QUICK FACTS
WATER RESOURCES
The total volume of water on Earth is about 1.4 billion km3. The volume
of freshwater resources is around 35 million km3, or about 2.5 percent
of the total volume.
Source: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
Of these freshwater resources, about 24 million km3 or 70 percent is in
the form of ice and permanent snow cover in mountainous regions, the
Antarctic and Arctic regions.
Source: UNEP
Around 30 percent of the world's freshwater is stored underground in
the form of groundwater (shallow and deep groundwater basins up to 2
000 metres, soil moisture, swamp water and permafrost). This
constitutes about 97 percent of all the freshwater that is potentially
available for human use.
Source: UNEP
Freshwater lakes and rivers contain an estimated 105 000 km3 or
around 0.3 percent of the world's freshwater.
Source: UNEP
The Earth's atmosphere contains approximately 13,000 km3 of water.
Source: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)
The total usable freshwater supply for ecosystems and humans is about
200 000 km3 of water - less than 1 percent of all freshwater resources.
Source: UNEP
WATER USE
How the world uses freshwater:
about 70 percent for irrigation
about 22 percent for industry
about 8 percent for domestic use
Source: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)
Water use has been growing at more than the rate twice of population
increase in the last century.
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
and UN-Water
The world's six billion people are appropriating 54 percent of all the
accessible freshwater contained in rivers, lakes and underground
aquifers.
Source: WWAP
145 nations have territory within a transboundary basin.
Source: WWAP
SOURCE: UN Water, www.unwater.org
Compiled by UNICEF Malaysia Communications, June 2010
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QUICK FACTS
Water withdrawals are predicted to increase by 50 percent by 2025 in
developing countries, and 18 per cent in developed countries.
Source: Global Environment Outlook: environment for development (GEO-4)
Over 1.4 billion people currently live in river basins where the use of water
exceeds minimum recharge levels, leading to the desiccation of rivers and
depletion of groundwater.
Source: Human Development Report 2006
In 60 percent of European cities with more than 100,000 people,
groundwater is being used at a faster rate than it can be replenished.
Source: World Business Counicl For Sustainable Development (WBCSD)
By 2025, 1 800 million people will be living in countries or regions with
absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world population could
be under stress conditions.
Source: FAO
DRINKING WATER AND SANITATION
The UN suggests that each person needs 20-50 litres of safe freshwater
a day to ensure their basic needs for drinking, cooking and cleaning.
Source: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)
More than one in six people worldwide - 894 million - don't have access
to this amount of safe freshwater.
Source: World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children
Fund (UNICEF) Joint Monitoring Programme on Water Supply and
Sanitation (JMP)
Globally, diarrhoea is the leading cause of illness and death, and 88 per
cent of diarrhoeal deaths are due to a lack of access to sanitation
facilities, together with inadequate availability of water for hygiene and
unsafe drinking water.
Source: JMP
Today 2.5 billion people, including almost one billion children, live without
even basic sanitation. Every 20 seconds, a child dies as a result of poor
sanitation. That's 1.5 million preventable deaths each year.
Source: Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC)
In Sub-Saharan Africa, treating diarrhoea consumes 12 percent of the health
budget. On a typical day, more than half the hospital beds in are occupied
by patients suffering from faecal-related disease.
Source: WSSCC
Washing hands with soap can reduce the risk of diarrhoeal diseases by up to
47 per cent.
Source: WHO
SOURCE: UN Water, www.unwater.org
Compiled by UNICEF Malaysia Communications, June 2010
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QUICK FACTS
WATER, AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY
The daily drinking water requirement per person is 2-4 litres, but it takes 2 000
to 5 000 litres of water to produce one person's daily food.
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
It takes 1 000-3 000 litres of water to produce just one kilo of rice and 13 000
to 15 000 litres to produce one kilo of grain-fed beef.
Source: FAO
In 2007, the estimated number of undernourished people worldwide was 923
million.
Source: FAO
Over the period to 2050 the world's water will have to support the agricultural
systems that will feed and create livelihoods for an additional 2.7 billion
people.
Source: FAO
The extent of land under irrigation in the world is 277 million hectares, about
20 percent of all cropland. Rainfed agriculture is practiced on the reamining 80
percent of the arable land.
Source: FAO
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts
yields from rain-dependent agriculture could be down by
50 percent by 2020.
Due to climate change, Himalayan snow and ice, which
provide vast amounts of water for agriculture in Asia, are
expected to decline by 20 percent by 2030.
Source: FAO
Irrigation increases yields of most crops by 100 to 400
percent, and irrigated agriculture currently contributes to
40 percent of the world's food production.
Source: FAO
Poor drainage and irrigation practices have led to
waterlogging and salinization of approximately 10 percent
of the world's irrigated lands.
Source: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)
SOURCE: UN Water, www.unwater.org
Compiled by UNICEF Malaysia Communications, June 2010
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QUICK FACTS
WATER POLLUTION, ENVIRONMENTAL
DEGRADATION AND DISASTERS
Every day, 2 million tons of human waste are disposed of in water
courses.
Source: World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP)
In developing countries, 70 percent of industrial wastes are dumped
untreated into waters where they pollute the usable water supply.
Source: WWAP
Contribution of the food sector to the production of organic water
pollutants:
High income countries: 40 percent
Low-income countries: 54 percent
Source: WWAP
Projected increases in fertilizer use for food production and in
wastewater effluents over the next three decades suggest there will
be a 10-20 per cent global increase in river nitrogen flows to coastal
ecosystems.
Source: Global Environment Outlook: environment for development
(GEO-4)
Half of the world's wetlands have been lost since 1900.
Source: WWAP
Between 1991 and 2000 over 665,000 people died in 2,557 natural
disasters of which 90 percent were water-related events.
Source: WWAP
SOURCE: UN Water, www.unwater.org
Compiled by UNICEF Malaysia Communications, June 2010
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