Water Scarcity Postel, Sandra L. “Entering an Era of Water Scarcity: The Challenges Ahead.” Ecological Applications 10.4 (2000): 941-948.
“Two of water’s most fundamental functions – its role as a prerequisite for life, on the one hand, and its use as a commodity or economic resource on the other – are increasingly in conflict.”
“…[a] dearth of groundwater is already leading to significant ecological damage, including depleted rivers, declining water quality and subsiding land.”
“California’s agriculture is critical to our national economy. Over one third of the country’s vegetables and nearly two thirds of the country’s fruits and nuts were produced in California in 2012.”
Water privatization in developing countries Shiva, Vandana. Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit. South End Press, 2002.
“In communities where water is sacred, the worth of water rests on its role and function as a life-force for animals, plants, and ecosystems. However, commodification of water reduces its value only to its commercial value…. The water crisis results from an erroneous equation of value with monetary price.”
“When we think about risk, we think about terrorist attacks or nuclear disaster. Very rarely do we put natural and meteorological disaster at the forefront of our collective minds.”
“Half the world’s major rivers are being seriously polluted or depleted. About 40 percent of rivers and lakes in the U.S….are too polluted for swimming or fishing.”
“…every year more than 3.4 million people die as a result of water related diseases, making it the leading cause of disease and death around the world…. [and] four out of every 10 people in the world, particularly those in Africa and Asia, do not have clean water to drink.”
“Many of the wars this century were about oil, but those of the next century will be over water.” (Quoting Ismail Serageldin in 1995, then Vice President of the World Bank.)
UN World Water Assessment Program. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2016: Water and Jobs. Paris: UNESCO, 2016.
“…nearly 80% of the jobs constituting the global workforce are dependent upon having access to an adequate supply of water and water-related services…”
“Companies will find themselves asking: Who can we partner with to develop new technologies and business models that will work for our customers? Countries will find themselves asking: How will we support economic development while also ensuring all of our citizens have access to clean water and energy? Among the more intriguing answers to both of these questions: cities and women. Cities and women happen to know more about water and energy than anyone.”