Out of Water: From Abundance to Scarcity and How to Solve the World’s Water Problems

Chapter Ten: Solving the World’s Water Problems

“Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.”

W. H. Auden

We have a looming water crisis. This crisis is the response to growing population, changing dietary habits, and competition for water from other sectors of the economy. Lack of water for growing food will be one of the most critical issues for us to overcome in the twenty-first century. Evidence that the water crisis is happening in some places already or that it will happen elsewhere comes from simple supply and demand comparisons and projections. We are now faced with the knowledge that climate change will accelerate the water crisis in many regions of the world and have a disproportionately serious effect on the poor. Many ...