Why thousands of people in rural West Virginia lack reliable drinking water
By Tom Hanson
Rhodell, West Virginia — For as long as Roman Patsey of Raleigh County, West Virginia, remembers, the Appalachian Mountains have provided virtually everything he’s needed to survive, from his income as a coal miner, to his tap water.
“I don’t know if it’s safe or not to tell you the truth,” Patsey told CBS News of his tap water source. “But, you know, what are you going to do? You’ve got to drink water.”
He took CBS News to his only source of drinking water for nearly 50 years: an abandoned coal mine near his home. Like so many here, he dug his own trenches and laid his own water lines hundreds of feet up a mountainside.
He says no part of him wondered why access to water should be this difficult.
“No, I just accepted it,” Patsey said. “It was something you had to do. I worried about running out of water, really, for years.”
He said he has never conducted regular tests on the water for possible contaminants
About 250,000 West Virginia residentsrely on untreated sources of water, like natural springs or aquifers from coal mines, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The median income in this area is around $30,000 per year, according to U.S. Census data, a far cry from the prosperity that the coal industry once created. Coal companies used to fund and operate many town water systems in rural West Virginia. But when the industry declined, so did the water infrastructure it used to maintain. Patsey wanted to see this firsthand. So he, with a CBS News crew in tow, went to a water treatment plant in nearby Kimball, a town of more than 300 people in McDowell County. The plant’s windows are boarded up, the roof is completely missing, and there is rusted metal. Yet, this facility is supposed to clean tap water for the entire community.
Just 20 minutes up the road in Rhodell, a community in Raleigh County, the water treatment plant is also crumbling, with rust covering the pipes and a ceiling that is caved in.
“It’s in pretty bad shape as you can see,” said Shane Bragg with the Raleigh County Public Service District. “The fear is what you can’t see underground and what’s in the mines. We have no way of accessing the pumps in the mines, so when they go, the town will lose water.”
Raleigh County is racing to replace water systems before that happens with help from the nonprofit DigDeep, which works to bring clean tap water to the more than 2.2 million Americans who it says are living without it.
“We’re dealing with a lot of systems that are very expensive to maintain,” said Travis Foreman, director of DigDeep’s Appalachia Water Project. “And the local public service districts, they don’t have the manpower to keep up.”
In Rhodell, DigDeep is bringing clean water to the community for the first time in 10 years. “It is a human right to have access to water,” Foreman said. “…Everyone deserves to have that access.”
For Patsey, it’s a source of hope straight from the tap.
“Not long ago at 4 o’clock in the morning, I turned this on like this, not a drop,” Patsey said while standing at his kitchen sink. “It’s such a peace knowing I’m going to have water here.”
Summary:A global research effort offers the first worldwide view of how climate change could affect water availability and drought severity in the decades to come. By the late 21st century, global land area and population facing extreme droughts could more than double — increasing from 3% during 1976-2005 to 7%-8%, according to a professor of civil and environmental engineering.Share:
FULL STORY
Michigan State University is leading a global research effort to offer the first worldwide view of how climate change could affect water availability and drought severity in the decades to come.
By the late 21st century, global land area and population facing extreme droughts could more than double — increasing from 3% during 1976-2005 to 7%-8%, according to Yadu Pokhrel, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in MSU’s College of Engineering, and lead author of the research published in Nature Climate Change.
“More and more people will suffer from extreme droughts if a medium-to-high level of global warming continues and water management is maintained at its present state,” Pokhrel said. “Areas of the Southern Hemisphere, where water scarcity is already a problem, will be disproportionately affected. We predict this increase in water scarcity will affect food security and escalate human migration and conflict.”
The research team, including MSU postdoctoral researcher Farshid Felfelani, and more than 20 contributing authors from Europe, China and Japan are projecting a large reduction in natural land water storage in two-thirds of the world, also caused by climate change.
Land water storage, technically known as terrestrial water storage, or TWS, is the accumulation of water in snow and ice, rivers, lakes and reservoirs, wetlands, soil and groundwater — all critical components of the world’s water and energy supply. TWS modulates the flow of water within the hydrological cycle and determines water availability as well as drought.
“Our findings are a concern,” Pokhrel said. “To date, no study has examined how climate change would impact land water storage globally. Our study presents the first, comprehensive picture of how global warming and socioeconomic changes will affect land water storage and what that will mean for droughts until the end of the century.”
Felfelani said the study has given the international team an important prediction opportunity.
“Recent advances in process-based hydrological modeling, combined with future projections from global climate models under wide-ranging scenarios of socioeconomic change, provided a unique foundation for comprehensive analysis of future water availability and droughts,” Felfelani said. “We have high confidence in our results because we use dozens of models and they agree on the projected changes.”
The research is based on a set of 27 global climate-hydrological model simulations spanning 125 years and was conducted under a global modeling project called the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project. Pokhrel is a working member of the project.
“Our findings highlight why we need climate change mitigation to avoid the adverse impacts on global water supplies and increased droughts we know about now,” Pokhrel said. “We need to commit to improved water resource management and adaptation to avoid potentially catastrophic socio-economic consequences of water shortages around the world.”
A drone view shows the receding waterline and exposed lakebed in the dried basin of Turkmenli Dam, as drought conditions continue to affect water levels, in Marmara Ereglisi, in the northwestern Tekirdag province, Turkey, August 11, 2025. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
By Ali Kucukgocmen
TEKIRDAG, Turkey (Reuters) -A drought in Turkey’s northwestern province of Tekirdag has left the area’s main dams without potable water, straining infrastructure and leaving some homes without water for weeks, due to a sharp drop in precipitation in the country this year.
Authorities say drought is a critical issue, with several provinces warning of limited fresh water supply this summer.
Various areas in Izmir, Turkey’s third-most populous province, have experienced frequent water cuts this month, while the municipality in the western province of Usak was told over the weekend it would have access to water just six hours a day, with the main water reservoir depleted.
Rainfall slumped 71% in July across the country from a year ago, according to Turkey’s Meteorological Service. In the Marmara region, which includes Tekirdag and Istanbul, it shrank 95% below the monthly norm in July.
In the ten months to August, precipitation sank 32% in Marmara compared to the norm, while it fell 26% across Turkey to the lowest in 52 years.
ALTERNATIVES
The water level in Tekirdag’s Naip Dam, which has not seen any rainfall in June and July, fell to zero percent in August.
That has forced authorities to find alternatives like delivering irrigation water for domestic use and building a pump system for delivery into urban areas.
The dam’s water level was 21% this time last year, according to the State Hydraulic Works.
Mehmet Ali Sismanlar, head of Tekirdag’s Water and Sewerage Administration (TESKI), said rainfall in Tekirdag has reduced dramatically over the past decade, and severe drought over the last two years has spurred frequent water cuts in some areas this summer.
“We are the area and the province that has been affected the most by the drought in Turkey,” he said, attributing it to climate change.
The water in Turkmenli dam, usually used for irrigation, was used to supply water to Tekirdag’s Marmaraereglisi district, where some neighbourhoods faced water cuts.
TESKI was working to open new wells to use ground water, not usually a preferred measure, Sismanlar said. He said ground water had sunk to twice its original depth over the years.
Mehmet, 70, a resident who lives in the Dereagzi neighbourhood with his family, said their home has had no water for two months, leaving them unable to shower or perform chores, and they were fetching water from nearby areas in large bottles.
“I have been living in filth for the past two months,” he said, standing among dirty piles of dishes in the kitchen, and adding that he last showered when he went to Istanbul, around 130 kilometres (81 miles) away.
His wife, Fatma, 65, said the family stayed up at night to fill up bottles in case water supply is resumed.
Remzi Karabas, 71, said he takes his laundry to Istanbul to be washed, but was done with living in Tekirdag.
“We’ll leave some day soon. What can we do here? Water does not flow at all.”
The Nepalese government plans to improve sanitation access to combat water-borne diseases, while the monsoon season further complicates health problems in the country.
Twenty people have died from water-borne diseases while more than 400 cases of acute watery diarrhea have been recorded so far this year in Nepal, according to IRIN.
While the South Asian country has the second largest freshwater resource in the world it suffers from limited drinking water sources due to pollution and disease. Roughly 15 million people, about half the population, face drinking water shortages, while another 5 million don’t have access to safe drinking water, according to the Federation of Drinking Water and Sanitation Users Nepal, an organization that monitors water and sanitation. And with monsoon season in full effect–it runs from about mid-April to mid-October–major drinking water problems are worsening. In 2009, Nepal recorded 370 deaths and 67,000 cases of AWD during the six-month period, according to the Nepal Red Cross. Women, children and the elderly are often the most effected.
To combat these illnesses, the Nepalese government intends to expand access to toilets from 14.4 million to 19 million people by 2011, the The Himalayan reports.
Flooding, unsanitary dumping, agriculture and political confrontation have lead to further pollution of ground and surface water as well as a damaged water infrastructure.
“With water sources drying up, erratic rainfall and poor management of water resources, the problems are worsening every year,” said Prakash Amatya the director of NGO Forum for Urban Water & Sanitation.
More than 80 percent of diseases reported in Nepal stem from unsafe drinking water and poor hygiene, according to a 2009 report released by Water Aid, an international NGO that strives to improve water access and sanitation for communities. The report, End Water Poverty, reveals that 10,500 children die before the age of five every year from diseases contracted from unsafe water, which includes dysentery, hepatitis and cholera.
“This situation could affect a large number of families who have already been reeling under the immense water shortage situation over the last many years,” Ajaya Dixit, director of the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation, a non-partisan NGO that researches water issues in the Himalaya-Ganga region, told IRIN.
Meanwhile communities higher up in the Himalayas have limited access to the five tributaries of the River Ganges that serve as Nepal’s main water sources. These people live on less than 5 liters of water per person per day, according to a 2004 report from the University in Kathmandu.
Water deficiencies contribute to political turmoil both within Nepal and the region itself, according to Dan Smith, the secretary general of International Alert, an independent peace building organization that works in more than 20 countries.
Nepal is embedded between India and China, which also have large agriculture demands that consume a majority of the Himalayan water. A recently proposed Indian dam project on the trans-boundary Kosi River that is a tributary of the Ganges river, has caused political and social uproar within Nepal, reports The Himalayan.
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has issued a report that there are “significant deficiencies” in the management of Wyandotte’s water system.
But the city says the water is safe, adding “it consistently meets or exceeds all state and federal water quality standards.”
“There is no known current risk to public health from the City’s drinking water, and we are fully committed to maintaining that record,” the city said on its website.
The respective statements spin out of a notice that Michigan EGLE issued April 30, citing “significant deficiencies” in the areas of treatment, distribution system, finished water storage and management/operations. The letter was also sent to the Wayne County Health Department.
“The most significant observations during the Survey are the need for adequate investment in capital improvement projects, completion of maintenance activities, and adequate investment in staffing,” EGLE said in its letter. “There are several indications the City is not keeping up with capital investments, especially in the distribution system and future operational and maintenance needs may overwhelm the available budget and resources.”
The four matters listed as significant deficiencies were:
Failure to keep up with an inspection schedule for backflow prevention and cross-connections.
Damage to the vents at one reservoir.
Assorted debris, such as tennis balls and beverage containers, was found at another reservoir.
A water treatment process that didn’t include a specified method of mixing the treatment chemical into the raw water.
The city was given 120 days to either correct the significant deficiencies noted or submit a “corrective action plan” that EGLE will review.
There were also other matters noted as deficiencies, such as an inspection report that showed zebra mussels found near an entrance to a water intake pipe, and routine maintenance schedules, such as hydrant flushing that was not implemented “due to inadequate staffing.”
In addition, the city of Wyandotte has not included fluoride treatment for several years. “If fluoride treatment is not continued, the appropriate local procedures need to be followed,” the letter says. “It is imperative for the water supply to notify the public so residents can make informed decisions about their oral health.”
On that detail, the city has replied, “Fluoridation of drinking water is not required by law. The City discontinued fluoride treatment in 2015 during a treatment plant rehabilitation project. Fluoride levels are monitored and disclosed in the City’s annual Consumer Confidence Reports, and residents are encouraged to consult with their dental professionals about supplemental fluoride needs.”
Wyandotte officials say after the April report was issued, the city’s Municipal Services took steps toward “actively addressing all recommendations.” This includes a series of repairs at the reservoirs and evaluation of its filtration method.
In the meantime, the EGLE staff noted that during the three years before its report was issued, the city had taken a number of steps to address water facility operations and improvements.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill banning fluoride, saying at a signing event that “forcing it into the water supply is basically forced medication on people.”
The ban takes effect on July 1.
Fluoride is a mineral that occurs naturally in water, soil and air that has been demonstrated to prevent dental cavities and tooth decay. For decades, it has been added to community water supplies and dental products such as toothpaste.
DeSantis, a Republican, was one of the most outspoken political leaders who pushed back against public health mandates during the pandemic, when he opposed forced masking, school closures and pressuring people to get the COVID vaccine.
“Some of these people, they think that they know better for you than you do for yourself,” DeSantis said just before signing the bill. “They think because they have medical training … that they should just be able to decree how we live our lives. That proved disastrous during COVID.”
Utah, also led by a Republican governor, became in March the first U.S. state to ban fluoride in public water systems, a law that took effect this month. At the federal level, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said this week it was starting a process to remove fluoride supplements for children from the market.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has opposed adding the mineral to tap water.
Kennedy and others opposed to the use of fluoride in water say it is associated with numerous health issues, including certain cancers and lower cognitive ability among children.
The American Cancer Society on its website says the general consensus among scientific reviews examining possible links between fluoride and cancer shows no strong evidence connecting the two. However, the society says more studies are needed.
About 63% of all Americans have fluoride in their community water systems, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics as of 2022, the most recent data available.
The American Dental Association strongly opposes the push to ban fluoride from water and in supplements, saying it greatly benefits dental health and has not conclusively been shown to have harmful effects.
“More than ever, at this critical time in American health care policy, it is vital that we slow down to properly study the full implications of actions like this on the health of the nation,” Brett Kessler, president of the association, wrote earlier this week in response to the FDA targeting ingestible fluoride supplements.
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in ColoradoEditing by Rod Nickel)
Water scarcity threatens the health and development of communities around the globe. Climate change is intensifying the problem, pushing governments to find more innovative, collaborative ways to address water stress.
New Delhi residents fill containers with drinking water from a municipal tanker in June 2018. Adnan Abidi/Reuters
Water scarcity happens when communities can’t fulfill their water needs, either because supplies are insufficient or infrastructure is inadequate. Today, billions of people face some form of water stress.
Countries have often cooperated on water management. Still, there are a handful of places where transboundary waters are driving tensions, such as the Nile Basin.
Climate change will likely exacerbate water stress worldwide, as rising temperatures lead to more unpredictable weather and extreme weather events, including floods and droughts.
Introduction
Billions of people around the world lack adequate access to one of the essential elements of life: clean water. Although governments and aid groups have helped many living in water-stressed regions gain access in recent years, the problem is projected to get worse due to global warming and population growth. Meanwhile, a paucity of international coordination on water security has slowed the search for solutions.
Water stress can differ dramatically from one place to another, in some cases causing wide-reaching damage, including to public health, economic development, and global trade. It can also drive mass migrations and spark conflict. Now, pressure is mounting on countries to implement more sustainable and innovative practices and to improve international cooperation on water management.
Water stress or scarcity occurs when demand for safe, usable water in a given area exceeds the supply. On the demand side, the vast majority—roughly 70 percent—of the world’s freshwater is used for agriculture, while the rest is divided between industrial (19 percent) and domestic uses (11 percent), including for drinking. On the supply side, sources include surface waters, such as rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, as well as groundwater, accessed through aquifers.
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But scientists have different ways of defining and measuring water stress, taking into account a variety of factors including seasonal changes, water quality, and accessibility. Meanwhile, measurements of water stress can be imprecise, particularly in the case of groundwater. “Any numbers out there have to be taken with a grain of salt,” says Upmanu Lall, a Columbia University professor and water expert. “None of these definitions are typically accounting for groundwater usage, or groundwater stock.”
What causes water scarcity?
Water scarcity is often divided into two categories: physical scarcity, when there is a shortage of water because of local ecological conditions; and economic scarcity, when there is inadequate water infrastructure.
The two frequently come together to cause water stress. For instance, a stressed area can have both a shortage of rainfall as well as a lack of adequate water storage and sanitation facilities. Experts say that even when there are significant natural causes for a region’s water stress, human factors are often central to the problem, particularly with regard to access to clean water and safe sanitation. Most recently, for example, the war in Ukraine damaged critical infrastructure, leaving six million people with limited or no access to safe water in 2022.
“Almost always the drinking water problem has nothing to do with physical water scarcity,” says Georgetown University’s Mark Giordano, an expert on water management. “It has to do with the scarcity of financial and political wherewithal to put in the infrastructure to get people clean water. It’s separate.”
At the same time, some areas that suffer physical water scarcity have the infrastructure that has allowed life there to thrive, such as in Oman and the southwestern United States.
A variety of authorities, from the national level down to local jurisdictions, govern or otherwise influence the water supply. In the United States, more than half a dozen federal agencies deal with different aspects of water: the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforces regulations on clean water, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) prepares for and responds to water disasters. Similar authorities exist at the state and local levels to protect and oversee the use of water resources, including through zoning and rehabilitation projects.
Which regions are most water-stressed?
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the worst off in terms of physical water stress, according to most experts. MENA receives less rainfall than other regions, and its countries tend to have fast-growing, densely populated urban centers that require more water. But many countries in these regions, especially wealthier ones, still meet their water needs. For example, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) imports nearly all of its food, alleviating the need to use water for agriculture. The UAE and other wealthy MENA countries also rely heavily on the desalination of abundant ocean water, albeit this process is an expensive, energy-intensive one.
Water Stress Is a Global Challenge
Darker shaded areas have more physical water stress; but myriad factors, including infrastructure, governance, and population, all contribute to water availability.
Physical water stress in 2014, defined as withdrawals as a share of renewable surface and groundwater supplies> 80%40–80%20–40%10–20%< 10%Arid and low water useDCABE
+-
One in three members of the Navajo Nation lacks running water, while non-Navajos nearby generally have indoor plumbing.A
For centuries, Italy’s aquifers provided easy access to clean water, but the now outdated infrastructure is putting pressure on the country.B
The DRC has over half of Africa’s water reserves, but millions of Congolese don’t have access to clean water, contributing to disease and malnutrition.C
On top of Yemen’s physical water scarcity, years of war have wiped out water services, leaving millions without basic water supplies.D
India is among the most water-stressed countries, in part due to its population, pollution, and the exploitation of groundwater.E
Sources: National Geographic; Navajo Water Project; UNICEF; World Resources Institute; WRI Aqueduct.
Meanwhile, places experiencing significant economic scarcity include Central African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, which receives a lot of rain but lacks proper infrastructure and suffers from high levels of mismanagement.
Even high-income countries experience water stress. Factors including outdated infrastructure and rapid population growth have put tremendous stress on some U.S. water systems, causing crises in cities including Flint, Michigan, and Newark, New Jersey.
How is climate change affecting water stress?
For every 1°C (1.8°F) increase in the global average temperature, UN experts project a 20 percent dropin renewable water resources. Global warming is expected to increase the number of water-stressed areas and heighten water stress in already affected regions. Subtropical areas, such as Australia, the southern United States, and North African countries, are expected to warm and suffer more frequent and longer droughts; however, when rainfall does occur in these regions, it is projected to be more intense. Weather in tropical regions will likewise become more variable, climate scientists say.
Agriculture could become a particular challenge. Farming suffers as rainfall becomes more unpredictable and rising temperatures accelerate the evaporation of water from soil. A more erratic climate is also expected to bring more floods, which can wipe out crops an overwhelm storage systems. Furthermore, rainfall runoff can sweep up sediment that can clog treatment facilities and contaminate other water sources.
In a 2018 report, a panel consisting of many of the world’s top climate researchers showed that limiting global warming to a maximum 1.5°C (2.7°F) above preindustrial levels—the aim of the Paris Agreement on climate—could substantially reduce the likelihood of water stress in some regions, such as the Mediterranean and southern Africa, compared to an unchecked increase in temperature. However, most experts say the Paris accord will not be enough to prevent the most devastating effects of climate change.
What are its impacts on public health and development?
Prolonged water stress can have devastating effects on public health and economic development. More than two billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water; and nearly double that number—more than half the world’s population—are without adequate sanitation services. These deprivations can spur the transmission of diseases such as cholera, typhoid, polio, hepatitis A, and diarrhea.
At the same time, because water scarcity makes agriculture much more difficult, it threatens a community’s access to food. Food-insecure communities can face both acute and chronic hunger, where children are more at risk of conditions stemming from malnutrition, such as stunting and wasting, and chronic illnesses due to poor diet, such as diabetes.
Even if a water-stressed community has stable access to potable water, people can travel great lengths or wait in long lines to get it—time that could otherwise be spent at work or at school. Economists note these all combine [PDF] to take a heavy toll on productivity and development.
Living in a Water-Stressed World
A housing development lies on the edge of Cathedral City, a desert resort town in southern California, in April 2015.Damon Winter/New York Times/Redux
The COVID-19 pandemic heightened the need for safe water access. Handwashing is one of the most effective tools for combating the coronavirus, but health experts noted that three in ten individuals—2.3 billion people globally—could not wash their hands at home at the pandemic’s onset.
How has water factored into international relations?
Many freshwater sources transcend international borders, and, for the most part, national governments have been able to manage these resources cooperatively. Roughly three hundred international water agreements have been signed since 1948. Finland and Russia, for example, have long cooperated on water-management challenges, including floods, fisheries, and pollution. Water-sharing agreements have even persisted through cross-border conflicts about other issues, as has been the case with South Asia’s Indus River and the Jordan River in the Middle East.
However, there are a handful of hot spots where transboundary waters are a source of tension, either because there is no agreement in place or an existing water regime is disputed. One of these is the Nile Basin, where the White and Blue Nile Rivers flow from lakes in East Africa northward to the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt claims the rights to most of the Nile’s water based on several treaties, the first dating back to the colonial era; but other riparian states say they are not bound to the accords because they were never party to them. The dispute has flared in recent years after Ethiopia began construction of a massive hydroelectric dam that Egypt says drastically cuts its share of water.
Ethiopian Dam Ignites Tensions With Egypt, Sudan Over Nile Waters
Flow
direction
Cairo
Sources of Nile
River water in Egypt
EGYPT
Blue Nile: 57%
White Nile: 31%
Other: 12%
Lake
Nasser
RED
SEA
Nile
SUDAN
Khartoum
White Nile
Blue Nile
ETHIOPIA
SOUTH
SUDAN
Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam
Lake Victoria
Sources: Mada Masr; UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
Transboundary water disputes can also fuel intrastate conflict; some observers note this has increased in recent years, particularly in the hot spots where there are fears of cross-border conflict. For example, a new hydropower project could benefit elites but do little to improve the well-being of the communities who rely on those resources.
Moreover, water stress can affect global flows of goods and people. For instance, wildfires and drought in 2010 wiped out Russian crops, which resulted in a spike in commodities prices and food riots in Egypt and Tunisia at the start of the Arab uprisings. Climate stress is also pushing some to migrate across borders. The United Nations predicts that without interventions in climate change, water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions will displace hundreds of millions of people by 2030.
What are international organizations and governments doing to alleviate water stress?
There has been some international mobilization around water security. Ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all is one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a sweeping fifteen-year development agenda adopted by member states in 2015. Smart water management is also vital to many of the other SDGs, such as eliminating hunger and ensuring good health and well-being. And while the Paris Agreement on climate does not refer to water explicitly, the United Nations calls [PDF] water management an “essential component of nearly all the mitigation and adaptation strategies.” The organization warns of the increasing vulnerability of conventional water infrastructure, and points to many climate-focused alternatives, such as coastal reservoirs and solar-powered water systems.
However, there is no global framework for addressing water stress, like there is for fighting climate change or preserving biodiversity. The most recent UN summit on water, held in March 2023, was the first such conference since 1977 and didn’t aim to produce an international framework. It instead created a UN envoy on water and saw hundreds of governments, nonprofits, and businesses sign on to a voluntary Water Action Agenda, which analysts called an important but insufficient step compared to a binding agreement among world governments.
Some governments and partner organizations have made progress in increasing access to water services: Between 2000 and 2017, the number of people using safely managed drinking water and safely managed sanitation services rose by 10 percent and 17 percent, respectively. In 2022, the Joe Biden administration announced an action planto elevate global water security as a critical component of its efforts to achieve U.S. foreign policy objectives. But the pace of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic have presented new challenges. Now, many countries say they are unlikely to implement integrated water management systems by 2030, the target date for fulfilling the SDGs.
Still, some governments are taking ambitious and creative steps to improve their water security that could serve as models for others:
Green infrastructure. Peruvian law mandates that water utilities reinvest a portion of their profits into green infrastructure (the use of plant, soil, and other natural systems to manage stormwater), and Canada and the United States have provided tens of millions of dollars in recent years to support Peru’s efforts [PDF]. Vietnam has taken similar steps to integrate natural and more traditional built water infrastructure.
Wastewater recycling. More and more cities around the globe are recycling sewage water into drinking water, something Namibia’s desert capital has been doing for decades. Facilities in countries including China and the United States turn byproducts from wastewater treatment into fertilizer.
Smarter agriculture. Innovations in areas such as artificial intelligence and genome editing are also driving progress. China has become a world leader in bioengineering crops to make them more productive and resilient.
Recommended Resources
The Wilson Center’s Lauren Risi writes that water wars between countries have not come to pass, but subnational conflicts over the resource are already taking a toll.
CFR’s Why It Matters podcast talks to Georgetown University’s Mark Giordano and the Global Water Policy Project’s Sandra Postel about water scarcity.
The World Economic Forum describes the growing water crisis in the Horn of Africa, while National Geographic looks at how the prolonged drought is pushing wildlife closer to towns.
The World Resources Institute’s Aqueduct maps the areas facing extremely high water stress.
The United Nations shares facts about water and its role in all aspects of life.
BuzzFeed News interviews residents of Jackson, Mississippi, who lost access to safe water after freezing temperatures wreaked havoc on the city’s decaying infrastructure.
GET WET! 