CONCLUSION - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 305

will need at least $8 billion of new infrastructure just to meet the UN's 2015 target of
reducing by half the number of people without access to clean drinking water. That kind
of investment is unlikely to appear.
It is comforting to imagine that the United States and other industrialized countries,
as well as the UN and the World Bank, private industry and wealthy individuals, will
share knowledge and fund major global cleanup efforts. But the evidence suggests this
is wishful thinking.
As populations and pollution skyrocket around the world, the prognosis for the
earth's water quality, and thus human and environmental health, is grim.
The issue of water quantity—whether people will have too little water or be faced with
too much of the wrong kind of water this century—is equally pressing.
THE SINGAPOREAN SOLUTION
By 2025, the global demand for domestic and industrial water use is predicted to rise by
two-thirds . Experts disagree on whether there will be enough accessible freshwater to
meet this requirement. While improvements in efficiency and conservation will help re-
duce water stress, parts of the world will face localized drought, if not widespread cata-
clysm.
An increasingly worrisome question is whether there will be sufficient water for food
supplies. * According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,
70 percent of global water use is devoted to irrigated agriculture , which is notoriously
unproductive. As emerging nations adopt more meat-centric diets, pressure on water
supplies will heighten: it takes 634 gallons of water, mostly for cattle feed, to produce an
eight-ounce piece of beef.
Between 2010 and 2025, the world's population is expected to grow from 6.7 billion
to 9 billion. Yet water scarcity in that same period is expected to cut global food produc-
tion by 385 million tons a year, which is more than the average yearly US grain harvest.
More people with less food and water is a potentially explosive combination.
As with water pollution, water supply in Asia is a particular concern. Some experts
worry that by 2030 the region's water needs will exceed supply by 40 percent , though
others say those fears are overblown. The historian Steven Solomon predicts that a
lack of water could hobble India and China's phenomenal growth. These two nations
have already faced domestic unrest over water scarcity, are arguing with neighbors over
transboundary waters, and are vying with each other for Himalayan glacial melt. As the