of Zaragoza, Spain, and her colleagues recommend improving communication between those who undertake small-scale studies and those who implement larger-scale demonstration projects, because the two often have different needs.

Global action on water: less rhetoric and more science

When it comes to research in its broader sense, results can be scaled up, as medical anthropologist Sera Young and her team at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, show 3 , 4 . They have developed inclusive measures of the experience of being water-stressed, called water insecurity experiences (WISE) scales.

SDG 6’s sanitation target calls for “special attention to the needs of women and girls”. But the UN’s annual progress reports do not include data on this topic. The principal reason seems to be that surveys are typically conducted at the household level — rather than at the individual level — and therefore cannot be disaggregated by sex or gender. This is where the WISE scales are effective: they can collect data at the household or individual level. They examine how water insecurity affects daily activities, health and well-being, from cooking, hand washing and laundry to personal hygiene and feelings of anger and anxiety. Respondents are identified according to age, gender and income, among other characteristics.

The WISE scales are being used by some 100 national, intergovernmental, research and civil-society organizations around the world. Their use as a policy tool was demonstrated last year in Australia, which officially, has relatively low levels of water insecurity, with just 1% of the population affected. But some communities don’t recognize this picture. In 2022, Yuwaya Ngarra-li, a partnership between the Dharriwaa Elders Group — an Aboriginal cultural organization in the rural town of Walgett — and the University of New South Wales in Sydney applied the WISE methodology to a survey of 251 people and found that around 44% of respondents reported water insecurity and 46% food insecurity (see go.nature.com/3dciovf ). The communities and Walgett Shire Council are exploring how to bring about improvements.

As the world gets closer to the 2030 SDG deadline, more ideas will undoubtedly emerge, with promising potential. But SDG 6 will not be achieved without attention to scale. This is a large missing piece of the water and sanitation jigsaw. Ultimately, implementation is what matters.

Nature 620 , 7 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02442-7

Qtaishat, M. R. et al. Sci. Rep. 12 , 13564 (2022).

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López-Porfiri, P. et al. npj Clean Water 6 , 18 (2023).

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Young, S. L., Bethancourt, H. J., Ritter, Z. R. & Frongillo, E. A. BMJ Glob. Health 6 , e006460 (2021).

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Food & Water Stories

Solutions to Address Water Scarcity in the U.S.

More than half the nation has regularly experienced droughts since 2000.

February 13, 2020 | Last updated March 31, 2022

• Agriculture
• Groundwater

Freshwater is essential for all life on Earth. Yet, only 2.5 percent of Earth’s vast water resources are fresh, and less than 1 percent of that is easily accessible for people and nature. This limited resource must be man­aged wisely, particularly in the face of climate change, growing populations, and increasing demands from multiple sectors. To meet this challenge, The Nature Conservancy works to reduce demands for water among the biggest users, improve the flexibility of water governance and management, and advance financial incentives and tools that enable users—like irrigation districts and cities—to transfer water, which will provide water security for the environment as well.

The benefits of healthy, sustainable water resources:

• Supply clean drinking water.
• Grow our food and are used to raise livestock.
• Produce the goods we use.
• Drive economic and social benefits.
• Sustain healthy rivers, lakes, springs and associated habitats that support diverse wildlife.
• Provide for recreation and tourism. And can be harnessed to produce clean hydroelectric power.

Freshwater Challenges in the U.S.

More than half the continental U.S. has regularly experienced drought conditions over the past two decades.

Because of climate change, experts predict precipitation will likely decline 20 to 25 percent by 2100 in much of the West.

Since 2000, the Colorado River Basin— which supplies water to 40 million people—has experienced historic drought conditions.

Water scarcity isn’t limited to Western states. In 2014, 40 of 50 state water managers expected shortages in some portion of their states over the next 10 years.

Our Freshwater Conservation Strategies

Our approach to protecting freshwater involves a combination of water funds, promoting incentives, collaborating with water users, and advancing sound water policies and funding.

We invest in water markets and water transactions with cities, irrigation districts and other water users to demonstrate flexible water use and transfers that include water for environmental needs.

We promote and incentivize innovative approaches that reduce demands and improve infrastructure to move and store water more efficiently.

We collaborate with farmers, ranchers and corporations to reduce water use at all levels in the agricultural supply chain.

We advance local, state and federal policies that enable water managers to effectively meet the needs of people and nature. We also work to secure state and federal funding that supports sustainable water practices and agreements.

We demonstrate our work through more than 70 projects across the nation. Currently, approximately 90 percent of these are located in the western U.S., including TNC’s Colorado River Program . The remaining projects are located east of the Mississippi River in regions that are beginning to experience water scarcity more frequently and intensely.

Finding Solutions to Water Scarcity in  Agriculture

Agriculture accounts for 70 percent of the planet’s freshwater withdrawals annually. This presents a tremendous opportunity to work with farmers and agriculture supply chain companies to ensure the sustainability of the food we eat and the water upon which it relies. In the U.S., irrigation accounts for more than 80 percent of total water consumptive use and up to 94 percent of con­sumption in regions most prone to water scarcity. Below are two case studies that demonstrate how TNC is working with farmers to help reduce water use. 

Case Study 1: Saving Water, Securing the Nation's Food

Agricultural irrigation accounts for 90 percent of the consumptive water use in Nebraska. There are 7 million acres of irrigated land in the Platte River Valley alone. Here, The Nature Conservancy recognized a chance to conserve water at a large scale and reached out to land­owners interested in new water-saving irrigation technologies. These efforts evolved into a collaboration with Coca-Cola, John Deere, McDonalds and the World Wildlife Fund to launch the Western Nebraska Irrigation Project in 2014.

TNC connected 11 farmers who collectively manage 8,000 acres with tech­nology providers to install soil moisture probes, pivot telemetry and weather stations to help reduce water use. The farmers were then provided support that enabled them to micromanage irrigation and reduce the amount of water pumped from the underlying aquifer by 20 percent. The project site included quality historic water-use records, which enabled researchers to measure change. Over a three-year period, the farmers saved over a billion gallons of water—enough to fill more than 110,000 semi tanker trucks.

Less groundwater pumping not only helps secure the resiliency of the underlying aquifer, it also saves the farmers time and money. One participating farmer reported “the probes paid for themselves easily each year,” while another noted the technology saved time because he didn’t have to drive to his field to check conditions.

The project’s success spurred interest in Central Nebraska, where TNC teamed with Nestlé Purina and Cargill to launch a  second irrigation project  in 2018. Here, researchers estimated that 20 participating farmers saved at least 120 million gallons of water in the first year. In March 2020, the project reached its enrollment target of 50 farmers, with many reporting that the technology and training has helped them save time and money because of less pumping.

Case Study 2: Price River, Utah—Water Wise Solutions for People and Nature

TNC is working with a wide range of partners in the Price River watershed to enhance water use in ways that benefit agricultural operations while improving flows. Since 2016, TNC has worked with farmers to test water-saving methods that could inform drought contin­gency plans in the Colorado River’s Upper Basin. Working with farmers and other partners, TNC is exploring temporary, voluntary and compensated measures—like water banking—to help reduce the risk of water shortages for all.

Quote : Kevin Cotner

My family has farmed here for three generations. Working with TNC gives me a chance to help improve my agricultural operations and the wildlife habitat here that I care so much about.

Kevin Cotner

Agriculture uses about 80 percent of the water in the Colorado River Basin, with large flows moving from rivers to fields through irrigation ditches, canals and other structures. The infrastructure that moves irrigation water is often old, leaky and inefficient. To address this challenge, TNC works with water users to improve the delivery and timing of irrigation water through updated canal lining and piping. On the Price River, TNC has negotiated an innovative water-management agreement with a canal company to enhance flows and agriculture. The agreement upgrades the company’s infrastructure and benefits six rare fish species in the lower Price. Water that isn’t delivered to shareholders is stored in an adjacent reservoir for strategic releases in late summer when levels in the river typically drop. While these measures increase water for the environment, they can also benefit farm productivity and help enhance the security of water for agriculture.

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• Water scarcity

Addressing the growing lack of available water to meet children’s needs.

• WASH and climate change

Even in countries with adequate water resources, water scarcity is not uncommon. Although this may be due to a number of factors — collapsed infrastructure and distribution systems, contamination, conflict, or poor management of water resources — it is clear that climate change, as well as human factors, are increasingly denying children their right to safe water and sanitation.

Water scarcity limits access to safe water for drinking and for practising basic hygiene at home, in schools and in health-care facilities. When water is scarce, sewage systems can fail and the threat of contracting diseases like cholera surges. Scarce water also becomes more expensive.

Water scarcity takes a greater toll on women and children because they are often the ones responsible for collecting it. When water is further away, it requires more time to collect, which often means less time at school. Particularly for girls, a shortage of water in schools impacts student enrolment, attendance and performance. Carrying water long distances is also an enormous physical burden and can expose children to safety risks and exploitation.

• Four billion people — almost two thirds of the world’s population —  experience severe water scarcity for at least one month each year.
• Over two billion people live in countries where water supply is inadequate.
• Half of the world’s population could be living in areas facing water scarcity by as early as 2025.
• Some 700 million people could be displaced by intense water scarcity by 2030.
• By 2040, roughly 1 in 4 children worldwide will be living in areas of extremely high water stress.

UNICEF’s response

As the factors driving water scarcity are complex and vary widely across countries and regions, UNICEF works at multiple levels to introduce context-specific technologies that increase access to safe water and address the impacts of water scarcity. We focus on:

Identifying new water resources : We assess the availability of water resources using various technologies, including remote sensing and geophysical surveys and field investigations.

Improving the efficiency of water resources : We rehabilitate urban water distribution networks and treatment systems to reduce water leakage and contamination, promoting wastewater reuse for agriculture to protect groundwater.

Planning for urban scarcity : We plan for future water needs by identifying available resources to reduce the risk of cities running out of water.

Expanding technologies to ensure climate resilience : We support and develop climate-resilient water sources, including the use of deeper groundwater reserves through solar-powered water networks. We also advance water storage through small-scale retention structures, managed aquifer recharge (where water is pumped into underground reserves to improve its quality), and rainwater harvesting.

Changing behaviours : We work with schools and communities to promote an understanding of the value of water and the importance of its protection, including by supporting environmental clubs in schools.

Planning national water needs : We work with key stakeholders at national and sub-national levels to understand the water requirements for domestic use and for health and sanitation, and advocate to ensure that this is reflected in national planning considerations.

Supporting the WASH sector : We develop technical guidance, manuals and online training programmes for WASH practitioners to improve standards for water access.

More from UNICEF

Water and the climate crisis: 10 things you should know

The world needs to get water smart. Everyone has a role to play, and we cannot afford to wait

The urgent need for a child-centred Loss and Damage Fund

The Loss and Damage Fund should put children’s voices at the heart of climate justice

Climate action for a climate-smart world

UNICEF and partners are monitoring, innovating and collaborating to tackle the climate crisis

Climate Crisis + Mental Health

Young people from Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates reflect on the links between the climate crisis and their mental health

Reimagining WASH: Water Security for All

Multi-tiered approaches to solving the water crisis in basra, iraq, increasing water security in gaza through seawater desalination, managed aquifer recharge (mar): protecting communities from saline intrusion of groundwater in costal areas of bangladesh, groundwater early warning system for the south of madagascar, combining manual drilling and solar energy to ensure drought resilience in mauritania, using gis and remote sensing to access water in the drought-prone areas of ethiopia and madagascar, multiples uses of water in madagascar: drinking water, agriculture and livestock, wash climate resilience – compendium of cases, thirsting for a future: water and children in a changing climate.

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It Could Only Cost 1% of GDP to Solve Global Water Crises

• sustainable development goals
• Sustainable Development Goal 6
• Water Security

Statistics on global water challenges are daunting: 3 billion people don’t have basic handwashing facilities. A quarter of the world’s population live in countries facing extremely high water stress . There are more than 500 dead zones — areas of the ocean without enough oxygen for most marine life to survive — from untreated wastewater.

The solutions to the world’s water crises, though, cost far less than you might think. New WRI research found that securing water for our societies by 2030 could cost just over 1% of global GDP — about 29 cents per person, per day from 2015-2030.

And the economic benefits outweigh the costs. Every dollar invested in water access and sanitation yields an average $6.80 in returns. The World Bank found that failing to implement better water management policies could result in regional GDP losses from 2-10% by 2050.

What Is Sustainable Water Management?

Sustainable water management is the desired end-state for achieving water security. It consists of six strategies that can ensure access to water and sanitation for all by 2030, including:

• Delivering safely managed drinking water to all populations without access.
• Delivering safely managed sanitation and hygiene services to all populations without access.
• Treating all industrial wastewater to tertiary treatment levels.
• Reducing nutrient loading to acceptable concentrations within water bodies.
• Addressing water scarcity by bringing water withdrawals in line with water demand while accounting for environmental flow rates.
• Adopting water management, regulations and legislation to accompany the above sets of solutions.

While conserving water-related ecosystems is not explicitly addressed in this framework, many of the strategies incorporate aspects of ecosystem protection, such as preserving environmental flows while tackling water scarcity and reducing dead zones by eliminating water pollution.

Sustainable Water Management Can Achieve Water Security for All

The paper analyzed what it could take to achieve a combination of six strategies that, taken together, can provide water security. We’ve named this desired end-state “sustainable water management” (see text box). Our definition of sustainable water management matches generally to UN Sustainable Development Goal number six (SDG 6) , which calls for “access to water and sanitation for all” by 2030. We calculated the investments needed to tackle each of the six strategies in a given country.

We found that 75 countries can achieve sustainable water management at 2% or less of their annual GDP; 70 countries can get there with 2-8% of GDP; and 17 countries will require more than 8% of their GDP to solve their water problems.

Every country faces different types of water challenges and will need to prioritize different tasks to achieve sustainable water management, such as treating wastewater, delivering clean drinking water, adopting stronger water management policies and investing in vital infrastructure. The relative cost share of each of these tactics varies considerably by country.

In 75 Countries — Including the US and South Africa — Achieving Sustainable Water Management Costs Less than 2% of GDP

For 75 countries representing half the global population, achieving sustainable water management is well within reach, requiring less than 2% of GDP.

In the United States, for example, the estimated cost to deliver sustainable water management is only 0.78% of GDP. The largest investment gap is solving water scarcity, which makes up 67% of the country’s costs to achieving “water for all.” (Note: this does not include the cost of replacing existing infrastructure, such as pipes, that may have reached the end of its effective life.)

These costs are nothing compared to the damages the country will incur should water scarcity continue. In California, for example, water scarcity and drought fueled the forest fires that caused $24 billion in damages in 2018 and will negatively affect the quality of drinking water for years to come. A forthcoming study by the U.S. Forest Service found that nearly half of river basins that supply water to the United States may not be able to satisfy demands, which could constrain municipal needs, agricultural production and industrial growth.

South Africa’s water crisis came under global scrutiny when Cape Town, the nation’s second-largest city, narrowly avoided a “Day Zero” water shut-off in 2018. Yet even in the face of severe risks, it could cost less than 2% of South Africa’s GDP in 2030 to tackle its water issues. More than half of the costs are associated with providing drinking water and sanitation, while addressing scarcity comprises about 20% of the total cost.

17 Countries Need the Most Help in Solving Water Problems

Seventeen countries, representing 10% of the global population, need more than 8% of their annual GDP to deliver sustainable water management. This is due to both very limited water management and infrastructure and relatively poor economies. These countries will need assistance from development banks and other financing and development organizations if they are to fully solve their water challenges.

Achieving sustainable water management in Mali, for example, could require more than 8% of the country’s 2030 GDP. Like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa — including Eritrea, Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone — delivering access to drinking water and sanitation services is the top cost category for Mali, accounting for 58% of total costs. Drinking water and sanitation costs are closely connected — countries where clean and accessible drinking water is scarce tend to also have gaps in access to sanitation, and vice versa. Countries with high drinking water and sanitation costs also tend to require much larger percentages of GDP to deliver sustainable water management.

Countries, states and governments around the world should pay attention to, and invest in, water security outside their own boundaries. Water crises cascade beyond national borders: Droughts and water stress can contribute to violent conflict, migration and regional instability . In Mali, violence is already erupting between farmers and pastoralists over increasingly scarce water and land resources. Water shortages can hurt agriculture, raising the prices of staple crops around the world. This can cause poor nutrition, hurt the global economy and further contribute to conflict. For example, droughts in 2010 in Russia, Ukraine, China and Argentina caused spikes in wheat prices, which experts say was one of many driving forces of the Arab Spring.

Achieving Sustainable Water Management in Every Country

We estimated costs using global data, so they should not be taken as precise costs or specific policy recommendations. Effective management of water resources requires a deeper dive into local conditions, taking into consideration national water challenges, localized data and the political landscape. The numbers above should be used as a jumping-off point for further research and an initial screen for the countries that need investment the most.

At a broad level, though, the solutions to water-related challenges are already understood. Reducing our collective thirst through demand-management solutions like efficient irrigation often reduces water scarcity, while maintaining productivity and business viability. Nature-based infrastructure , which harnesses ecosystems like forests and wetlands in tandem with traditional infrastructure like pipes and pumps, has major benefits for both water quantity and quality.

The solutions to the world’s water crises are readily available; what’s missing is the money (from public and private sectors) and political will needed to implement them. It’s time that water solutions be seen not as a burden, but as an opportunity. Resolving the world’s shared water challenges improves the lives and livelihoods for billions, benefits the ecosystems around us, and can yield significant returns on investment.

• LEARN MORE: Read the full research paper, Achieving Abundance: Understanding the Cost of a Sustainable Water Future

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Achieving abundance: understanding the cost of a sustainable water future, how you can help.

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13.3: Water Scarcity and Solutions

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• Melissa Ha and Rachel Schleiger
• Yuba College & Butte College via ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative

One of the most important environmental goals is to provide clean water to all people. Fortunately, water is a renewable resource and is difficult to destroy. Evaporation and precipitation combine to replenish our fresh water supply constantly; however, water availability is complicated by its uneven distribution over the Earth.

Water Scarcity

The water crisis refers to a global situation where people in many areas lack access to sufficient water, clean water, or both. Arid climate and densely populated areas have combined in many parts of the world to create water shortages, which are projected to worsen in the coming years due to population growth, water overuse, water pollution, and climate change. Specifically, climate change shifts precipitation patterns and causes the snow pack that recharges rivers to melt earlier in the year. Furthermore, rising sea levels associated with climate change worsen saltwater intrusion.

Water scarcity  refers to water shortages, which can be physical or economic (figure \(\PageIndex{a}\)).  Physical water scarcity is the lack of sufficient water resources in an area; that is, water is depleted more quickly than it is replenished. Unpredictable precipitation patterns associated with climate change , which increase the risk of flooding and drought, exacerbates physical water scarcity.  Economic water scarcity occurs when people cannot afford access to water. The United Nations estimates that over half of the global population faces water scarcity for one or more months of the year (see The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2019 ). According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF, 785 million people lack access to even a basic drinking water service (see Drinking Water ) and two billion people lack access to improved sanitation as simple as a pit latrine (see Sanitation ), and three billion people lack a facility to wash their hands (see Hand Hygiene for All ). As a result, nearly 829,000 people die every year from diarrheal diseases, and 297,000 of those deaths occur among children under the age of five (see Drinking Water ). 

Solutions for Addressing Water Shortages

While some human activities have exacerbated the water crisis, humans have also developed technologies to better acquire or conserve freshwater. Solutions to addressing water shortages include dams and reservoirs, rainwater harvesting, aqueducts, desalination, water reuse, and water conservation.

Dams and Reservoirs

Reservoirs  (artificial lakes) that form behind dams in rivers can collect water during wet times and store it for use during dry spells (figure \(\PageIndex{b}\)). They also can be used for urban water supplies. Other benefits of dams and reservoirs are hydroelectricity, flood control, and recreation. Some of the drawbacks are evaporative loss of water in arid climates and downstream river channel erosion. Additionally, dams reduce water flow downstream, which could lead to political conflicts when rivers span states or countries. 

The negative ecosystem impacts of dams are another major drawback. For example, dams change a river to a lake habitat and interfere with migration and spawning of fish. Furthermore, warming of the surface water in the reservior influences the temperature of the water downstream, impacting the fish and aquatic invertebrates that are adapted to colder water. Dams also trap sediments that would otherwise continue to flow down the river, creating habitat and supplying nutrietns downstream.

Rainwater Harvesting

Rainwater harvesting involves catching and storing rainwater before it reaches the ground. Figure \(\PageIndex{c}\) shows a complex rainwater harvesting system (rain water capture system) proposed for federal buildings, but smaller, simpler systems (sometimes called rain barrels) can be used by individual homeowners (figure \(\PageIndex{d}\)).

Aqueducts can move water from where it is plentiful to where it is needed. Aqueducts can be controversial and politically difficult especially if the water transfer distances are large. One drawback is the water diversion can cause drought in the area from where the water is drawn. For example, Owens Lake and Mono Lake in central California began to disappear after their river flow was diverted to the Los Angeles aqueduct (figure \(\PageIndex{e}\)). Without water supply, Owens Lake dried and became a major source of particulate matter, polluting the air during dust storms (see Air Pollution ). Owens Lake remains almost completely dry, but Mono Lake has recovered more significantly due to legal intervention. Learn more about the Los Angeles Aqueduct here .

Desalination

One method that can actually increase the amount of freshwater on Earth is desalination , which involves removing dissolved salt and minerals from seawater or saline groundwater (figure \(\PageIndex{f}\)). An advantage of this approach is that there is a virtually unlimited supply of saltwater. There are several ways to desalinate seawater including boiling, filtration, electrodialysis (applying an electric current to removed the ions which comprise salts), and reverse osmosis (figure \(\PageIndex{g}\)). All of these procedures are moderately to very expensive and require considerable energy input, making the water produced much more expensive than freshwater from conventional sources. In addition, the process creates highly saline wastewater, which must be disposed of and creates significant environmental impact. Desalination is most common in the Middle East, where energy from oil is abundant but water is scarce.

Water Reuse (Water Recycling)

Water recycling refers to reusing water for appropriate purposes such as agriculture, municipal water supply, industrial processes, and environmental restoration (figure \(\PageIndex{h}\)). This could occur at the scale of a single household, for example, installing plumbing that reroutes water drained from the sink to flush the toilet. Water recycling can also occur at large scales. For example, wastewater from the sewage system is regularly treated to an extent, but it can be treated further to produce  potable water (which is safe to drink) and then pumped into depleted aquifers. This approach limits saltwater intrusion of aquifers near the coast and reduces dependence on precipitation and subsequent infiltration to recharge aquifers. Orange County Water District in California employed this system following an information campaign to explain the purification process and ensure public confidence in the safety of the treated wastewater.

Water Conservation

Water conservation  refers to using less water and using it more efficiently. Around the home, conservation can involve both water-saving technologies and behavioral decisions. Examples of water-saving technologies include high-efficiency clothes washers and low-flow showers and toilets. Water-conserving behaviors include turning off the water while you brush your teeth, taking shorter showers and showers instead of baths, and fixing leaky faucets. A dishwasher uses less water than washing dishes by hand, particularly the dishwasher is only run when it is full. Similarly, running fewer, larger loads of laundry conserves water relative to more frequent, smaller loads. Choosing foods with a low water footprint (like eggs) over those with a high water footprint (like beef) can also conserve water.

Gardening offers several water-saving opportunities. If you live in a dry climate, consider growing only native, drought-tolerant vegetation, which requires little irrigation (figure \(\PageIndex{h}\)). When you do irrigate your garden, do so only as needed and early in the morning, when less water will be lost to evaporation. Drip systems assist in delivering only the needed amount of water in a way that minimizes evaporation. These strategies can also be applied at large scales in agriculture, which is extremely important considering the high agricultural demands on our water supply relative to municipal use. Water conservation strategies in agriculture include growing crops in areas where the natural rainfall can support them, more efficient irrigation systems such as drip systems, and no-till farming, which reduces evaporative losses by covering the soil.

Bottled water is not a sustainable solution to the water crisis. Bottled water is not necessarily any safer than the U.S. public water supply, it costs on average about 700 times more than U.S. tap water, and every year it uses approximately 200 billion plastic and glass bottles that have a relatively low rate of recycling. Compared to tap water, it uses much more energy, mainly in bottle manufacturing and long-distance transportation. (Purchasing a water filter is a more sustainable solution than bottled water if you do not like the taste of tap water.) 

Drinking Water . 2019. WHO. Accessed 2020-12-29.

Hand Hygeine for All . 2020. UNICEF. Accessed 2020-12-29.

Sanitation . 2019. WHO. Accessed 2020-12-29.

The Sustainable Development Goals Report . 2019. United Nations. Accessed 2020-12-29.

Attribution

Modified by Melissa Ha from the following sources:

• Water Availability and Use from  Environmental Biology  by Matthew R. Fisher (licensed under  CC-BY )
• Basic Information about Water Reuse by United States Environmental Protection Agency (public domain)

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Seventy percent of the surface of our planet is covered by water, so it’s easy to assume there’s plenty of it to drink, cook, and bathe with. It’s time we all threw that assumption out with, well, the bathwater.

Less than  three percent  of the water covering the earth is freshwater, the majority of which isn’t accessible, leaving people in many parts of the world to rely on extremely limited water resources.

Water Scarcity Facts

Main causes:.

• Climate change
• Population growth

Main Effects:

• Lack of access to safe and clean drinking water
• Reduced food production
• Heightened conflict
• Higher cost of living

Strategies to overcome water scarcity

• Reducing water use
• Increasing water storage in reservoirs
• Desalinizing seawater

Water scarcity is a predominantly man-made problem, which needs a man-made solution. Read on to learn more about water scarcity solutions, plus some of the exciting ways people are reducing it.

What is water scarcity?

Water scarcity is when demand for water outweighs the supply of water. It is an increasingly prominent problem as water stress grows due to factors such as climate change, water pollution and increased demand. Water scarcity is an issue for people across all continents and in developed and developing countries.

There are two main categories of water scarcity, physical water scarcity and economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity refers to a lack of available water resources relative to its demand. Economic water scarcity refers to limited water access resulting from insufficient financial resources to access, store, and/or distribute water to homes, business, and so on.

According to a 2016 study , at least two-thirds of the world’s population— nearly 4 billion people — already live with severe water scarcity for at least one month each year. In addition to this, 500 million people live in regions where humans consume water at twice the rate it is replenished by rain, particularly in China and India. For those regions that fall into this category, severe water shortages are all but guaranteed in the future. With water scarcity ranked amongst the biggest risks to humanity.

What causes water scarcity?

What are the consequences of water scarcity?

There are 6 main consequences of water stress and scarcity, including:

1. Lack of access to safe, clean drinking water

Every year  842,000 people die  from diarrhoea caused by consuming unsafe drinking water or insufficient sanitation practices. Eighty percent of the illnesses in  developing countries result  from unhealthy water and/or sanitation systems, and one out of four deaths of children under the age of five are the result of water-related illnesses.

2. Threatened ecosystems

The rapid disappearance of wetlands reduces wildlife habitat and causes the loss of water filtration, storm protection, and flood control services typically proffered by wetlands. Collectively, the world has lost 50 percent of all its wetlands since 1900, and nowhere is immune: Even places like California, Florida, and Louisiana have witnessed high rates of wetlands disappearance.

3. Unhealthy economies and increased poverty

When water is hard to access, people must spend long periods of time  collecting water. This means people are not able to attend school or work, impacting both individuals and their countries. The World Bank estimates that water scarcity can result in  GDP losses  of as much as 14 percent.

4. Decreased food access and higher food costs

As water becomes scarcer, it also becomes more expensive. This increases the cost of producing food crops, which then increases the cost of food in local grocery stores and markets. For example, a ten percent rise in the cost of water could i ncrease the production cost  of a single orange by as much as thirty percent. This simultaneously makes farming more difficult and decreases access to healthy food, which in turn has an impact on public health.

5. Heightened conflict

History shows that when food prices spike, so do  rates of violence  and social conflict. This makes sense when you consider that starving people are more willing to break with social convention if it means getting something to eat.

6. Higher costs for clothing, electronics and other consumer goods

The fashion and electronics industries are notorious for their  astronomical rates of water use.  As water gets more expensive, it could increase the difficulty in accessing clothing, phones, and more. Check out are articles on the impacts of water stress on industry and business to learn more.

6 strategies to combat water scarcity

There is some good news. In fact, one study found that water scarcity can be significantly reduced by 2050 if we commit to making big, yet practical changes like the ones listed below.

1. Developing water filtration systems

It’s one thing to have access to water, and it’s another to have access to water that is safe to drink. Effective water filtration systems help ensure freshwater is safe to use. That’s one of the reasons why companies worldwide are committed to developing sophisticated water filtration systems that produce purified water free from bacteria, microbes, and other contaminants, and bringing this clean drinking water to as many schools, hospitals, workplaces, and homes as possible.

2. Reduce your water usage

It takes every community in the world to reduce the threat of water scarcity. Now more than ever, the world needs water stewards in all forms.

You can reduce your water usage by taking shorter showers, installing low-flow toilets, and collecting rainwater for garden use at home. You can also reuse greywater and eradicate leaks or invest in sustainable energy and water reduction initiatives.

3. Protecting wetlands

Remember when we mentioned that wetlands are natural water filtration systems? Well, that means they have a big role in collecting and purifying water. Wetlands are disappearing at an alarming rate, but conserving wetlands could have a major payoff. Currently, an  international treaty  called the Ramsar Convention has helped protect more than 2,000 wetlands. More aggressive conservation measures are required if we want wetlands to assist our efforts to reduce water scarcity.

4. Improving irrigation efficiency

Industrial agriculture is one of the biggest drains on water resources. Simply switching from flood irrigation systems to sprinklers or drip irrigation systems could help the agricultural sector save a large amount of water. When combined with better soil management practices  such as no-till or limited tillage and mulching, which reduces evaporation from the soil, more efficient irrigation systems can significantly reduce water usage.

5. Increasing water storage in reservoirs

Climate change increases the frequency of droughts and floods. By expanding the reservoir capacity, we can capture and storage floodwater, to prevent its loss to the ocean, where it becomes salinized and more difficult to treat. This stored water can be used to provide water during times of drought.

6. Desalinating seawater

Desalinization involves converting seawater into freshwater safe for drinking, cooking, bathing, and more. The biggest downside is that desalinization  requires huge amounts of energy ; it’s important that these energy sources be sustainable so they don’t contribute to more water scarcity. Sydney has recently enlarged their desalinization plant to cope with increasing droughts.

While the topic of water scarcity may feel daunting, there’s a lot of hope. The future of our planet and its water resources is not written in stone. If we come together to invest in reducing water scarcity, we can help ensure people are able to rely on healthy water sources for decades to come.

By Laura Newcomer in partnership with Waterlogic and Ghergich & Co

Topics we focus on

Solutions to water scarcity

How to prevent water shortages.

Water stress is a serious issue in many parts of the world. Discover its causes and effects, but most importantly the solutions to the water crisis.

01. Solutions

02. Definition

04. Effects

05. Prevention

Water is one of the most precious resources on the planet. More than 1 billion people do not have access to a source of clean drinking water, and around 3 billion experience water scarcity at least one month per year.

What is the definition of water scarcity? What are its causes and effects? And most importantly, how to overcome the water scarcity problem?

Water scarcity solutions

The Solar Impulse Label is granted to innovative water scarcity solutions that meet high standards of sustainability and profitability.

Each solution goes through a strict assessment process performed by independent experts.

Concentrated solar systems for water security in the middle east and north africa

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A disruptive ozone technology enables the production of sustainable fashion and home textiles

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A kitchen water filter to turn taps into sources of clean water, to avoid bottled water consumption.

What is water scarcity?

Water scarcity, both natural and of human origin, is the lack of sufficient available water resources to meet the demands within a region. Water is unequally distributed over time and space. Much of it is wasted, polluted and unsustainably managed. There is no global water scarcity as such, but a number of places and regions are chronically short of water because its use at the global level has increased more than twice as fast as the population over the last century. Pressure on water resources is increasing in several parts of the world, especially in China, India, Pakistan, in the Middle East and many countries and regions of Africa.

Water scarcity Causes

What are the main sources of water scarcity?

The degradation of water quality contributes to the shortage. Water pollution has environmental consequences that make water unfit for consumption or use and reduce the available water resources. Pollution is thus becoming one of the main threats to the availability and reuse of water. Fertilizers and pesticides, soil depletion and poor waste disposal conditions are detrimental to available freshwater sources.

Overuse of water

The misuse of water resources is another big issue leading to water scarcity. Inadequate management of water resources, whether it be for agriculture - using 70% of the world’s accessible freshwater - industrial activities or domestic use, causes a lot of wasted water. Considering that we are wasting more water than ever before, this causes a lot of “stress” on the amount of available water resources.

Climate Change

Glaciers and ice packs are melting in some areas, affecting the freshwater supplies. Moreover, because of global warming , there are more and more droughts, floods and heat waves. Climate change is therefore worsening the water crisis, especially in regions that are already under water stress.

Growing freshwater demand

Over the last 50 years, the world's population has doubled and continues to grow. As a result, the use of water to drink, cook and meet other needs has tripled. As the global population is expected to boom in the coming decades, water resources need to be managed more efficiently.

Water scarcity Effects

Water shortages have a great impact on human health, socio-economic development, and the environment:

1. Hunger, poverty and education

Apart from dehydration due to the obvious lack of drinking water, hunger is one the most serious effect of water scarcity. Why? Water shortages have a direct impact on crops and livestock, which can lead to food shortages and eventually starvation. As well, because of water shortages some people cannot shower, wash their clothes or clean their homes properly. In the poorest countries, some children can’t go to school, because they are either too sick or they have to walk for a long time to reach a water source. Even when they can attend, many children cannot learn because of their fatigue, heavy responsibilities and worries for their families.

2. Sanitation issues and diseases

Water scarcity generates sanitation problems by forcing people to drink unsafe water. In fact, when water is scarce people tend to store it at home, which increases the risk of domestic water contamination and creates breeding grounds for mosquitoes, which transmit dengue and malaria. Lack of water cause other diseases such as trachoma (an eye infection that can cause blindness), plague and typhus.

3. Conflicts

Having access to water has become a powerful global economic issue that could become one of the main causes of international tension. Local conflicts - sometimes resulting in warfare - are triggered over scarce water resources. With the burgeoning global population and growing needs, these tensions could multiply in the future.

4. Biodiversity loss

Water scarcity has different negative impacts on rivers, lakes, and other freshwater resources. It harms the environment in several ways including increased salinity, nutrient pollution, and the loss of floodplains and wetlands. Ecosystems and biodiversity (e.g. freshwater fish) are threatened by the scarcity of water resources.

Water scarcity prevention

There are ways to save water and prevent water scarcity:

1. Sustainable water management

Improving water infrastructure must be a priority, as water conservation and efficiency are key components of sustainable water management. Solar desalination and smart irrigation systems are great examples of clean technology for water efficiency and control. That obviously applies even more to the agriculture and farming sector - the largest consumer of water.

2. Reclaimed water

Rainwater harvesting and recycled wastewater also allow to reduce scarcity and ease pressures on groundwater and other natural water bodies. Groundwater recharge, that allows water moving from surface water to groundwater, is a well-known process to prevent water scarcity.

3. Pollution control & better sewage treatment

Without proper sanitation, the water becomes full of diseases and unsafe to drink. That is why addressing pollution, measuring and monitoring water quality is essential. Besides, improving the sewage systems in specific areas is another way to prevent water scarcity from becoming any worse.

4. Awareness & Education

Education is critical to solve the water crisis. In fact, in order to cope with future water scarcity, it is necessary to radically reform all forms of consumption, from individual use to the supply chains of large companies.

A challenge, #1000 Solutions to change the world

A label focused on both the environment and profitability.

For the first time a label proves the economic profitability of solutions that protect the environment. The Solar Impulse Foundation is selecting 1,000 solutions that protect the environment in a profitable way and awarding them the Solar Impulse Efficient Solutions Label.

Collaborating with independent experts and with renowned institutions, the World Alliance proposes to evaluate its members solutions free of charge. The Solar Impulse Efficient Solutions label will offer a competitive edge to innovators and a guarantee of quality to solution seekers.

A chance to be labelled in the 1000 solutions portfolio

Submit your solution now

More From Forbes

The xprize foundation: tackling earth’s big challenges for 30 years.

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An engineer, successful tech entrepreneur and spaceflight participant to name a few of her stellar accomplishments, Anousheh Ansari took the reins as CEO of the X Prize Foundation in 2018. She recently discussed the evolution of the foundation’s three decades of designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges.

To get started, Ansari shared her cocktail party description of the X Prize Foundation.

“Our mission is to enable and create a world of equitable abundance, with an emphasis on equity, because we have sort of a world of abundance, but it's not equitable. And we do that to incentivize competitions, targeted at humanity's grand challenges, to bring innovation and drive capital to those innovations to solve these problems,” she said.

X Prize Foundation CEO Anousheh Ansari

The X Prize Foundation has run 30 competitions since its first: the Ansari X Prize (primarily funded by Ansari’s family) which was awarded to a team in 2004 for building and launching a reusable, manned spacecraft. X Prize has launched programs promising $519 million in prize money that have attracted teams with members from 150 countries.

Behind every competition is a desire to spur the development of solutions to big challenges. “For all of our prizes, we set a bar that we say is audacious, but achievable,” Ansari explained. Great attention is applied to creating challenges that treat “the root cause” of a problem, not the symptoms in order to inspire “scalable solutions that can be implemented in the world, and actually change the world not just be on paper or an idea in the lab,” she said.

Sometimes X Prize sets the bar “a little too high,” as Ansari put it and a prize is not awarded. “The interesting thing about this, even if the prize is not won, we see big shifts in terms of solution and advancement towards solutions,” Ansari said.

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Such was the case with the Google Lunar X Prize, started in 2007, that challenged privately funded teams to send a lunar rover to the moon, travel 500 meters and send images back to Earth. Multiple teams entered, the competition was extended, but eventually it was announced in 2018 that the prize would not be awarded.

Evidence that the efforts of those teams were not wasted? Of six recent attempts to land on the moon, five involved XPrize teams, she said.

Ansari takes great pride that many other efforts made by winners and participants in X Prize competitions have given rise to successful enterprises powered by prototypes and business plans the competitions nurtured. A carbon removal competition, for example, has already spawned “thriving businesses” producing green concrete, green cement block and sustainable aviation fuel, she pointed out.

On March 1 the foundation launched a five-year, $150 million X Prize Water Scarcity competition sponsored by the United Arab Emirates’ Mohammed Bin Zayed Water Initiative.

Ansari said that water scarcity is the second biggest threat to humanity after climate change and her team had been pondering how to address this topic for some time. The Mohammed Bin Zayed Water Initiative reached out to the X Prize Foundation in 2022 and the two organizations collaborated for a year to develop a global program which establishes very distinct measurement objectives and multiple goals.

As foundation materials explain: “Competing teams will develop new desalination technologies to unlock access to Earth’s ocean water year round, helping drive a world where clean water is equitably and sustainably abundant, and enabling people and the environment to prosper…the winning team will reliably and most sustainably generate one million liters of potable water per day (1,000 m 3 /d) from seawater at the lowest cost, below current industry benchmarks, over the course of 1 year; sufficient to support 10,000 people.”

The main competition has four stages in which $18 million in funds will be disbursed to seed multiple teams’ efforts and $90 million in prize money will be divided among five expected finalists. An additional $10.9 million in prizes are available to teams competing to create “the perfect membrane” to cut the cost of water and increase reliability and sustainability for existing seawater reverse osmosis desalination plants.

The competition’s launch has already stimulated tremendous interest among potential participants, Ansari said, but not everyone grasps the urgency of this challenge.

“When I talk to some people, they say, we have desalination solutions,” she recalled. “It’s true we know how to desalinate seawater, but it's expensive, and it's not scalable, and the systems have not been disrupted for years. Only rich countries can afford to have desalination as a source of producing water. With this competition, we're really trying to scale up solutions to be able to produce much larger volume for use by large populations.”

X Prize competitions are powerful tools for stimulating innovation, but they can’t be used to solve every global problem. With that in mind, Ansari has championed the creation of partnerships with many universities around the world to stimulate the exchange of ideas that could lead to important new avenues for problem solving.

The foundation has involved numerous professors in a 120-day visioneering process to explore “some of the barriers that are stopping us from achieving X Prize’s mission, an equitable world of abundance, and some of the breakthroughs we need to actually accelerate us toward that future,” Ansari said.

When that work has been done Ansari hopes to publish annually updated “roadmaps” of issues and possible solutions to be explored that could be used by investors and entrepreneurs to determine what projects to take on, by policy makers to think more long term about initiatives needed to protect us and by the foundation to select future challenges.

But first she must raise funds for that initiative. Taking a major role in development is one of the many major responsibilities of the CEO of at the X Prize Foundation.

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India’s Silicon Valley Faces a Water Crisis That Software Cannot Solve

Bengaluru gets plenty of rain. But the city did not properly adapt as its soaring population strained traditional water sources.

Filling up with subsidized water at a government distribution center in the Indian city of Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore. Credit...

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By Damien Cave

Photographs by Atul Loke

Reporting from Bengaluru, India

• Published March 31, 2024 Updated April 2, 2024

The water tankers seeking to fill their bellies bounced past the dry lakes of India’s booming technology capital. Their bleary-eyed drivers waited in line to suck what they could from wells dug a mile deep into dusty lots between app offices and apartment towers named for bougainvillea — all built before sewage and water lines could reach them.

At one well, where neighbors lamented the loss of a mango grove, a handwritten logbook listed the water runs of a crisis: 3:15 and 4:10 one morning; 12:58, 2:27 and 3:29 the next.

“I get 50 calls a day,” said Prakash Chudegowda, a tanker driver in south Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore, as he connected a hose to the well. “I can only get to 15.”

The Silicon Valley of South Asia has a nature issue — a pain point that software cannot solve. In the sprawl beyond Bengaluru’s core, where dreams of tech riches usually grow, schools lack water to flush toilets. Washing machines have gone quiet. Showers are being postponed, and children with only dirty water to drink are being hospitalized with typhoid fever.

The big problem afflicting Bengaluru is not a lack of rain (it gets plenty, about as much as Seattle), but rather what often holds this giant, energetic nation back: arthritic governance. As the city rushed toward the digital future, tripling its population to 15 million since the 1990s and building a lively tech ecosystem, water management fell behind and never caught up as otherwise healthy aquifers were drawn dry by the unchecked spread of urban bore wells.

Failures of environmental stewardship are common across a country with severe pollution and an acute need for economic growth to provide for 1.4 billion people, spanning political parties and India’s north-south divide . But Bengaluru’s water struggle is especially withering for many — and motivating for some who have water sales or reform in mind — because the city sees itself as an innovator. And in this case, the causes and solutions are well known.

“There is no crisis of water availability,” said Vishwanath Srikantaiah, a water researcher and urban planner in Bengaluru. “It’s a clear-cut crisis of state failure.”

Viewed another way, he added in an interview at his home, where books about water and rivers were stacked nearly to the ceiling, it is a crisis caused by a lack of imagination.

As public policy experts tell it, Bengaluru and the broader state of Karnataka have been too slow to plan for growth, too divided across agencies and too rigid in their reliance on pumping water uphill from reservoirs along the Kaveri River more than 50 miles away.

Despite a long history of local hydrology — Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, the 16th-century founder of Bengaluru, built hundreds of cascading lakes for irrigation — officials have mostly stuck with the traditional engineering option that their predecessors turned to in the 1950s and ’60s.

That is the case despite its challenges and expense. The energy cost alone for pumping eats up 75 percent of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board’s revenue, while supplying only around half of what the city needs.

The rest, for decades, has come from bore wells — holes about six inches wide that act like straws for water from aquifers below. An authority separate from the water board has punched 14,000 of them into the ground, half of which are now dry, according to officials. Experts estimate that residents have drilled an additional 450,000 to 500,000 into the cityscape, without the government’s knowing where or having a clear sense of their impact.

In much of the city, the wells are like doorbells, plentiful but seemingly invisible until someone points them out. Drilling failures appear as cutout circles on quieter streets; successes are often covered in flowers, with a black hose snaking into a home down the street.

Spending a day in the cab of Mr. Chudegowda’s tanker truck offered a glimpse of how the ad hoc system works. At one stop, drivers wrote their times in a logbook while cameras watched how much they took. At another the supply was slow and organized: A half-dozen drivers took 20-minute turns for fill-ups of around 6,000 liters, or about 1,600 gallons, just a few steps from a lake depleted to a puddle. At a third, a building owner sold a load to Mr. Chudegowda without the wait.

“Every minute counts,” he said as he climbed out of the truck.

His customers ranged from a bra factory with 100 workers to a small apartment building, all within a few miles to maximize profit. He charged each up to 1,500 rupees ($18) for each tanker load, more than double the going rate from a few months ago, which he considered justified because costs had gone up.

Drills — easily hired from companies with storefronts across the city — often fail to find water or have to go deeper now, which means more electricity and gas for the pumps pulling precious liquid from the earth.

The effects, while not at “Dune”-like levels, have become more visible in recent weeks, especially in the tech corridors, with their blur of luxury apartments, slums, mobile phone stores, malls, in vitro fertilization clinics and shimmering offices.

In Whitefield, a busy software hub, Sumedha Rao, a teacher at a new public school, offered to ask her class of 12-year-olds about their experiences with water scarcity. The hallways were painted in bright colors with words of encouragement — resilience, citizenship, collaboration. In class, they were asked how often they have water at home.

“One day a week, ma’am,” said a girl with pigtails.

“We just have a bucket,” said a boy near the back.

“There’s no water in the bore wells,” shouted another.

Many take small amounts of drinking water from school taps for their families — only one water bottle per child, because it is all the school can spare. Behind a play area the color and consistency of ground ginger sat a hulking pile of metal: a broken bore well.

“The motor stopped working,” said Shekar Venkataswamy, a physical education teacher with a brigand’s mustache.

Walking toward his home behind the school, he pointed to a dry hole where drilling failed, and one where it worked. A few thousand families take turns using the water for an hour each, with an elaborate schedule that is tightly managed.

Community leaders expressed pride in how they were handling the crisis, softening the blows of sacrifice. Many others have been inspired to broader action.

One morning, four tech workers who had become water activists showed up in a northern corner of the city where Mr. Srikantaiah, the water researcher, had worked with the local community to rejuvenate a once trash-strewn lake. A small network of gurgling filters and pipes sends out 200,000 liters of potable water per day.

“It will soon be 600,000,” Mr. Srikantaiah said. And the price per customer: nearly a third of what tanker drivers are charging.

The tech workers said they planned to share the details with neighbors and officials, to spread the word that a lake, using rainwater and lightly treated sewage, could be turned into a safe, affordable, reliable water source.

In an interview at his office, the chairman of the water board, Ram Prasath Manohar, 43, a seasoned government administrator installed three months ago, embraced the idea.

Acknowledging that some past officials had thought narrowly about water management, he said he hoped to attract public and private money for a more innovative approach, mixing data-driven methods that would revive lakes to let aquifers recharge and would expand rainwater harvesting and conservation.

“We’re going for a greener solution,” he said. “A more effective solution.”

So far, though, progress has been slow. He has not been able to hire any additional staff, he said, and he is working from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day.

Short-term relief, he prays, will come in the next few weeks, with reservoir water extended to more parts of the city and the expected spring rains. Most of all, like many others in India’s Silicon Valley, he hopes all the public attention to water scarcity will add momentum for long-term change.

In one corner of his offices, a quote from Benjamin Franklin had been printed on a piece of paper and pasted to a window: “When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.”

“This crisis,” he said, rubbing his tired eyes, “it gives us an opportunity.”

Imran Khan Pathan contributed reporting.

Damien Cave is an international correspondent for The Times, covering the Indo-Pacific region. He is based in Sydney, Australia.  More about Damien Cave

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2024 Indigenous Communities Fellowship

Planting Water

Our Organization

Sacred Mountain Water Society

What is the name of your solution?

Provide a one-line summary of your solution..

Planting water to restore groundwater and sustain surface waters

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

In what country is your solution team headquartered.

• United States

What type of organization is your solution team?

Other, including part of a larger organization (please explain below)

If you selected Other, please explain here.

S.W.M.S. is an indigenous society that works with physical sponsors.

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving.

According to census.gov at least 15,000,000 in the Southwest are already experiencing water scarcity. That number is quickly growing.

The way we have been cultured to interact with the land, as well as a lack of relationship to it, has led to a heavy decrease in land management that considers and enacts longevity and proliferation of abundance as a baseline of management. Water planting is made accessible through our educational programs. We can all learn how to effectively plant water and restore our relationship to the land as well as our water tables, instead of only depleting them. 

What is your solution?

Planting Water is an ancient indigenous practice shared by many tribal communities of the Southwest. Planting water is achieved by communicating with the earth; strategically slowing down, spreading out and catching runoff from the top of the watershed to the bottom; after snow melts and monsoon rains. We use a series of different planting methods like berms, swales, terracing, check dams and Hugel catchments. We work with what's local and abundant using simple hand tools and organic materials. The various structures are built using dirt, rocks, local native plants like mosses, cacti, native grasses; and or plant fibers like dead wood and sagebrush already available in the vicinity.

Which Indigenous community(s) does your solution benefit? In what ways will your solution benefit this community?

This issue affects every indigenous community in the rio grande valley and across the southwest. We are a multi tribal indigenous led society reviving ancient land management practices throughout New Mexico and across the southwest. We have been partnering with many Native and non native communities and organizations to share water planting. Planting water replenishes water tables wherever it is done allowing vegetation to return and an exponential increase in water retention of the earth benefiting all life.

How are you and your team well-positioned to deliver this solution?

Our Team is made up of and lead by Apache, Pueblo, Dinè, Kiowa, Comanche and Cheyenne tribal members. Who are deeply rooted in the communities, lands, and traditions of the Southwest. Our Team formed organically During 2017 Standing Rock NO DAPL Movement when all indigenous communities came together for solutions for the Water.

All of our work is guided and based in, the still existing examples left to us by our ancestors. We each take the lead on different projects based on our skillsets and connections to the areas we work in.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Which of the un sustainable development goals does your solution address.

• 3. Good Health and Well-Being
• 6. Clean Water and Sanitation
• 9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
• 10. Reduced Inequalities
• 11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
• 12. Responsible Consumption and Production
• 13. Climate Action
• 14. Life Below Water
• 15. Life on Land
• 17. Partnerships for the Goals

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Please share details about why you selected the stage above..

We currently have 10 active projects and 8 finished planting water projects across Northern NM. We have trained and educated hundreds of people of all backgrounds and work with seven different organizations; as well as a group of 25 Mennonite Disaster Service members from Colorado who are a climate response team from their community that reached out to us and trained with us this past summer.

Collectively we have started restoration work on hundreds of acres of private, public and Tribal lands and put millions of gallons of run-off water back into the thirsty Ground. We have made hundreds of catchments already and have the person power to scale up. 

Why are you applying to Solve?

All Indigenous Communities face Financial,Technical, Legal, Cultural and marketing barriers .

We hope SOLVE can help us over come our Technical and legal barriers through cultural solutions. There is no institutional knowledge of planting water, no documentation or date in the present or historically.

With Financial and technical support and a partner ship with SOLVE we hope to collect the evidence and data of ancient planting water and make it available to institutions and universities to help lift planting water to the eyes and ears of the federal government to be implemented into future public land management plans.

In which of the following areas do you most need partners or support?

• Financial (e.g. accounting practices, pitching to investors)
• Legal or Regulatory Matters
• Monitoring & Evaluation (e.g. collecting/using data, measuring impact)
• Technology (e.g. software or hardware, web development/design)

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

S.W.M.S.'s executive director Dustin Freyta lister

Please indicate the tribal affiliation of your Team Lead.

Genizaro Community Of Taos

How is your Team Lead connected to the community or communities in which your project is based?

Dustin is a Descendent of the original Families of Taos and Indigenous Slavery recognized in the State of NM as "Genizaro ', Mixed Mexican Apache Comanche pueblo and Anglo ancestries. since 2007 Dustin has served Taos and greater indigenous communities through activism, community building, land management and as a manager of the Taos mens shelter. 

What makes your solution innovative?

Planting water comes from ancient knowledge. This solution addresses the needs of the earth before our own. When the earth is sated, she takes care of us. It costs very little, just energy, time and simple tools. Restoring this relationship is a part of every teach we do. Seeing first hand how this idea changes peoples' relationship with the earth and shifting it to a less extractive one is something we all must do. 

Describe in simple terms how and why you expect your solution to have an impact on the problem.

If the problem is a loss of ground and surface water and desertification of the land, then putting water back into the land to replenish our groundwater, support our surface waters, and return the green to the desert, this is the greatest way to impact the problem. Here in the Sangria de Cristo, watershed of the rio grande, we have many ancient examples of planting water where lakes spring from the desert floor that are the living proof of how planting water is still impacting our environment from work done at least 100s of years ago. currently there is no data, but that is a goal we hope to achieve.

What are your impact goals for your solution and how are you measuring your progress towards them?

Our goal is to bring water back to the rio Grande watershed, Colorado river watershed, and every catchment we make is a step forward from drying watersheds to reaching that goal. We measure our goals by collecting data on the number of catchments we make, an estimate of how much water we are putting in the ground, the amount of private land partnerships gained and the number of projects performed on public lands. We also take general stock of the wildlife and vegetation that catchments revive around them.

Describe the core technology that powers your solution.

We have rather a core relationship of reciprocation to Mother Earth, and an understanding of how the water moves and works than a core technology.

Which of the following categories best describes your solution?

A new application of an existing technology

Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:

• Ancestral Technology & Practices
• Biotechnology / Bioengineering

If your solution has a website or an app, provide the links here:

We have found that organic growth has been the most sustainable and impactful so far.

In which parts of the US and/or Canada do you currently operate?

New Mexico, in the Rio Grande watershed

How many people work on your solution team?

We have nine consistent society members working on this project.

How long have you been working on your solution?

We have been working on this solution for four years.

Tell us about how you ensure that your team is diverse, minimizes barriers to opportunity for staff, and provides a welcoming and inclusive environment for all team members.

We find alternative solutions to people of different abilities who want to plant water on their land, where monetary barriers to entry starkly decrease diversity; we raise funds to cover costs of transportation and only use tools readily available in the natural environment, or share whatever tools we have at our disposal to accomplish our goals together. As a highly inclusive society, we have encountered a wide variety of skills, all of which have been appreciated and have helped us accomplish our goals. We are and indigenous society whose values and principles are based in nature, a healthy forest is a diverse forest and we reflect that in our community and organization. 

What is your business model?

We are not a business. This solution is circular. 

Do you primarily provide products or services directly to individuals, to other organizations, or to the government?

What is your plan for becoming financially sustainable, and what evidence can you provide that this plan has been successful so far.

Planting water happens with or without funding. It was a widely adopted cultural practice across tribal lines throughout this land. When we teach people how to plant water, they see very quickly how valuable it is and take it home to share with others. We have already committed time without monetary compensation to teach and practice water planting. It will spread one way or another, but we would like to make that happen more quickly before it's too late. 

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