Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2
CHAPTER
WHERE OUR WATER
COMES FROM
A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
In so many places we simply take water for granted, and we think it
will always be there.
—Steve Fleischli, former president,
Waterkeeper Alliance
T
he water crisis stretches well beyond U.S. borders. It's global,
and its ramifi cations affect hundreds of millions of people.
The easiest way to describe the world water problem is that a billion
people don't have access to safe drinking water, and 2.5 billion don't
have access to adequate sanitation services, which leads to 2 million
or so preventable deaths every year from water-related diseases. That's
according to Peter Gleick, PhD, internationally recognized expert on
global freshwater resources. He's also co-founder and president of the
Pacifi c Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security,
an Oakland, California-based nonpartisan policy research group.
“When someone tells me there's not really a water crisis and there's
plenty of water, that brings me up short,” says Gleick. “We have failed to
meet basic human needs for many, and I describe that as a crisis.”
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