Projections suggest that most Asian countries will have severe water problems by the year 2025. As populations increase and economic development intensifies, governments will be forced to make critical decisions in their long-term planning for regulating, allocating, and using their water resources. Disputes have already arisen between some Asian farmers and industry in their competition for water. In future, conflicting demands will increasingly be felt between the needs for safe drinking water, sanitation, and industrial activities, particularly in fast-growing urban centers. Such conflicts may well lead to social unrest.
Agriculture is by far the biggest consumer of water worldwide.
Compared with other crops, rice production is less efficient in the way it uses water. Too much water, or too little . Asia's water problems are caused partly by its uneven distribution. On the one hand, about half of China receives less than 400 mm rainfall a year, and extensive areas of northwestern, central, and southern Asia are drought-prone. On the other hand, the Ifugao rice terraces of the northern Philippines are situated in one of the wettest rice-growing regions of the world, with an average annual rainfall of 3530 mm.