Introduction to Drinking Water Management - Global Drinking Water Management and Conservation - page 4

Fig. 1.1 Water withdrawal by sector by region in 2005 (WWAP 2012 )

of the growth in population is likely to be in urban areas of the world (UN-
HABITAT 2006 ). Worldwide, 87 percent of the population gets its drinking water
from treated sources, and the corresponding figure for developing regions is also

high at 84 percent. However, access to clean water is far greater in urban areas (at
94 percent), while only 76 percent of rural populations have access to treated water
(WHO/UNICEF 2010 ).
Water for irrigation and food production constitutes one of the greatest pressures
on freshwater resources. Agriculture accounts for about 70 percent of global
freshwater withdrawals; the sectoral distribution amongst major country groupings
is shown in Fig. 1.1 . Global population growth, combined with changing diets, is
predicted to increase food demand by 70 percent by 2050. Clearly this has impli-
cations for water demand as well.
Groundwater abstraction in 2010 was estimated to be around 1,000 km 3 ,of
which two-thirds was for irrigation and the rest divided between industrial and
domestic uses (see Fig. 1.1 again). Estimates suggest that groundwater abstraction
represents 26 percent of total global water withdrawal but the global groundwater
recharge rate is only 8 percent. Total stored groundwater is poorly known; estimates
range from 15 to 60 million km 3 , including 8 10 million km 3 of freshwater, while

the remainder (brackish and saline groundwater) is found mainly at great depth
(Margat 2008 ). There is some evidence that signi

-

cant groundwater storage

depletion is taking place in many areas of the world.
Globally, deserti cation, land degradation, and drought affect 1.5 billion people

who depend on degraded lands. Some 42 percent of the very poor live on degraded
lands, compared with 32 percent of the moderately poor and 15 percent of the non-
poor (Nachtergaele et al. 2010 ). India alone accounts for 26 percent of the popu-
lation affected by deserti

cation and drought; China 17 percent, and sub-Saharan
Africa 24 percent; the remaining part of Asia-Paci c 18.3 percent; Latin America