Water

• Water consumption each day in liter / person: India: 7, Germany: 150, USA: 350

• People without access to safe drinking water and improved sanitation facilities (in millions):



	1998 (millions)[4]	2000 (millions)[5]	2000 (in %)[12]
without access to safe drinking water	968	1100	18 %
without access to any form of improved sanitation services	2400	2400	39 %

• Clean water supplies and sanitation remain major problems in many parts of the world: [16]
• 20% of the global population are lacking access to safe drinking water. [16]
• Water-borne diseases from faecal pollution of surface waters continue to be a major cause of illness in developing countries. [16]
• Polluted water is estimated to affect the health of 1.2 billion people, and contributes to the death of 15 million children annually. [16]
• About 4 billion cases of diarrhoea occur each year: [5]
• leading to 2.2 million deaths, predominantly among children,
• representing 15% of child deaths in developing countries.
• The lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation is directly related to poverty, and in many cases to the inability of governments to finance satisfactory water and sanitation systems. [16]
• The direct and indirect human costs of these failings are enormous, including widespread health problems, heavy labour (particularly for women, who are forced to travel long distances to obtain water for their families), and severe limitations for economic development. [16]
• Improved water and sanitation facilities, on the other hand, bring valuable benefits for both social and economic development and poverty alleviation. [16]

• The total usable freshwater supply for ecosystems and humans is: [16]
• ~200.000 km³ of water,
• which is less than 1% of all freshwater resources,
• and only 0.01% of all the water on Earth.
• Water on Earth: [16]

• Agricultural water use accounts for about 75% of total global consumption, mainly through crop irrigation. [16]
• industrial use accounts for about 20%, and [16]
• thereof: 57-69% is used for hydropower and nuclear power generation,
• 30-40% for industrial processes, and
• 0.5-3% for thermal power generation
• the remaining 5% is used for domestic purposes. [16]



• The volume of water evaporated from reservoirs is estimated to exceed the combined freshwater needs of industry and domestic consumption. [16]

• Countries currently or potentially involved in international disputes over access to river water and aquifers include: [16]



the Tigris and Euphrates rivers	Turkey, Syria and Iraq
the Jordan River and the aquifers of the Golan Heights	Israel, Jordan, Syria and Palestine
the Punjab rivers	India and Pakistan
the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers	India and Bangladesh
the Mekong River	China, Indochina and Thailand
the Oxus and Jaxartes rivers	Tajikistan, Kyrghyzstan and Uzbekistan
the Nile River	Ethiopia, Sudan and East African riparian countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Egypt