According to the foreign policy association, the United States needs to implement new ideas, technologies, and institutional skills to solve the world’s mounting water problems. The United States currently has no consistent or comprehensive water policy. Currently, no independent organization consistently tries to resolve the ongoing crises involving water. International economic support for water projects of all kinds is marginal and declining.

 

Unlike oil, there are no “substitutes” for water for health, cooking, agriculture, and even drinking. Water is vital to every aspect of human life. The growth in the world’s population increases the pressure on the Earth’s finite freshwater resources.

 

Moreover, because over 260 river basins are shared by two or more nations, water conflicts need to be resolved through foreign policy initiatives. A growing number of disputes over allocations of water across local borders, ethnic boundaries, or between economic groups have led to conflict. 

 

Let me highlight the scope of the problem

• More than 1.1 billion people lack safe drinking water

• 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation services

• Between 2 million and 5 million people die annually from water-related diseases. These deaths could be prevented.

• 137 billion quarts of bottled water were sold in 2002

• More than 20% of freshwater fish species in North America are at risk of extinction