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Are We Running out of Water?

Posted by Adam Kuban, July 9, 2007 at 10:45 AM

How do you see this glass? If you're Martin Lagod, managing director and co-founder of Firelake Capital Management, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, it's half empty and the tap you wanna top it off with is running dry:

According to data collected from NASA and the World Health Organization, 4 billion people will face water shortages by 2050. Already in China, water levels in the Yellow River -- a source that supplies more than 150 million people -- are down 33 percent from the average. In China's cities, wastewater pollution and inadequate treatment facilities have contaminated the water consumed by more than half the population. Of its 669 major cities, 440 face moderate to severe water shortages. The Chinese government—desperately seeking solutions—calls the water shortage a social, environmental and economic crisis.

And it's not just China, Lagod says.

• Sub-Saharan Africa: Population growth of 2.6 percent each year coupled with severe drought means that less than 70 percent of water needs are met.
• India: All 14 major rivers are polluted and drying up
• The United States: "The Colorado River ... no longer reaches the ocean. During the summer months, the Rio Grande disappears from its bed for nearly 200 miles, coming alive again only when it meets the Rio Conches."

2 Comments | Tags: environment, water