According to the Bank, there are about 400 million people living in areas of the world today where water is scarce. And the problem is getting worse. By 2035, that number is set to rise to 3 billion.
Water shortages pose many risks.
Many countries depend on shared water sources, which increases the risk of friction and social tensions as is already the case along the Euphrates and Jordan rivers in the Mideast, and the Nile in northern Africa. John Briscoe , Senior Water Advisor at the Word Bank, says improved water management has brought enormous benefits to people in developing countries but problems still exist. Thanks to irrigation, grain production also soared. But since the mid-1980s there has been a pronounced slowing down in food production from irrigated agriculture. Groundwater aquifers are being pumped unsustainably in many developing and some developed countries.