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The world needs water to survive, yet human beings are claiming more than the planet can provide in the long run. We keep thinking, "We'll find a solution later, some new source, sometime in the future." But is the future now? Are we in the middle of a global water crisis? "Much of the developing world is already there," says Aly Shady, a scientist and founding member of the nonprofit World Water Council, "and several have been there for decades." "Back in 1950, we had a handful of countries that were facing water scarcity, maybe a dozen-all in the Middle East," Shady says. "Fifty years later, in 2000, that number had risen to 26 co untries-26 countries with populations of 350 million or more, mostly in northern Africa and the Middle East. Another 50 years from now, if there are not changes made," he adds, "two-thirds of the world will be facing severe water shortages." Many worldwide entities agree: The future is now. "Global consumption of water is doubling every 20 years, more than twice the rate of human population growth," wrote Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke in their 2002 book, Blue Gold. According to the United Nations, "more than one billion people on Earth already lack fresh drinking water and if current trends persist, by 2025, 2 out of every 3 people on earth will live in water-stressed conditions. Shady puts fresh water in its elemental perspective. "Water is life. It's as simple as that. You may live your entire life without consuming one drop of oil, you may live your entire life without having electricity or an automobile. You may even be able to live a month or two without food. Without water, a few days." The kicker, he concludes, is that if something doesn't change soon, our lives, not just our environments and lifestyles, may be at stake within a couple of decades. "The water scarcity problem has much greater repercussions than war and peace, much greater than weapons of mass destruction-much more than anything we've known," he says. "You can have your horses and your guns, but without water, good luck." Regional instabilities occur in areas without clean water- boundaries are trounced, hostilities arise, and the rest of the world is drawn in, like it or not. But Shady, Barlow and Clarke aren't the only ones sounding alarm bells. According to figures from the Pacific Institute and the UN circa 2002, the world sees nearly 250 million cases of water-related disease each year, and as many as five million people die annually because of health problems related to unclean drinking water and lack of sanitation. The Pacific Institute also says that if the situation continues unabated, nearly "76 million people will perish from water-related disease by 2020 unless urgent action is taken" -possibly more people than the global AIDS pandemic will have claimed during that same period of time." Based in part on such numbers, in November of 2002, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights took the unprecedented step of asserting that water is a basic human right-citing health issues in developing nations as a global risk, and stating that "inadequate water and sanitation is also a major cause of poverty and the growing disparity between rich and poor." One of the major players in international water research is Oakland's Peter H. Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute. Asked if the world has reached crisis point with water, he said, "that depends on who you are. Perhaps you and I are not right now. But when there are 1.1 billion people in the world without access to clean drinking water, I'd say that's a global crisis. The 2-4 billion without access to sanitation, I'd say that's a global crisis. And I do think it's fair to say it's a crisis when 3 to 5 million people die from preventable water- related disease every year-thin gs we know how to prevent but are failing to prevent." 50 what, exactly, is creating this water crisis? How is it that our underground water reserves (aquifers) are drying up, our rivers are tainted and 2-4 billion people on the planet don't have sanitation? How can water scarcity be at a critica l point when we have rivers to row, slopes to snowboard, mountain streams to fish and glaciers to climb? How is it that the world's water supply has become so endangered, with almost half the ·planet's population facing disease, social unrest and possible military conflict-and yet many of us are guzzling water like it's ... water? Two fundamental things are going on: deterioration of water quality and overpopulation. Although the world 's freshwater supply has remained fairly constant (there's approximately the same amount of water on earth today as there has been for the last couple thousand years), more of it is becoming polluted and salinated than ever before. As urban populations explode, demand and distribution routes change. Cities act like umbrellas pushing water out to sea before it has the chance to sink into the ground to recharge aquifers. And as the demand for water-rich foods increases, more freshwater is contaminated through agricultural pesticides and chemicals. Although some countries have the technology and can afford to clean this water, or import more, the majority of the world cannot. While the present rate and severity of pollution is a relatively new concern, the major water issue dates back thousands of years: its use and waste, in food production. "When you look at global consumption, about 70 24

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