by George Lorimer

Created on: October 05, 2008

Although water covers more than 70 percent of the world's surface, less than one percent of that is currently available for human consumption. Seventy percent of the world's fresh water is used in agriculture and industry accounts for another 20 percent, which leaves just 10 percent for domestic consumption. In other words, households use just 0.1 percent of global water supplies for cooking, washing clothes, bathing, watering lawns, and drinking.

The lack of access to potable water is most acute in the developing world. The United Nations estimates that almost 1.2 billion people do not have a steady water supply and worries that two-thirds of the world's population may face water shortages by 2025. Pollution, climate change, rapid economic development, and population growth are exacerbating water shortages in many countries. Melting glaciers in the Andes may lead to a scarcity of drinking water for 30 million people in Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. In 2005, the China Daily reported that 100 Chinese cities faced "extreme water shortages" due to industrial pollution and acid rain.

Corruption, although often overlooked, is a key contributor to today's water crisis. Transparency International's Global Corruption Report 2008: Corruption in the Water Sector cites several examples of corruption - including bribery of environmental regulators, monopolization of irrigation systems by large agribusinesses, and back-room deals in the awarding of municipal water contracts - that have a grave effect on people's access to water supplies. In developing countries, where water shortages are most pronounced, the Inter Press Service reported that "corruption is estimated to raise the price for connecting a household to a water network by as much as 30 percent." Transparency International found that water was more expensive in some developing nations than in New York City or London. For families living on $1 or $2 a day, corruption blocks their access to a stable water source.

Corruption in water, however, is not limited to the developing world. More than 30 million Americans receive their drinking water from private companies. While supporters of the privatization of water maintain that higher costs make customers more efficient in their water usage, critics argue that some companies are cutting corners on water quality and unnecessarily raising costs to increase profits.

One of the Millennium Development Goals is, by 2015, to reduce by half the proportion of the population without

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>