'Vampiric Overconsumption' — How Humans Are Depleting Our Water Supply

It’s not often you hear the word “vampiric” coming out of a U.N. secretary-general’s mouth. But on Wednesday, Secretary-General António Guterres said at the U.N. Water Conference in New York that countries “are draining humanity’s lifeblood through vampiric overconsumption and unsustainable use” of water. Lengthy droughts are also wreaking havoc.

As many as 2 billion people do not have safe drinking water, according to the U.N. World Water Development Report, and 3.6 billion lack access to securely run sanitation. In cities, the lack of access to clean water is projected to double from 930 million in 2016 to between 1.7 and 2.4 billion people in 2050.

Economic water scarcity — when there is enough water but it remains inaccessible due to a lack of infrastructure — is an issue “where governments fail to provide safe access, such as in the middle of Africa, where water flows,” said Richard Connor, the report’s editor-in-chief. Physical scarcity — when people require more water than is available — is worst in desert areas, such as in northern India and the Middle East. Our ecosystems are so interlinked that if one region hurts, it can destabilize others, or even cause conflict.

“Water is our common future, and it is essential to act together to share it equitably and manage it sustainably,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay.

Beyond destroying ecosystems, agriculture, and the health of entire communities, a lack of water can spur migration and war, the report said. A group of 18 UN independent experts and special rapporteurs said Tuesday that water should be “managed as a common good, not a commodity.”

Human rights should be at the center of the discussion around water, said the experts. “It is time to stop a technocratic approach to water and consider the ideas, knowledge, and solutions of indigenous peoples and local communities who understand local aquatic ecosystems to ensure sustainability of the water agenda,” they said.

The fight for clean water and the fight against climate change are intrinsically linked. Just 0.5 percent of water on our planet is useable freshwater. Climate change-related melting of glaciers and the rise of salinized seawater are reducing the supply. Higher water temperatures, drought, and floods increase water pollution.

And with countries acting in silos, little progress can be made.

“Cooperation is the heart of sustainable development, and water is an immensely powerful connector,” Connor said. “We should not negotiate water; we should deliberate on it.” He went on to call water a human right, echoing Guterres’s same sentiment.