In the Third World, at least 1.5 billion people lack access to unpolluted drinking water. About 70 percent of India's water is polluted, and 41 out of 44 of China's large cities have polluted groundwater. Sporadic crises erupt in urban water supplies Milwaukee's infamous 1993 cryptosporidium outbreak, New York's scare that same summer, and high lead levels in many municipal water systems. In 1993, some 31 states reported concentrations of toxic contaminants in freshwater fish tissues that exceeded public health standards. One-fifth of the world's freshwater fish are endangered or extinct.
Modern agriculture is a water hog, the largest user and waster of global freshwater supplies.
Poorly conceived irrigation projects and meat-centered agriculture are among the main culprits. Agriculture is also arguably the most polluting sector of the economy, dumping millions of tons of animal wastes, nitrates and phosphates from fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides into our water. Many synthetic plastics, detergents, fibers, solvents, and pesticides can be toxic and resist degradation. Phosphate contamination of water rose sevenfold from 1940 to 1970. Many people became aware of ocean pollution in recent years when high bacteria levels caused by overloaded sewage treatment plants, raw sewage discharges, polluted storm water runoff, faulty septic systems, and the dumping of boating wastes forced numerous local beaches to close temporarily.