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n 2008, Canadian activist
Maude Barlow argued that
water shortage had become the
most pressing ecological and human
crisis of the 21st century. Stressing
that water is a “Commons” (a shared
resource) and that access to water is
a fundamental human right, she set
out how wastage, pollution, and
overconsumption meant that the
water cycle—the constant exchange
of water between Earth’s surface
and the atmosphere—could not
be relied upon to provide water for
evermore. She said that shortage
of water was already a crisis in the
developing world, where the burden
is borne particularly by women and
children who collect water—and
unless drastic action is taken, the
rest of the world will be affected too.
About 1.1 billion people lack
easy access to water, and 2.7 billion
find water scarce for at least one
month of the year. Although 70
percent of Earth’s surface is
covered by water, almost all of it is
saline ocean water. Only 0.014percent of the planet’s water is both
fresh and easily accessible. It is
obtained mostly from rivers, lakes,
and underground aquifers (rock
containing groundwater). People
use water to drink, wash, irrigate
crops, and run industry, and since
all plants and terrestrial animals
require freshwater to live, all are
affected by the water crisis.Wasted water
A larger human population uses
more water, and a large proportion
of that is wasted, especially in
developed countries, where people
on average use about 10 times more
than those in the developing world.
Sources of freshwater have dried up
(for example, much of the Rio
Grande between Mexico and the
US) or are becoming too polluted toTHE WATER CRISIS
Indians line up for water in a slum
area of Hyderabad in 2007. India
suffered a severe water crisis in 2018,
and demand is projected to be twice
the available supply by 2030.IN CONTEXT
KEY FIGURE
Maude Barlow (1947–)BEFORE
1983–5 Droughts in Ethiopia,
Eritrea, and Sudan cause
450,000 deaths.1990 The desiccation of the
Aral Sea is declared the world’s
worst ecological disaster of
the 20th century by the UN
Environment Programme.2008 The United Nations
estimates that around 42,000
people die every week from
diseases related to bad water
and poor sanitation.AFTER
2011–17 California suffers one
of its worst droughts on record.
It impacts on agriculture,
nature, and daily life.2017 Water campaigner
Maude Barlow reveals that
half of China’s rivers have
disappeared since 1990.Life requires access to
clean water; to deny the
right to water is to deny
the right to life. The fight
for the right to water is an
idea whose time has come.
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