World Water Week: 10 shocking facts about the global water crisis.
As research released for World Water Week (27 August – 1 September) warns that more than 100 cities face flood-related risks similar to those currently being felt in Houston, edie dives deep into the data to pull out 10 alarming statistics which underline why businesses must act NOW.
The impacts are currently being felt in the Texan city of Houston, where at least nine people have reportedly died and more than 30,000 have been forced to evacuate their homes in response to severe flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey.
This has seen the number of people trapped in vehicles increased as a result, and the 103 cities at risk from flooding would do well to learn from the mistakes of Houston.
Globally, 80% of wastewater flows back into natural pools of water and the ecosystem untreated, without being reused.
4) Businesses have lost $14bn in water damages The CDP analysis shows that disclosing companies have lost $14bn because of impacts related to water, with many suffering from production losses as a result of flooding or from a reliance on electricity sourced from hydropower.
In fact, one third of the system is more than 150 years old.
With 49% of the river systems in the country that classified for drinking water, despite not meeting pollution standards, city councils are worried that saltwater intrusion could impact the limited supply of drinking water.
The distance between source and demand has also added to the problems, with water thefts and leakages meaning that around 30% of the city’s water supply is lost before it enters Karachi each year.
Household water use in Jinja is the lowest amongst all cities globally at just 28 litres a day, although water demand is extremely high.