Freshwater ecosystems are not being managed effectively for people or for nature. The study recommends that water prices should reflect the cost of supplying and distributing water. It also recommends that the cost of protecting watersheds should be included in the price of water, as well as charging polluters for their effluents.
Governments continue to subsidize water due to opposition from farmers and urban poor.
In Andhra Pradesh, India, farmers agreed to a three-fold increase in water prices as part of a package that also boosted their role in running the irrigation agency. The authors said that without reforms in the pricing of water, freshwater supplies will continue to grow scarce. They project that by 2025, five out of every 10 people will be living in water-stressed river basins. Water is not only becoming scarce because of increased demand, but also because of higher pollution levels and habitat degradation. Freshwater ecosystems occupy less than one percent of the earth's surface.