Water shortages could affect 5 billion people by 2050.

 

Global demand for water has increased sixfold over the past 100 years.

 

Worldwide water demand is increasing by 1 percent each year.

 

6 million Brazilians have been displaced by flooding, drought, and other disasters since 2000.

 

By 2100, floods, droughts, and other disasters could drive 1 million migrants to Europe each year

 

By 2050, the the number of people at risk of floods will increase to 1.6 billion, from 1.2 billion.

 

In the last 20 years, pollution has worsened in almost every river in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

 

A quarter of the earth’s surface could become arid if global temperatures rise above 2C.

 

DYK: 7 percent of the world’s fresh water is in China, which is home to 20 percent of the global population

 

DYK: Sao Paulo loses 31 percent of the water in its distribution system to leaks and theft

 

Faced with the possibility of running out of water, residents of Cape Town, South Africa, cut water use in half.

 

100 percent of lakes in Bangalore, India, are too polluted for drinking or bathing.

 

Parts of Jakarta, Indonesia, have sunk 14 feet in recent decades, mostly due to illegal well-digging.

 

90,580: number of dams in the United States, according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Half are shorter than 25 feet.

 

India irrigates more farmland with groundwater than any other country.

 

One-third of the world’s wetlands have been destroyed by development.

 

More than 40 percent of irrigation water comes from groundwater.