The failure to properly dispose of human waste is often the cause of such diseases, contaminating essential water supplies such that millions of people die from these diseases every year. These disease outbreaks create widening circles of misery, illness and death with dire economic and social impacts for the people concerned. The environment suffers too, with human waste polluting water and damaging river ecosystems dependent on clean water. When the environment suffers, people suffer, because the aquatic environment is a key human resource. Other problems arise from indiscriminate deforestation and other poor catchment management practices that reduce water supplies vital to agriculture and other economic activities.
Deforestation leads to increased run-off, and increases the chances of water shortages.
It also leads to increased soil erosion and decreased soil fertility that can result in decreased food production. Sedimentation in watercourses and reservoirs decreases the capacity to store water or generate electricity. The chances of serious droughts are increased, without the forest to retain and return water to the atmosphere through transpiration, and sow the seed for future reliable rainfall. Forest, wetland and river ecosystems are all damaged by deforestation and people face increased economic and social costs. These costs reflect water shortages, decreased soil productivity and health problems caused by the decreased availability of clean water.