Archive for Facts and figures
- Half of humanity now lives in cities and, within two decades, nearly 60% of the world’s population -5 billion people- will be urban dwellers.
- Urban growth is most rapid in the developing world, where cities gain an average of 5 million residents every month. Read more
- Less than two percent of the freshwater on our planet exists in a readily usable form for human uses. And of this total, it is estimated that lakes contain more than 90% of all the liquid freshwater on the earth’s surface. Thus, this water source is important for meeting the needs of both humans and ecosystems, including the life-supporting services provided to humanity by the latter.
- Lakes and reservoirs provide a range of resource values, including drinking water, irrigation water, navigation, fisheries, tourism, recreation, flood and drought management, climate mediation, as well as having religious and historic values. Read more
- In the United States bringing water supply and sewerage infrastructure up to current standards will cost more than $1 trillion over the next 20 years, with hundreds of billions more required for dams, dikes and waterway maintenance.
- The World Business Council for Sustainable Development estimates that the total costs of replacing ageing water supply and sanitation infrastructure in industrial countries may be as high as $200 billion a year.
In most urban public water systems charges often barely cover the recurrent costs of operation and maintenance, leaving little or no funds to recover the capital costs of modernization and expansion. A survey of such systems in 132 cities in high-, middle and low-income countries found that 39% did not recover even their operation and maintenance costs (true of 100% of cities in South-East Asia and the Maghreb). Read more
- In the United States bringing water supply and sewerage infrastructure up to current standards will cost more than $1 trillion over the next 20 years, with hundreds of billions more required for dams, dikes and waterway maintenance.
- The World Business Council for Sustainable Development estimates that the total costs of replacing ageing water supply and sanitation infrastructure in industrial countries may be as high as $200 billion a year. Read more
- There is evidence that the global climate is changing.
- Water is the primary medium through which climate change impacts the earth’s ecosystem and people.
- Climate change is the fundamental driver of change in the world’s water resources and adds additional stress through its effects on other externalities. Read more
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